Many of us car freaks tend to focus on very specific elements of auto culture. In my case, I love old-school Thule roof racks. Yes, after my Saab article from earlier today, we are revisiting our Swedish friends. Those folks know how to kick out the greatest of automotive bricks, affordable furniture, meatballs, and cargo carriers.
I’m sure you are all familiar with the average cargo roof box. Many different companies make them, including Thule, Yakima, Sears, and certain automobile manufacturers. They come in black or grey. They’re super convenient for hauling skis, duffel bags, or giant blue Ikea bags to move your kids into college (Hi Mom and Dad!).
But what about the real heroes in rooftop cargo carrying: the cross bars? We need to recognize these troopers. They come in so many different shapes and sizes and have funky names like “jet stream aerodynamic efficient 1000+HP.” That was a joke, but close enough. My personal favorites are, and I quote from Thule’s website, the “Thule Rapid Gutter Super 11″ Clearance.” Here they are:
Look at all that space underneath! I don’t know why it calls out to me so much. Perhaps it’s the simplicity. I, of course, have a pair for my Land Rover Discovery. They’re a perfect, inexpensive, alternative to a Safety Devices full-size roof rack that most (wealthier) Disco owners have. They’re even more perfect for my Rover due to it’s raised roof over the second and third rows, which includes the awesome alpine windows that in some ways define the looks of the Disco 1 and 2.
I’ve seen many of these crossbars on other old-school SUVs, hatchbacks, and wagons. Modern cars don’t use this design of rain gutter anymore, deeming these to be useless for anything made after, well, probably 2003.
So, how do gutter-mounted crossbars work? Throughout the 80s and into the late 90s, it was fairly common for cars, especially large SUVs, vans, and commercial vehicles to have “drip rails” or “rain gutters.” This would help water to freely flow off the roof and down the exterior of the vehicle, eliminating the possibility of buildup. Rain gutters were ditched in the early 2000s in favor of more aerodynamic and efficient designs, hidden rather than exposed. It’s important to clean your gutters to prevent leakage, a common plague found on us Land Rover owners. More modern boxy SUVs, like my Discovery (2001), continued to use exterior gutters as they began to fade away from existence.
Each gutter-mounted set of cross bars comes with four “feet” (two on each side of the car) that physically insert themselves into the rain gutter, pressing up against the vehicle’s body. A simple threaded bolt with a locking knob inserts itself into the foot and can tighten until it can no longer twist. Most, if not all, “feet” have a keyhole on them, whether it be an actual cut-key or a simple Allen wrench to lock it in place. Take a look at my setup:
See how it rests in between the body and the gutter? The “claw” of the foot wraps around under the outside part of the gutter, above the rear window. As you twist the knob, the entire foot tightens and clamps down comfortably within the gutter.
Obviously, follow the instructions carefully and adhere to all payload requirements. All automotive manufacturers implement a “payload rating” that states the maximum weight that the vehicle is capable of withstanding on the roof. Be sure to follow not only the vehicle’s ratings but also the crossbar’s capacity to prevent damage or warping, which can break and become a hazard on the road. My Discovery’s “on-road” capacity is 110lbs and drops to 66lbs for “off-road” according to the owner’s manual technical data. The crossbars themselves have a capacity of 220lbs, as per Thule.
Back to the Thule crossbars. Click this link and check out how well they work on this 80-series Toyota Land Cruiser, installed by the owner who runs an Instagram page called “The Common Gear.” Those crossbars, per a post from the owner, were stripped off an old Range Rover Classic that was scrapped at a junkyard. Recycling!
Speaking of the Range Rover Classic, Thule cross bars on them are just so heavenly. Look at this one that sold on Bring A Trailer in February 2020. It looks ready to tackle the snowy roads of Aspen, Colorado.
Also, kudos to the seller for taking great pictures. Folks, that’s how you sell a car!
60-Series Land Cruiser
They also work well on the FJ60-series Land Cruiser. Check them out on this 1989 I saw for sale a few years ago while searching for my first car:
Also, wow, $4,000 for a Land Cruiser. It would be triple that now, if not more. Take me back to 2019 car prices, please! I’d have so many old Land Rovers. Maybe don’t take me back then…
Isuzu Trooper
The Thules also look fantastic on this Isuzu Trooper, currently for sale in Sacramento. Is it crazy that I’d buy an old Trooper just because I like the way it looks with the cross bars on top?
