Roof Rack 2008 Prius

[Sassafrass]

Hi there,

I suspect this has been covered, but I haven't found where, so apologies in advance.

We have a 2008 Prius and would like to put a roof box on it for a drive from London to Austria.

I have been advised by one of the Roof Rack companies that a Thule Touring 100 or Touring 600 would be suitable and that any bar style would be ok. I have several questions.

1) Advice on the type of Thule bars to choose? Square ones are cheapest. There are fancier one. Any that haven't worked on a Prius? Any concerns I should know about?

2) What about my aerial? Can the Prius accommodate the Touring 600 (at least 175 cm long) without bashing the aerial? Don't want to have to return a box bought by post. I read some time awhile ago in Prius Chat that the aerial can be replaced with a lower profile one, but is this so? New Prii seem to have ones that can fold?

3) I'd rather have a longer box that can accommodate our aged skis (new skis are shorter these days). Anyone used a box longer than 175 cm?

4) Is my Prius going to take flight on the Autobahn with a rack on it?

Many thanks in advance.

Jess

[FROSTYBALLS]

Just a thought - Toyota are selling their roof bars for £149. See http://www.toyota.co.uk/accessories/touring-accessories

[barrycoll]

I bought a pair of roof bars for a 2013 Prius, to carry 2 windsurfers +

Bought them from gttowing.com and they spent a long time fitting them for me......bit of a faff getting them right

I bought the aero bars because they look better, and when not using, I have slid them both to the back to the roof, where they look quite good, and out of the way.....and dont 'seem' to affect the mpg at all

cost £175 all up........the aerial takes a small bend without any probs....and then 'recovers' OK

[Sassafrass]

Thanks Frosty. I will take a look. The Toyota bars seem to sit closer to the roof than the Thule bars, which could be a good thing (maybe less effect on the balance of the car... and I'm short), or a bad thing (if the box then rests more heavily on the aerial). May be around the faff barrycoll just described above. Or maybe not. There was one earlier poster here who said his window gaps weren't exactly to the right spec to use the Toyota bars.

Thanks, barrycoll. I was heartily assured by the two online purveyors I talked to that it would be no big deal to install the bars. Spent forever doing similar with Yakima bars on a Subaru last summer and it was really frustrating. May consider going to a local-ish shop. Would you recommend gttowing.com? Was the long time spent fitting a function of the difficulty of the task or the competence of the fitter?

[FROSTYBALLS]

I think the Toyota roof bars are probably made by Thule .......

[barrycoll]

Interesting question Jess!

However, the time spent was a reflection of needing to centre the bars from the top of the windscreen line, for the front, plus centres from the midline, and then for the rear window as well....not to mention actually assembling the variuos component parts, which even the lads at GT took a while to get the measure of...

yes, very nice and helpful crowd, slightly discounted price, where I also bought a Thule tow bar bike rack for the Prius...

I have marked with an indelible pen on the underside of the roof line, where the bars are supposed to go when functional, as otherwise I would have to go through all the measuring business again...

I would use them again with out any doubt

...........you would think that the Toyota factory would indicate the strongest support point.....but they DONT....they say just how many mm in from the windscreen!!!

[Veet]

Hey Jess,

Check your private messages, I have Thule system Roof Rack + extras, if you interested to get yourself a secondhand bargain. :)