Roof Rack for e36?
Ken Greenebaum
I need advice on a roof rack system for my e36 sedan. I want to carry
bicycles and skis.
Should I go with a conventional Yakima/Thule rack (I love my present Yak
rack, but it is setup for gutters), or go with the BMW rack (which may be
OEM'd by one of the big rack makers anyway).
This is my first car w/o gutters and I am at a loss...
-Ken
Ricardo Barnes
Thule has a nice set up that I am currently using on my 328is. Yakima has
one too. If you already have a Yakima set, go to a dealer that sells Yakima
racks and inquire about the adaptor for your car. You will save some bucks
this way.
Ricardo
Beau Bannerman
I have the BMW rack for my 98 M3 and I don't believe it is OEM'd by anyone -
if it is, please let me know so I can find some more attachments possibly!
Anyways, I like it better than the Yakima or Thule options because it
mounts to bolts hidden in the rain track (under the rubber seal). The big
advantage of this is that the system is totally supported by these bolts and
when the rack is off there is no visible marks on the car from the rack
system. The Thule and Yakima support themselves with towers that sit on the
roof "protecting" the roof with rubber pads. Scuff marks are invariably
left and also, the clips that hold it too the roof often throw the doors
slightly out of alignment and chip the paint on the door slightly (I have
had Yakima racks for a long time on many different cars!)
The down side is that you are stuck with the attachments made by BWM.
Neither Yakima or Thule (have called them both!) offer conversion adapters
to mount their accessories on the BMW rack. This sucks for me since I am a
kayaker and none of the BMW accessories assist me (I use my BMW mountain
bike rack to very inefficiently hold my paddles and then I stap my boat on
the other side of the rack - I would like to have a paddle holder and a
kayak stacker so I could fit more than one boat on my roof!)
Beau
98 M3/4, Cosmos Black
Ken Greenebaum wrote in message ...
Iain Massey
>The down side is that you are stuck with the attachments made by BWM.
>Neither Yakima or Thule (have called them both!) offer conversion adapters
>to mount their accessories on the BMW rack. This sucks for me since I am a
>kayaker and none of the BMW accessories assist me (I use my BMW mountain
>bike rack to very inefficiently hold my paddles and then I stap my boat on
>the other side of the rack - I would like to have a paddle holder and a
>kayak stacker so I could fit more than one boat on my roof!)
>
>Beau
>98 M3/4, Cosmos Black
I was thinking of trying to source J bars for a Kayak on my 95 M3 4Dr,
Beau.
With the original BMW rack, do you have to unbolt it everytime, or is
there a "quick release" system? If so, how much of the rack is visible?
Maybe we should contact BMW "en-mass" ?
--
Iain Massey
Final Cut Multimedia development
Crag House, Farleton, Cumbria, LA6 1PD, UK
Tel: +44 (0)1539 567166
Fax: +44 (0)1539 567268
www.finalcut.co.uk
Beau Bannerman
>I was thinking of trying to source J bars for a Kayak on my 95 M3 4Dr,
>Beau.
>
>With the original BMW rack, do you have to unbolt it everytime, or is
>there a "quick release" system? If so, how much of the rack is visible?
>
>Maybe we should contact BMW "en-mass" ?
>
The BMW rack mounts to two "bolts" for each of the four "towers" and these
bolts are located under the rubber gasket along the roofline in predictable
locations. The towers slip over these nonadjusting bolts and then there is
one "screw-bolt" in each tower that is tightened.
It is a pretty cool rack - once it is initally setup and adjusted it can
there after be added and removed from the car in 2 or 3 minutes. Just
tightened or unscrew the four securing "screw-bolts" and it is on or off.
I just wish they had made the crossbars compatible with either Thule or
Yakima. Instead it is a track that runs across the top of the bar.
Beau