Jeep Cherokee
How could I talk about “old” SUVs and fail to mention the XJ Cherokee? Once the most popular family SUV in America, I’m sure hundreds were roaming around National Parks with a pair of Thules on top. Rack Attack, an online retailer for, well, racks, outfitted a Cherokee with a pair of gutter-mounted crossbars. A nice, simple, and clean look that provides more flexibility and width than the stock bars.
Saab 900 and Volvo 240
Finally, heading back to the Swedes, I have to mention Thule’s iteration on Saab and Volvo. For heaven’s sake, they were designed specifically for them. Thule has long upheld a partnership with Volvo, as per their official webpage. Thelanjampod on Twitter posted a picture back in April 2020 of two infamous Swedish rivals: the Volvo 240 and Saab 900. Naturally, they are both outfitted with fantastic-looking Thule gutter-mounted crossbars and look ready to tackle the cobblestoned streets of Beacon Hill in Boston, Massachusetts.
I spotted the same 900 back in November 2019:
It was a heavenly sight in a heavenly city touring colleges I didn’t end up going to!
Anyway, those were a few of my favorite iterations of the Thule gutter-mounted crossbars. I love crossbars too much-I have a pair on my 4Runner and Discovery, as you saw. I use them to carry my kayak, SUP boards, surfboards, and fishing poles. Even better if they’re super high! Tell me if you have or have had these Thules and what car have you used them on. Do you also dwell on rooftops carrying cargo accessories as I do?
We use these for our Wrangler, no way am I drilling into the hardtop for a rack, these are an easy way to mount ski racks up there that can be quickly removed in between ski days!
Why do people have this obsession of calling a Land Rover or Range Rover a Rover? Yes the companies were at some times connected through common ownership, but they are not the same brand.
Probably because no one outside of small car circles knows that Rover was an actual car manufacturer some 60 years ago. If you say “I drive a Rover” today, 10 out of 10 people will assume you’re talking about a Land Rover.
Rover made cars all the way to 2005, so a bit more recently than sixty years ago. These days, in a reversal of fate, the name is owned by Jaguar Land Rover.
I would say that, since 2008, the name is owned by Tata Motors.
I have a pair on my Audi Coupe GT and the car looks so strange when I take them off.
Autopian needs to give their authors a quick lesson on its and it’s.
They also look great on the Durango. I have ’em on mine!
I used them mostly for generating wind noise and killing gas mileage.
Even better if you leave those giant “J” kayak hook carriers on your roof that look like antlers. Instantly drops 5MPG
Personally I can’t stand aftermarket roof racks, but if you like them, more power to you.
But… If you have a Tacoma, with a tonneau cover over the bed, and bars mounted to the tonneau, and a box on those bars – and yes, I have seen this combo, more than once – I’m going to laugh at you. Just get a damned topper.
THIS!! Agree 100%. Or people who put a bed cap on a Honda Ridgeline… just buy a damn Pilot!
I had to help a friend remove one of those luxury-style hydraulic fiberglass tonneau covers from his dad’s truck so we could use it for a dump run. Ridiculously heavy for what it was and took multiple people to lift.
If you have kids and need to secure strollers and bags they make sense though. You can always convert your truck back after they get older. Once you buy an SUV you’ll never make it into a truck.
Or just get a damn 4Runner. People are not rational.
Exactly why I bought a 4Runner and not a Tacoma
I have a ’60s Thule rack on my ’70s Dutch Volvo whereas my actual ’60s Swedish car must make do with a rack of uncertain age and origin. Any noise either one may make is entirely lost in the respective overall operational din anyway.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52805496441_eb89b3315b_c.jpg
Looks awesome!
Thanks! I’ve also got a Quik-N-Easy roof rack on my International. On all three vehicles I find them to be useful enough, often enough, to be well worthwhile.
https://live.staticflickr.com/1715/24819593354_97c4b84541_c.jpg
I hate my Yakima gutter mount round bar rack. I will be fabbing up something new as soon as I can. Thing I have most is that space between roof and bars. I’m already tall enough as is and can barely fit in my garage or some parking garages. Thule did it worst in my opinion – 1 1/4 inch by 7/8 inch rectangles? Nothing works with them that isn’t meant to. At least yakima used common 1 1/8 round bar.
