I cannot speak for the OEM, but for the Thule bars, there is a bit of a whistle at highway speeds (would say 55mph+). With a set of Thule Hull-a-port and Thule Dock Glide kayak racks on the top, it's even noisier, but that would probably be regardless of the crossbars themselves.
It seems to me regardless of it being OEM or aftermarket, you are always going to be working close to the roof. The Thule system uses a Torx security bolt which is a bit of a pain in the butt to tighten down with the provided wrench.
I have not measured the distance between the front and rear fixed mount points on the factory rails, but for those that are looking to adjust the crossbars forward and back, the manual for the Malone cross bars indicates that they should be installed 700mm apart.
To the point made earlier by...
Yeah it definitely is not the cheapest option. And seeing that the OEM cross bars may support the same weight, I probably would have explored my options more if I didn't have as urgent of a need for cross bars. Urgent being relative of course.
I didn't even look at the link for the med center mazda cx-5 rails. Instructions for them show they are clearly fixed mount point as well.
https://sep.yimg.com/ty/cdn/yhst-24809172479195/0000-8L-R07.pdf
I notice that these have a 165lb load rating though. The old ones had a 100lb rating, so...
I would bet the farm the factory bars will be the same. Look at the instructions for the CX-9 factory rails:
https://sep.yimg.com/ty/cdn/yhst-24809172479195/0000-8L-N11.pdf#_ga=2.79678871.2062191019.1495672515-929585489.1493408302
Fixed mount point.
Plus these rails don't have an inner track...
I'm barely aware with the sunroof cover closed. With the sunroof cover open at ~40mph they tend to whistle, once you get above 65mph they tend to just create a lot of 'wind' noise. I forgot to put that part up above, the factory cross bars on my old CX-5 definitely were quieter, but once you...
I had them installed at the dealership, but it looks like you can find them at
http://www.mazdaparts.org/mazda-cx-5-roof-rails.html
Or if you look around it's part 0000-8L-R09
The Mazda Parts site has a copy of the instructions there, it looks pretty straightforward.
When I received my 2017 CX-5, the dealership installed the factory flush style rails, but were not able to provide cross bars, as they were not available; as far as I know they are still on backorder. I have use for the cross bars, and did not want to wait for the factory bars, so I started...