Roof Rack?

[BlakeBrattina]

Hey everyone,

I was curious if anyone could post some quick snapshots of their roof rack setup on their Mazda3 Hatchback. I am looking to pull the trigger on a Thule rack tomorrow, however, I am concerned that the 'fitment' kit is a metal part that slips inside your door jam in order to mount the towers. Is there any way around this? (As the car I purchased has perfect paint and I truly do not want to be the first to mess it up).

Pictures welcome of all set ups!

 

[sncc3]

Here's some pics for you
I have updated this rack since these photos were taken with new white Rocky Mount trays (fork mount), removed the fairing & went with the Yakima Windjammers (x2). Recommend using the fix mounts as opposed to the rain gutter style, no issues scratching the paint with the metal clips.

Consist of:
Yakima Landing Pad 11
48" crossbars
Yakima Control Towers

Hope this helps some, good luck!

 

[joshritger]

sncc3 do you take your rack off ever? I have a rack that clips on to the door frame, and I wanted to get the mounts like you have since I have had problems with mine moving. Are the pads under the towers permanent? Also did you get the gutter covers with the factory holes or did you just drill holes in your factory gutter covers? Also how did you figure out which pads to use? They don't specify a permanent mount for our cars in the US.

Any help or pics would be appreciated.

 

[sncc3]

^
Actually I take my roof rack off for the winter (only takes a couple minutes to do so) & leave the landing pads on. The landing pads can be easily removed though.
I removed the gutter covers to drill the holes. If I decide to remove my pads, I could easily use small pieces of electrical tape to cover the holes that I drilled.

Here is a link to the pads (this is also where I get all of my racking accessories):
http://www.orsracksdirect.com/yakima-racks-lp11-landing-pad-11.html

If I can find some pics with just the pads on I will post up.

 

[exNeon]

rather than drill holes in your rails, you could get the canadian spec rails, which is what i did, that have the removable hole covers.
i dont have pics but went with a thule setup which I enjoy, aero bars, cant hear them at all on the highway which is nice.