Roof rack

[Roady]

Just after some advice really guys...!

I've got away thus far without needing a roof rack, from an Audi A3 to now a Fiesta, the QR on my Defy's front wheel has seen much carboot abuse!

New bike (Specialized Diverge Comp) has thru-axles and although they're the Specialized 'SCS' type I don't think removing and refitting the front wheel regularly is a good long term plan with discs and rotors?

After some adventures previously with a cheap 'boot lid' style rack I want a good quality roof mount I can trust. Most of the guys I know have Thule racks and it would be good to match them for future convenience of racks:mounts between us.

Is it just the rails I need for this? My Fiesta has rubber 'strips' in the roof but no 'mount points' like I've seen on others. I'm intending on going to a local Ford dealers to ask about these, providing that's all I'll need to then source and fit the Thule rack myself?

 

[Roady]

I'd seen them, think Paul/SoliD has one/similar. Great idea but not the longer term & stability I have in mind.

Ideally I want a substantial mount that won't involve wheel removal - not just for the Diverge's SCS/thu-axles but also for the mrs' road bike as the tyre/caliper clearance is so tight (with her thick bombproof city tyres) I can't remove either wheels without deflating the tyre first!

 

[Roady]

Don't necessarily need mount points, you can get rails that clamp into the door frame like so https://assets.forddirect.fordvehicles.com/assets/ACCS/images/vds4z_5455100_a--20120906163144.jpg

What does your car manual say regarding mounts?

Good info on the door frame mounts, anyone used any?

Car manual is a little too generic but it almost indicates that the rubber unbroken trim in my roof grooves means I have no mount points. Unsure if they can even be fitted after-market (my Fiesta is an '11 plate).

What's wrong with doing that?

Won't I have problems/fiddles getting my rotors and disc lined up consistently?

I'm after ease, if the SCS wheel mount makes things almost as easy as a QR then I'll probably just use that, I do want the option of carrying the other halfs on the roof and mine in the boot/back seats. I can't get both in the boot, even 1 really doesn't leave much room in the car for anything else! Trust me to get into cycling and downsize the car the same time (had a focus & A3 before!).

Our Punto hasn't got mounting points and we bought some Atera bars that clamp to the door frame. I was dubious as my previous car (Octavia) had proper mount points in the roof but they are excellent. I actually prefer using them to fitting generic bars to the integrated rails of my Focus estate.

I know of one guy who had a seasucker come loose, that is enough to put me off. Well that and the price.

I've got a couple of Thule FreeRide 532's and they have given many years of faultless service and still going strong.

Yeah I'd heard horror stories of the seasucker & know several guys who've had issues with boot lid mounts. The amount of fiddling the Aldi one took I used 4-5 years ago (on a couple of occasions), I want to avoid 'temporary' style mounts.

There's so many options with Thule and they all review well so fairly sure I'm going that route.

Have spotted this on the ford site which includes the Thule 591 carrier. It is slightly unclear if the Fiesta 3-door price (£279) includes the 'roof ditch mouldings' (mentioned for other Fords, I think 4x4's) as part of that or not (it's not mentioned as required for other car types).

 

[Roady]

just dont pull your levers with the wheel off

the standard VW rails for my car are the ones that clip around the door frame, not had any bother with mine. then just lobbed a thule 591 rack on, been fine with the old trek and the now slightly weightier transition.

Spoiler

https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/t51.2885-15/e35/11371212_1613007125627370_1467637861_n.jpg

Good to hear about the 591's & door frame clips. May go that route depending on what I hear back from Ford! I've emailed my local stealers to ask about the bike pack availability before I take the effort of going in (other side of town to home & work).

To be honest unless they're amazingly helpful I'll probably source it myself to save some money, I can't imagine some good clip on rails are going to cost me near £200!

 

[Roady]

EDIT 2 - Just spotted you have the three door. Without mounting points in the roof you are going to be very short on options. TBH that Ford deal may be your best bet at £279. The 591 is discontinued (replaced by the 598 IIRC) but that shouldn't be an issue really.

Hahaha, that's why I'm asking and looking around forums to check my options! If I had mount points/rails already it would be an easy answer! Should know me by now - nothing ever has an easy answer!

 

[Roady]

What you therefore need is a short roof adaptor (a bar that clamps near the front bar and then runs down the length of the roof) which adds more cost. Like this - http://roof-rack.ru/fotosait/Short_Roof_Adapter_774.jpg

That could work, but like you say - more expense. To be honest the price of £270 from Ford is a bit steep but once you factor in a Thule 591 (@£100), set of good roof bars (£50-100?) and the faffing around with adaptors/fittings/short-roof etc, then it doesn't sound like such a rip off. Also would be gaurenteed to fit with minimum messing around/mods/compromises.

Yup, BMW, MB, VW etc. Unfortunately they don't do an option for the three door Fiesta though.

Doh!

Spoiler

I bought Thule 591s for my 3-door VW. They live on all the time, so I went for the aero bars. They take our road bikes and 3-speeds, with one of the later being a 18kg Pashley, with no problems.

The T bar mounting on the Thule's is really nice and keeps things tidy.

Upon fitting them, I found there were locating holes on the doors, covered by the rubber seal, and marks on the rear quarter windows to line the rear up.

How did you source the Thule roof fittings to be sure of getting the right ones?

Part of the problem I see with the 3 door fiesta is that the rear windows are not even movable/dropable, so any fitting outside of the front door needs to be into the rubber roof strip/rail (which I cannot see any 'cutouts' or removable parts of). The rear window surrounds do not look wide enough to fit any kind of 'grip' into them, the glass is almost flush to the panel edges.

I'm going to put this onto the back burner for now - after getting my Diverge I've now got experience of how easy the front wheel fits & removes! I was expecting more of a headache and it's really easy!

 

[Roady]

Halfords had a roof racks deal, and a 20% off £200 or something, so I got a great deal from them. I seem to remember using their online roof rack finder tool, but the sets are generally for specific cars, so quite easy to find the right ones.

Thanks, good info. Sounds like Halfrauds are the better option, can pay some monkey a few quid to fit them and save me the headache of adaptors/fittings then too!

The real answer is to ditch the Fiesta and get an estate Or C+1

I'd intending to go back german again at some point, really like the A5/6 estates but the Fiesta came along at the right time, right money and the guy gave me a good price on my ailing A3 at the time. The 4-5k a year the Fiesta is currently doing I don't see it's going to cost much to keep it as long as needed (5+ years), so therefore worth buying some decent roof bars for. Last year I came close (400 miles short) of the same miles cycling, intending on beating it this year!

Oh and buying a new house was a little higher priority, was hard enough convincing her that a new bike was required!