That being said, I love having rain gutters instead of having to rely on nutsets in the roof. My 96 rav4 had a unique rack system that was rebranded Thule that hooked into recesses into the roof. It was not very strong.
Oh, they suck functionality wise. But they look so damn cool!
Disagree. I also dislike the way they look. But thats much more subjective. My round bars work – they hold my spare fuel, recovery tools and my awning, but they look really hacked together when I they are used, which of course they are.
I wonder if you could slide a SUP under the bars?
I’ve tried to see if I could slide my rotopax under them, but the crown of the roof doesn’t allow me. I need to bring my whole rack down at least an inch so I can still drive into my garage with new springs that are coming.
I need a set of these for the Defender, much more practical than the typical Brownchurch roof rack. I’m running OE Ford and Vauxhall cross bars on the Fiesta and Astra respectively which fit much better than most aftermarket options.
Defender, nice! What year?
1993 Defender 110 200tdi CSW pretty much standard (rust included). This year’s project is to get all the doors working properly and welding up the very crusty front bulkhead.
That’s a project alright, good luck
Shoutout Subaru for their retractable and adjustable racks on the Outback. The great amount of aero drag on roof racks comes from the crossbars. With Subaru they can be swung out of the way when not in use.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qs279kbkYY
I’ve always been a big fan of this design. Owners love them too!
Only part of my Subaru ownership I liked. Well, the heated seats were nice.
I have these permanently deployed for attaching both my roof box or my kayak (jeepers I am a Subaru owner aren’t I…) and they are great, they have almost 0 wind noise when deployed, especially when I compare it to the cross bars on my wife’s Kuga, man they are noisy, I should probably take them off, but the car looks mildly less mumsy with them on.
Citroen Berlingo Multispace had those as well (at least the older ones, don’t know about the new ones). Very practical indeed.
I think I have had every type of roof rack system ever made. I sometimes believe I am personally supporting the rack eco system by myself. The tall gutter mounts were essential on the old Series and Defender Land Rovers and even the Vanagon Synchro I had. I tended to take them off when not needed, since they tended to make those vehicles even noisier and reduced their pathetic attempts at aerodynamics even worse. So fast forward to the new Defender, all the Thule mounts and racks make a fairly tall vehicle even taller, making fitting it into a garage even more challenging. Kind of like to park out of the snow, call me weird. To that effect, I ended up making new feet adaptors to lower the unnecessarily tall adaptor come down 3/4″. Just squeaking in the garage with ski racks, whose mount adaptor I had to modify to lower them ½”. With anything on the rack it just would not fit. So loading and unloading had to occur outside. I personally gave up on mounting bikes on top of any vehicle after watching somebody clean the bikes off the top of their Subaru going under the ONLY tree in Moab.
I’ve seen so many pictures of people who destroyed their bicycles with roof mounted racks that I will never buy one. Only takes a brief forgetful moment to cause so much damage.
Roof racks don’t get enough consideration by carmakers IMO. I’ve had every kind of rack (gutter mount, tower, roof rail, etc). My two current cars both have factory flush roof rails that I attach aftermarket bars to, but they couldn’t be more different. The Volvo has ridged rails that the rack can clamp onto easily anywhere. Ideal design, but it’s noisy as hell through the pano glass roof. My Mazda flush rails *look* the same as the Volvo’s but have no ridges to clamp onto, so the rack has to screw into fixed mounting points that are a) too far back on the sloping roof and b) spaced too close together. Snowboard bindings don’t fit between the rails and long skis hit the tailgate when it’s open. A rare design fail on an otherwise brilliantly designed car.
Counterpoint: Roof Racks suck, they’re like the opposite of trailers in a bad way.
With a trailer the 1% of the time your average person needs to use one it hurts gas mileage, handling, and is somewhat loud. Luckily a trailer is easy to hitch and unhitch.
A roof rack has the same problems, but it is not easy to install nor is it easy to uninstall, so people leave them on even though they don’t use them 99% of the time, resulting in worse handling, worse gas mileage, and a ton more noise.
I think that automakers should put the effort that goes into making roof racks work for their cars into making their cars better for towing instead.
