Looks better than others but had to struggle a bit to mount it
Had to struggle a little bit to put it on my car (Honda Accord 2005, 4dr, LX).
My system:
400XTR Aero Rapid :
47" Aluminium Aero Bars : I feel these bars look better than the square and round black coated bars.
Thule set of 4 locks :
While the front side installed without much fight, the back side there was some struggle. With the help of a friend we were able to mount the whole rack system in 2 hours. However, before that I had spent 2 hours by myself and gave up. It fits too tight to the car, which is required and good. However, during the installation I felt there was no leeway in the spacing of rubber pads or the base (even a few millimeters). This means everything needs to be in right spots before you start to tighten the screws; otherwise one or other thing will not align later on and you will have to start again.
ex: if you tighten one of the 4 bases first thinking you will adjust the other end, it might not work; or probably later on the locks won't align.
I would recommend a 2 person installation rather than installing alone.
In the end, however the Aluminium bars look good on the car compared to the square or round coated bars.
Works great once installed!
Ordered the Thule Fit Kit for my 2000 Mercedes E430 Sport. Had a little trouble getting the kit installed w/ the Thule RB47 Rapid Aero Aluminum Roof Rack Load Bars and Thule 400XTR Aero Rapid Roof Rack Foot Pack, it was a bit of a struggle getting the screws locked in, since I was performing the install directly on the car roof. Once I took all the pieces off, connected the fit kit to the load bars and fit kit off of the car and then loaded all the pieces together it worked. I need to buy the Thule skirt so that it blocks out the wind noise while driving. While driving there are no issues - at around 75-80mph I had no issues.
Not bad at all
Installed on a 2007 Audi A4 sedan. Install went smoothly. Rack really looks great, much smoother than most. I also recommend the fairing.
Couple of tips for the DIYers:
1. You don't need to twist the foot handle until you break it when installing. If you bend the metal, you are doing something seriously wrong.
2. When putting the rubber weatherstripping in the load bars (do this after installing the feet and bars to your car), press them into the groove in the middle, then tamp down the ends (leave about 1/4" from the end of the bar clear of the weather stripping), then tamp it down evenly. Otherwise, you'll end up with rubber strip overhang that interferes with being able to put the endcaps on cleanly.
3. If you are putting locks on your rack, you can either punch out the holes in the handles first before putting the feet on the car, or you can punch the blank circles out when it is on top of the vehicle. If you choose the latter, have a pair of needlenose pliers available to fish the blanks out from inside the handles.
4. You need to push the handles in hard to close them after screwing them tight.
5. Attaching the fairing is simple. Assembling the fairing, while simple, is not easy. There is a step when you are required to push the middle anchors onto a clasp that requires significant hand strength. I'm a really big guy, and I found it very difficult. Point is, if you have a local bike shop that you can pay -30 for install, it is money well spent.
I like the system. Rackoutfitters had a complete setup for 8, including the load bars and the fit kit. Fairing was extra.
Design & Manufacturing Problems
Pros: Looks nice, aerodynamic. Cheaper than Yakima.
Cons: Shoddy quality. Cheaper than Yakima.
Used for 17' fiberglass kayaks.
To carry our touring kayaks, we purchased the Thule Aero system for our Prius, because it was significanly cheaper than the Yakima. To work properly, one needs to purchase the correct Fit Kit for the specific vehicle; this Fit Kit is attached to the foot with a plastic-handled bolt. The metal parts in the bolt handles bent during installation, and the cheap rivet holding one of the handles to its bolt sheared in two. There are plastic tabs in the handles that are supposed to fit into a slot on the Fit Kit parts, but 3 out of 4 tabs snapped off. Fortunately, the locks still manage to hold the handles onto the feet. The supplied measurements didn't work for our Prius, and we had to improvise.
Another disadvantage is that the aerodynamic bars need to be parallel with the ground, which doesn't happen if the vehicle's roof is curved (again, think Prius or VW bug.) This doesn't seem like an issue until the accessories are added to the bars, and they wind up tilted and not parallel front-to-rear. Since this results in only a single point of contact on the boat hull, this puts undue strain on the kayaks as well as the fittings holding the attachments to the bar. In this case, a round bar would work perfectly, as one could rotate the accessories until they're parallel and horizontal, supporting the boat across the entire pad. Due to the poor contact with the cradles, the boats are not secure while in the rack, and easily wobble 12" side-to-side. Plus, the amount of pressure needed on the straps to minimally hold the boat in the cradles deforms the hull. Bow/Stern tiedowns are crucial to avoid highway fly-aways.
We've got a Yakima rack on our pickup truck, and it works like a charm. I regret not purchasing a Yakima rack system for the Prius instead of Thule.
If you have a flat-roof vehicle, like a station wagon or SUV, the Thule Aero system would probably work very well for you. Curved roof, think round bars instead.
