Cargo Box vs. Roof Rack

dlague · Sep 15, 2014

We picked up a Thule Evolution 1800 last fall. We never had one before. We used a clamp on type for years but when my youngest switched to snowboarding we were running out of space when we had six of us. This past season we actually had seven people in the SUV at one time and were able to transport everything (boot bags were in the truck). We are liking it a lot so far. BTW we bought it used on craigslist for $200.

Personally the clamp down type look way cooler!

steamboat1 · Sep 15, 2014

Savemeasammy said:
Good to know. I have considered taking a loss and upgrading to the aero bars, but it doesn't sound worth it. Luckily the sound system in her car is pretty nice, so when I'm driving solo, the noise from the bars is a non-issue!

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Surprised to hear the rack makes noise with the square bars. Yes my rack with square bars whistle's when the box isn't on the car but is quiet when the box is on.

Savemeasammy · Sep 15, 2014

steamboat1 said:
Surprised to hear the rack makes noise with the square bars. Yes my rack with square bars whistle's when the box isn't on the car but is quiet when the box is on.

I actually don't notice much noise with the box on. We took it off early this summer, and that's when I noticed.

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steamboat1 · Sep 15, 2014

Savemeasammy said:
I actually don't notice much noise with the box on. We took it off early this summer, and that's when I noticed.

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Why not take the rack off too when you remove the box. Is the rack permanently mounted? I took the rack off when I'm not using the box. It's pretty simple to remove it & put it back, at least on my car it was.

Actually I haven't used my box in years, it's sitting in my attic. Now that I'm retired & ski mostly weekdays I'm solo most of the time & have no use for it.

Savemeasammy · Sep 15, 2014

steamboat1 said:
Why not take the rack off too when you remove the box. Is the rack permanently mounted? I took the rack off when I'm not using the box. It's pretty simple to remove it & put it back, at least on my car it was.

Actually I haven't used my box in years, it's sitting in my attic. Now that I'm retired & ski mostly weekdays I'm solo most of the time & have no use for it.

The car has a sunroof, so we took the box off so that we could use it. The bars aren't a hinderance, and probably wouldn't be worth the time and effort to take them off. Aside from that, I guess there is no good reason. Maybe next year I will take the bars off, but it is too close to ski season to do that now!!

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wa-loaf · Sep 15, 2014

Savemeasammy said:
We have a Thule cargo carrier. It's on my wife's Jetta wagon. We got it to supplement the smaller cargo capacity that we had in her escape. In the summer it holds our luggage when we are vacationing, and of course it holds ski gear in the winter.

We got the square bars because, at the time, a: they had them in stock and the others were on order, and, b: I thought it would be easier to find used attachments to work with the square bars (we have yet to buy any...!). I regret not getting the other bars b/c of the noise of the square bars - but I guess I wonder how much difference it would make?

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I don't have them, but the Yakima Wisp bars are supposed to be the way to go if you want to cut wind noise out.

Puck it · Sep 15, 2014

wa-loaf said:
I don't have them, but the Yakima Wisp bars are supposed to be the way to go if you want to cut wind noise out.

Can someone tell why these pieces of plastic and aluminum are all well over $300. These bars are $400. 2x4's would quiter than my aero bars which are the same shape as these.

wa-loaf · Sep 15, 2014

Puck it said:
Can someone tell why these pieces of plastic and aluminum are all well over $300. These bars are $400. 2x4's would quiter than my aero bars which are the same shape as these.

That would be why I don't have them. I just take the round yakima bars off when I'm not using the box.

xwhaler · Sep 15, 2014

I was pretty surprised at how much it costs to get all set up. I was fortunate that I hit Golf and Ski when they had a 20% off sale on all boxes and components but still not cheap.

jimk · Sep 15, 2014

To most non-skiers it's a minor thing, but besides 4wd, one of the main things I liked about a new Outback I bought last year was that you can fold down the 40% side of the 60/40 rear seat backs and put a lot of long skis inside the cargo area, yet still sit four people in the vehicle. With this configuration I felt I never needed a roof box. I subsequently picked-up a used $10 roof ski rack, which is super easy to attach to the Outback factory rack just in case I get in a rare situation where I need to carry five passengers.

BenedictGomez · Sep 15, 2014

dlague said:
the clamp down type look way cooler!

What ski carriers say about you:

Clamp down - I'm the slightly edgy, outdoorsy type, I live on the wild side and throw caution to the wind.
Box carrier - I'm married and have at least one kid, but on weekends, I (sometimes) get to have a few beers.

Puck it said:
Can someone tell why these pieces of plastic and aluminum are all well over $300. These bars are $400. 2x4's would quiter than my aero bars which are the same shape as these.

This is why I dont have one; I dont get it. And I REALLY didnt get it once I finally inspected one and saw how thin and cheap the plastic is. But are you saying that in addition to the cost of the box, you have to buy a mounting system too? (i.e. it doesnt come with it). What if you have an SUV with a luggage rack, are you good-to-go?