Countercounterpoint: trailers require either cost & space to purchase & store, or cost to rent one and then subject to availability from Uhaul or wherever – all more inconvenient than having a rooftop box or carrier.
Driving with a trailer even just when you do need it is going to be more inconvenient for most people, not even just the learning curve and maneuvering the vehicle with the trailer but finding space to park it if there even is space to park a trailer at your destination. With a box there’s roof height in parking decks or garages, but with a trailer…sure you can unhitch it, but who’s going to unhitch their trailer and leave it in a hotel parking lot while they’re out? Or wants to deal with hitching/unhitching it when trying to pack up and hit the road?
Any handling hit is probably negligible for the majority of people’s driving, considering the average driver isn’t performing any wild maneuvers especially in the types of vehicles people usually are throwing them on like SUVs. Plus there’s other use cases like First Last mentioned – snowboards, skis, bikes, kayaks…a trailer either doesn’t make sense or is far less convenient for those.
Your point isn’t wrong, and I think that automakers should make cars more geared for towing, like they do in Europe. Can you think of a single reason that every car shouldn’t come with a hitch receiver? They’re useful for recovery, bike racks, ect. if not for towing.
There’s an easy solution to roof racks’ aero penalty: make the roof strong enough that you don’t need a rack. If your car’s roof was corrugated and sturdy like a pickup bed, you could carry things up there without a rack, and with little to no aero penalty. If you did this on a wagon, it would nearly be a long bed, and really not much higher off the ground than many 3/4 ton pickups nowadays.
They used to make utility cars. Things like a 2cv that were built with work in mind. People wouldnt buy yuge pickups so much if they could buy a car that wasn’t useless for some light hauling.
I love the idea of a utility car with a cargo roof! I do sometimes use my roof like a pickup truck, carrying barbecues, furniture, lumber, etc on my rack. Remodeled my whole basement doing Home Depot lumber and drywall runs with just a Honda Accord. That said, a flat roof actually isn’t all that useful by itself for the most common cargo like skis, bikes, surfboards etc. You still would need sport-specific carriers for those and something to attach them to. Like….a rack.
Agree that there should be more consideration for roof racks from OEMs, but my Thule racks were hardly difficult to deal with—5 mins. on, 30 secs. off. I can’t speak for other systems, but anything similar in design shouldn’t be much difference.
I feel you, but trailers cost more, take up storage space, require a hitch on a car that doesn’t have one, and affects the driving experience more than roof racks.
I’m not putting 6 pairs of skis in a trailer
The youths these days seem to enjoy driving around with empty roof baskets ruining the aerodynamics of their otherwise sporty cars. I wave my fist at them like an old man yelling at clouds because they don’t enjoy their cars in the same manner I do.
You must drive a Lincoln Town Car, old man. Old clown man. Bozo.
I’m not a “youth” but I do tend to leave my rooftop accessories on all the damn time. I work from home so I don’t drive a ton and the 3 MPG difference when I’m shuttling kids around town is meh. Working smarter, not harder over here.
I’ve got a set of Yakima gutter mount bars on an ’86 BMW 528e. I use it to haul lumber.
That’s awesome. Love the 528e. A regular of mine at work has an 84, original owner. 314,000 miles!
Extra credit if your crossbars are made of 2x4s
I’ve got nothing.
Except that West Systems G Flex does wonders repairing those Thule roof boxes.
Good to know if I ever find myself with a broken roof box
Oh wow. This makes me so nostalgic. I had the same crossbar/bike setup as the Saab (I know what a Saab is) 900 pictured. It was set up on my ’82 Cressida in the late 90’s to haul around my beloved Diamondback Sorrento mtn bike. While it was somewhat a pain in the ass to hoist the bike up there and latch it in (thankfully I’m 6′ tall), I was really grateful to be able to haul my bike around to nearby trails in NH. It was also pretty handy to strap boards and materials to when doing house repair projects or building a beer-die table etc etc. Such a small upgrade but really adds a lot of utility to a basic sedan like the Cressida. <3 Thanks for posting this.
I had the clamp-on for my Focuses that hooked between the underside of the upper door cavities and the indent of what passes for a gutter today. Worked well, though I only ever drove with them on when transporting the kayaks because of the noise even with the “aero” bars, drag, and looks. I plan on using the bars on a utility trailer now that I have a GR86, which doesn’t have available tower clips and I’m not sure I’d trust with the aluminum roof if they did.
