Bye bye roof rack

[Gyre]

I finally got around to removing the roof rack (I had to borrow a socket wrench). I just removed the cross bars and put in the plastic inserts. I do not mean that I removed the rails.

The car is SOOOOO much quieter now. I can actually leave the moonroof open at freeway speeds and not mind the noise. I love it!

 

[fastdrvr23]

I did this 10 minutes after I bought my car, and couldn't believe the difference it made either!! Good stuff. I put it back on to test fit a bike carrier and damn that thing is loud!!! Oh well, have fun!

 

[MrJoel]

I took mine off a few months back and the difference is huge. Before I removed it the noise was driving me crazy. Now it is much nicer.I had to listen to that damned whistle for about 900 miles when I took the car out for its first road trip. Now I will keep it off unless I am going mountain biking.

 

[Syzygy]

It's an off-again, on-again thing with me. I like both looks and the noise doesn't bother after a few miles, anyway.

 

[nramsey]

It's an off-again, on-again thing with me. I like both looks and the noise doesn't bother after a few miles, anyway.

Same here. I like the looks and even with the rack on the car is FAR quieter than the '97 Altima it replaced. I don't get any whistle until I am over 70 MPH, which I don't really get to in day to day driving.

 

[Gyre]

I don't get any whistle until I am over 70 MPH, which I don't really get to in day to day driving.

I felt the same way so I wasn't in a rush. There was a decent amount of wind noise at lower speeds when I had the moonroof open, though. I figured that made sense opening a big hole in the roof of your car. Turns out that most of that was the roof rack!

 

[Don]

I've read that the moonroof wind deflector reduces the roof rack noise a good bit with the roof either open or closed - Comments?

Unfortunately, not an option for me, as I'm "moonroofless."

Part of the reason we were drawn to the car is the roof rack, and we use it frequently, so taking it off isn't really an option - Not to mentiuon that I think it looks better on the car than the plastic hole covers which replace it - Still wish Mazda would incorporate some permanent fix though

Don

 

[nramsey]

Hey Don

I think I told you this when you were up to visit, but now that I've had my car for a while I think I might have discovered something. The car I test drove was a pre-mid cycle refresh model with the moonroof deflector. I only got it up to about 60 MPH or so and noticed the whistling noise from the rack right away.

My car is the mid cycle refresh model, with moonroof, but I don't have the deflector. There is some wind noise, but I don't get any whistle from the rack till I am north of 80 MPH or so. I think it's significantly quieter than the car I test drove. I wonder if perhaps they changed something slightly on the refresh models to tone down the wind noise? I am going to pull the rack tomorrow for fun and will take some pics of the cross bars. Perhaps someone can identify if there has been any changes from looking at the pics?

 

[Don]

I wouldn't be surprised if the airfoil sections of the rack have been changed - When I spoke to Mazda about it, the reply I got was "we're well versed on the roofrack noise and have had MANY complaints."

Let me know if you find anything different, (or send me some good pics, and I'll compare it with mine).

If the newer ones ARE different, I need to start looking for some replacement parts, as I intend to keep the rack on the car, longterm.

Don

 

[Sir Nuke]

make sure the pictures you take are of the leading edge of the rack...the front of it....that is where the real diference will be if there is any....

if you look at your rack...you will notice that the front and back edge of the rack is different....the front has a hard edge on it that is raised...this breaks up the air flow so that the rack doesn't act like a true airfoil and pull UP on your roof....it also makes it noisy due to the turbulant air flow over the rack.

 

[Don]

make sure the pictures you take are of the leading edge of the rack...the front of it....that is where the real diference will be if there is any....

if you look at your rack...you will notice that the front and back edge of the rack is different....the front has a hard edge on it that is raised...this breaks up the air flow so that the rack doesn't act like a true airfoil and pull UP on your roof....it also makes it noisy due to the turbulant air flow over the rack.

Actually, I believe the squared off leading edge is there for noise abatement, and not to reduce lift - The "chord" of the "wing" is much too short for the crossmembers to generate any significant lift anyway.

Thinking (as you did) that the square leading edge was the source of all the noise, I turned my crossbars around so the aerodynamic edge was in front, and let me tell you - You haven't heard ANY noise, until you try this trick! You can't stay in the car above about 35 mph!!

I'd bet Mazda made some subtle change to the crossbars on the '02.5's if Nate's car is significantly quieter than mine - I'd like to have his cupholder too

Don

 

[nramsey]

Well I tried to take pics, but none turned out well enough that you could see what was going on. The surface is too small for my camera to focus on it seems, and those in focus are hard to see any definition because it's all a flat black color.

Anywho, looking at the bar from the front there is a ridge on the top AND the bottom of the front face. The back is completely rounded. Does your crossbar have a ridge on the bottom as well? It's also got the 1/2" wide channel along the bottom where the bolts hold the center bar to the end brackets.

So I took the rack off today and took a freeway cruise around for a while. The car is noticably quieter inside now. It was raining so I didn't open the sunroof to see how the noise is with that open. But even with the rack I don't get any whistle till the speed is up well north of 70 MPH, which was my main complaint about the car I test drove. Do you guys get a whistle or just the rushing sound of air?

I might try to get some better pictures later on...

 

[Gyre]

I had a whistle right around 70MPH but I also had the rushing wind sound at lower speeds. The most notable difference is when I have the moonroof tilted open. There is almost no noise now and there was before. When it's all the way open there is plenty of wind noise from the moonroof but I can tell it's less noise than when I had the roof rack.

 

[nramsey]

Well I had the roof rack off all day today, then I put it back on. I just think the car looks a whole lot better with it on

 

[Silver2002P5]

My wife and I had an arguement as I was taking the roof rack off MY car. I took it off the day after I got the car, and needless to say it is still off.

 

[Syzygy]

My wife and I had an arguement as I was taking the roof rack off MY car. I took it off the day after I got the car, and needless to say it is still off.

I take it the argument was over whether you should remove the rack from HER car?

 

[Silver2002P5]

She already has a rack, albeit on our minivan

 

[eazilyamuzed]

HEHE "His wife has a Rack!!!" (we would hope so)

 

[herarety]

I took it off the day I got the car, because I didn't like the look. Then in the past few days I've seen two P5's with the roof rack, and I do like it better. I can't say I noticed any noise with it on, but I'll see if I notice that when I put it back on. And I've been driving with my moonroof open a lot lately.

 

[Red Baron]

I don't know if it's a Canada wide thing, but here in Quebec the roof rack is an option. Where the rack mounts we have slots covered by a sliding plastic cover.

We are in ski heaven and we have to buy the rack seperately...oh well, they found another way of making money.

Personnaly, anyway, I prefer the "rackless" look... I would really like the side window deflectors and ventilated discs (future mods maybe)