Puck it · Sep 15, 2014

BenedictGomez said:
This is why I dont have one; I dont get it. And I REALLY didnt get it once I finally inspected one and saw how thin and cheap the plastic is. But are you saying that in addition to the cost of the box, you have to buy a mounting system too? (i.e. it doesnt come with it). What if you have an SUV with a luggage rack, are you good-to-go?

If your roof rails do not have cross members then you need to buy rails. If you have no roof rails, you buy rails with feet. Then you buy the box that mounts to the cross members. So all in for box and cross members around $700 to $1K.

steamboat1 · Sep 15, 2014

BenedictGomez said:
But are you saying that in addition to the cost of the box, you have to buy a mounting system too? (i.e. it doesnt come with it). What if you have an SUV with a luggage rack, are you good-to-go?

I remember when I bought my Thule box not only did I need to buy the rack seperately but also the adapter. Different adapters fit on different cars, it's not a one size fits all.

My new car came with a sports rack already on the car. I don't need the Thule rack & adapter anymore since I can clamp down my box directly to the rack that came with the car. You need a rack with crossbars. The racks that come on some cars that run front to back won't work.

Savemeasammy · Sep 15, 2014

BenedictGomez said:
What ski carriers say about you:

Clamp down - I'm the slightly edgy, outdoorsy type, I live on the wild side and throw caution to the wind.
Box carrier - I'm married and have at least one kid, but on weekends, I (sometimes) get to have a few beers.

This is why I dont have one; I dont get it. And I REALLY didnt get it once I finally inspected one and saw how thin and cheap the plastic is. But are you saying that in addition to the cost of the box, you have to buy a mounting system too? (i.e. it doesnt come with it). What if you have an SUV with a luggage rack, are you good-to-go?

When we got rid of my wife's little suv and replaced it with a jetta tdi wagon, we knew we were sacrificing valuable cargo space. The trade-off, however, is in the fuel savings. Her old vehicle got around 20 mpg, and the new one gets somewhere in the high 30's. That's a big difference. When we bought the car, the dealer was offering a credit at a bike shop for a free mountain bike with the purchase, however the bike shop let us use the credit on a roof rack instead (it didn't cover the entire cost, but it was a good chunk of it). For us, it makes sense. We don't ALWAYS need the extra cargo capacity offered by the box, but it is a huge convenience when we do. FWIW we have 2 kids and a dog, so our car fills up quickly!

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steamboat1 · Sep 15, 2014

Puck it said:
So all in for box and cross members around $700 to $1K.

Wow, that's a lot. I kinda remember paying around $500 for my box, rack & adapter brand new. It's the largest box Thule made at the time, think it still is. I don't remember what it would've cost for just the box without the rack & adapter. This is close to 15 years ago though.

wa-loaf · Sep 15, 2014

steamboat1 said:
Wow, that's a lot. I kinda remember paying around $500 for my box, rack & adapter brand new. It's the largest box Thule made at the time, think it still is. I don't remember what it would've cost for just the box without the rack & adapter. This is close to 15 years ago though.

Really depends on your set-up. I bought my box 6 years ago for $400 and had a subi with crossbars that didn't need an extra rack. New car only had the straight rails on the roof, so I bought the basic round Yakima bar set for $130 and $40 for locks (the real ripoff here is the f-ing locks!) So I guess I'm in on my set-up for $570, but spread out over a few years.

steamboat1 · Sep 15, 2014

wa-loaf said:
had a subi with crossbars that didn't need an extra rack.

That's what I have now so I don't need the rack & adapter anymore. When I first purchased the box I had a Chevy Impala that didn't have any rack.

edit: also the racks on the Subi don't make any noise when the box is not on it like the Thule rack did. The only time I get a little whistling noise is if the rack has any ice/snow accumulation on it. That's with just the rack & no box on top. It's quiet with the box on.

xwhaler · Sep 15, 2014

I paid $670 all in for the Force XL box, aero bars, and the adapters. That was at 20% off all Thule for 1 wk only at Golf and Ski.
I have a rewards membership card with them so generated 3.5% back in store credit so I guess I effectively spent $646.55 all in.
I could have brought that down to under $500 had I gone with a smaller box and square bars.

Not cheap but honestly we should have no issue ever needing a bigger vehicle. I was fortunate to find a guy who knew how to mount this since I didnt want to go through the aggravation of trying to figure it out the 1st time.

The biggest issue now is likely going to be humping it up to the roof. I can't envision a scenario where I could do this myself which is a bit restricting.

wa-loaf · Sep 15, 2014

xwhaler said:
The biggest issue now is likely going to be humping it up to the roof. I can't envision a scenario where I could do this myself which is a bit restricting.

The boxes are pretty light empty. Mine is easy enough to toss on the roof on my own. Yakima 1600.

steamboat1 · Sep 15, 2014

xwhaler said:
The biggest issue now is likely going to be humping it up to the roof. I can't envision a scenario where I could do this myself which is a bit restricting.

Shouldn't be a big issue since I'm able to put my large Thule box on the roof by myself. I'm not exactly a big strong guy either. Of course it's easier if you have help.

Cargo Box vs. Roof Rack

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