A Garage Education: Essential Auto Accessories, Substitutes and Ideas
How to Choose the Right Roof Rack
Letitia Thomas
Roof racks are a great solution for helping to provide more storage space for your vehicle. They can be placed on top of your vehicle to hold a roof basket or items such as bicycles and kayaks.
Types of roof racks
There are two main types of roof racks that you can choose from. Square roof racks are the most widely used; they are typically made from steel and coated with a black finish. Aero roof racks use rails that are in the shape of the letter T. Due to their structure, they tend to use less fuel than square roof racks.
How to install roof racks
The parts for roof racks are typically sold separately. This is because different fittings are required depending on the size and shape of your vehicle. The parts needed to install a roof rack are the roof bars, the feet which are used to join the bars to the vehicle and the fitting kits which attach the feet to the roof of your vehicle. If your vehicle already has rails, then you may only require bars and feet.
Weight limits
Roof racks have limitations as to the level of weight that they can safely hold. This will be listed in the instructions provided with your roof bars or on the packaging of the roof bars. You should also check the weight limit for your roof as this could be lower than that of the roof bars.
Roof basket
Before purchasing a roof rack, ensure that you check the size of the roof basket that you will be using if you will be using one. This is because some roof racks may not be wide enough, or they may be too wide, to hold certain roof baskets.
Cost
The cost of roof racks varies greatly, depending on the type of material that they are made from and the shape of the roof bar that you choose. Roof bars can be made from aluminium or steel. Aero roof bars tend to be more expensive than traditional square roof bars. Aluminium roof bars are generally costlier, but they offer a number of benefits. Firstly, you can typically use the entire length of aluminium roof bars to hold items, whereas steel bars can have fittings which obstruct the end lengths of the roof bars. Additionally, aluminium roof bars produce less noise during movement than steel roof bars. Furthermore, aluminium roof bars reduce drag during movement which decreases the level of fuel used when compared to steel roof bars.
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I grew up in the garage. In fact, even our house was practically a garage – we had a ramp to our front door so my dad could park his motorbike in the house during the winter. As a result, I learned a lot about auto accessories. I love to write so decided to create a blog about it. I am going to discuss which accessories you need, which you can make yourself, how to use them in multiple ways and how to spot the best quality. If you are shopping for or thinking about auto accessories, please explore. these posts. Thanks for reading. My name is Maddie.