Owned many of these sets over the years. Still have some in the garage.
Most cheap ass roof rack I ever made was on one of my Citroën BX (Heuliez) diesel estates, which had “modern” lengthwise rails: Hose clamped two galvanized plumbing pipes across it. Worked perfect and the round stiff pipes took a lot more load than regular square black Thule ones.
When not in use, I always took mine off my Saab because you never know when a low-flying helicopter might pass overhead and inadvertently hook a skid.
That’s true. For all we know he could scoop you up and bring you right back to Sweden
All of Toyota Land Cruiser 70-series models are still using old school rain gutters.
The 71,76,78 and 79..
80 series have gutters as well, even though the port installed roof racks are nutserts. boo.
This article isn’t helping me sell my project 245, Rob. (:
Keep it! It’s tough parting with your project, believe me, I want to sell my Rover.
Just how much of a project is it – one that requires a trailer, or not?
IIRC, it may be in southern NH, unless you’ve relocated since your Lolvo days?
That roof box would probably more aero if it were turned around, so the bigger end was in front.
I’m personally not a fan of roof racks. The first things I took off my Subaru wagon were the factory cross bars to improve the aerodynamics and reduce wind noise. The reason that I like mainly wagons is that I can fit everything including my bike and skis inside. If I were into canoeing, I’d have to get a rack, but otherwise, I like keeping my stuff inside better protected from prying hands.
I have the same Thule Motion box as in the pic, and I’ve also wondered about carrying it backward lol.
As for wagons, they’re actually the perfect vehicle for a roof rack. Canoes and sea kayaks are kinda big to hoist up onto an SUV, and they’re too long to fit into most pickup beds. Stuff inside your roof box is also a lot easier to access on a low wagon. If Rob put a box on this Rover with the tall bars he’d need a ladder to see inside it! As it is, I bet he needs a stool to strap his SUP on there haha. I say that from experience and I’m 6’3”.
100%. I drive a little car with a roof rack b/c there’s no way my 5’4″ ass is getting a kayak or a bike on top of an SUV. It’s a sight to behold to watch me heave and shove the kayak onto the roof. Surprised I have any paint left …
Try shoving a kayak onto the roof of a Toyota 4Runner. That thing is tall and I’m about 6’1. You can see all the scratches on the roof line and above the windows, haha
Same in theory, but I drive around with my rack on my wagon all the time because if I pick up a lot of mud on my bike dirt ends up EVERYWHERE inside. I probably have to clean it 10x as much as the pickup truck I used to have.
I used Quick-N-Easy roof clamps for many vehicles and I have several extras of them hanging around as well. Similar, but uses a cam-lock instead of screws.
I disagree. They look like ass when there’s nothing on top of them.
Take them off when you’re not using them, ya lazy bastard.
Hey now. They don’t look that bad. Better than a bare roof, IMO
Freak! 😉
Fuck that extra noise. They’re so easy to pop on & off, there’s no excuse. You’d think a little extra noise in a brick like the Volvo 244 – not exactly the quietest interior to start with – wouldn’t be noticeable, but it’s annoying AF.
Yeah, it’s not always even the look of being lazy.
It’s also the sound. I can’t imagine putting up with the extra wind noise while knowing that I could stop it with less than five minutes of effort.
Crossbars are just noisy.
I have a Thule box like the one pictured above (a narrower version, same line) on some sort of Yakima teardrop bars on an old Volvo V70 wagon. It’s almost as quiet with the box in place as without anything at all; the bars make irritating noises at a variety of speeds sans box. They come off in a heartbeat.
There’s no extra noise if you turn up Carly Simon on full volume!
I’m with ya, Rob. I think they look good. And on Range Rovers, the noise isn’t a problem since they’re usually stationary, amirite? 😀
You are right!
I still have set of Thule crossbars and an air deflector covered in bicycle racing related stickers. I used them for bicycles and the occasional sheet for 17 years and ironically have no cars they currently fit. Since I had Ford Escort/ Mazda 323 and Saturn SL mount kits mine are standard height. As on your Discovery the tall towers were ro clear a raised roof like a Disco or the JDM high roof Landcruiser or myriad European vans. In the US you sometimes see them on truck canopies which normally used a bolt on mount but often had a raised rear section