Roof bars

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01-05-2008 | 07:11 AM

kirk

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Joined: Jan 2008

Posts: 29

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From: UK

My Ride: 525 saloon, auto, Silver, artificial leather, USB, 244 wheels

Having just found out that the saloon roof doesn't have bolt-on points I'm faced with the old BMW roof rails vs Thule. Any opinions welcome? I most worried about the door seals getting damaged :-(

Cheers

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01-05-2008 | 08:15 AM

HotLap

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Joined: Oct 2007

Posts: 880

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From: Left Coast, USA

My Ride: 2008 535i, 6spd mtx, Monaco Blue w/Beige interior. Sport, Preimum, Logic 7/HD/I-Pod/USB, Nav sys, rear sunshade, HUD, PDC, Split seats,

Quote:

Originally Posted by kirk' post='513980' date='Jan 5 2008, 08:11 AM

FWIW, I've had both the Tule and Yakima roof systems in the past and they are both great. I actually like the Yakima system best. No experience with the BMW system though...

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01-05-2008 | 08:35 AM

EuroCarFan

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Joined: Aug 2005

Posts: 11,432

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From: San Jose, CA

My Ride: E60 M5, F85 X5M

My brother is shopping around for roof racks for snowboards for his X5. We looked at BMW, Thule and Yakima and I think I like the ones from Thule and Yakima more. I'm usually partial to OEM equipment as much as possible but I didn't like the look of their snowboard/ski racks. I'm not sure if they're the same as for the ones on a saloon/wagon but the OEM carriers angle up on the sides while the Thule and Yakima ones are much more streamlined.

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01-05-2008 | 02:53 PM

nigxdoof

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Joined: Mar 2007

Posts: 5,434

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From: NYC, Rego Park, Queens

My Ride: 2004 E60 530i, 2012 E70 X5 35i

Model Year: 2004

I'll show you guys my rack. I have the BMW OEM support system on my car, with a thule snowboard rack. I just got from boarding today actually, one day trip. I'll take pics tonight and post it. The thule rack doesn't actually fit with the Big Mouth Clamp. Me and my father made some adapters with some bolts and slid in the BMW OEM rack perfectly.

=)

Edit:

Here are the pics of my rack retrofitted with a Thule snowboard rack.

As you can sort of see, the rubber is the only thing that is touch the top of the car.

Also the clamp part has a rubber so the metal doesn't scratch the body.

IF you guys have any questions, please let me know.

Normally the thule rack wouldn't fit, but thank god for home depot and some drills and bolts.

I spent 5 bucks to make an adapter that would fit on the oem support system.

MK

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01-05-2008 | 02:57 PM

iversonm

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Joined: May 2007

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From: Detroit, USA

My Ride: E46 330, E60 550 on order: Carbon Black/Natural Brown, 6MT.

I use a Thule rack on my wife's X3, and I'm quite pleased with it. The only downside is that it makes and awful racket if you try to drive with the sunroof open.

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01-06-2008 | 02:10 AM

kirk

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Joined: Jan 2008

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From: UK

My Ride: 525 saloon, auto, Silver, artificial leather, USB, 244 wheels

Very useful thanks! looks like the BMW bars still stress the door seals somewhere - Oh well. I think our main problem is not being able to detach the box/rails for a week while the car sits (sometimes in open car park) in the snowy car park.

FYI I have used a Thule roof box on the BMW bars on the old 318 - but had to do some DYI insode the box to get clearance increase.

Cheers!
Kirk

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