Thule Roof Racks Decomposed — What You Need to Know Before Purchasing
As the new owner of a Subaru Impreza, and an avid snowboarder- I decided that I needed a roof rack to maximize the utility of my small hatchback. “Oh yeah, scour craigslist and i’ll be able to get one on the low for a hundred bucks” I thought to myself. After perusing craigslist, I found a whole setup for free! Jackpot! I quickly reached out to the owner of the listing and picked it up the next day.
After greeting this craigslist-stranger, and going into his garage to get the item, I hurriedly measured the length of the rack across the roof of my car, “it fits- sweet!”, before I tossed it into the trunk and sped off, as if the owner was going to come back and say that he wanted it back. It was a bit dirty, but hey, it was free and nothing a little soap, water, and some elbow grease couldn’t take off. So I brought the rack home, cleaned it off, and decided to figure out how to mount this thing.
I quickly realized that the thule racks are much more complicated than they seem, and this kit that I just got for free definitely was not going to fit my car. Knowing that I needed a custom “fit-kit”, but not knowing quite what that was, I reached out to a Thule support rep via their portal and was informed that the rack I got for free did not fit my car by just 1 year. I considered attempting to use the rack anyway, but then I immediately envisioned rocketing down the highway at 70 miles per hour and the whole rack and snowboard flying off the top of my car, only to be devoured underneath the wheels of an 18-wheeler- I decided that getting the right fitment is imperative. I decided to start from the bottom up, and do my research on each part.
In your research I would suggest first to use Thule’s online tool to identify the what parts match your car. I found out just how important is is to know what kind of car roof you have, whether it be raised railings, fixed point, rain gutter system, or even if you already have a factory installed roof rack. Since my car has no mounts or rails, I had a “fixed-point” system, which just means the manufacturer allows for mounting via hidden screw points.
From there I had to figure out, crossbars, foot packs, fit kits, and other accessories, and I had no idea of what any of them were, breaking it down they are the following:
Crossbar: This is a bar that stretches across the width of the roof of your car. Accessories and mounts for items such as bicycles, kayaks, skis that are purchased seperately are mounted directly to this component. The standard low cost option from Thule is the 50" square bar, which is quite literally a 50inch square bar. There also is the aeroblade, which allows for quicker and easier mounting and dismounting off racks/accessories. The crossbar is the most agnostic piece of the core Thule roof rack because it can be used with different foot packs, and accessories.
Foot Pack: The foot pack consists of four “feet” that connect each end of the cross bar. There are several different types of foot packs available, and the specific model that you should choose is dependent on the make, model, and roof of your car. If you already purchased, or inherited a cross bar, then verify in the technical requirements of the product page before purchasing your foot pack. Unfortunately for me, when I purchased my footpack, I recieved the thule podium 460R, which stands for “rapid”, thus did not fit the existing cross bar that I had.
Fit Kit: The Fit Kit is the proper mounts and rubber feet that attach to each individual foot in the foot pack. This is the most specialized component of the roof rack, as it MUST match your car directly. The rubber pieces act both as protectors to the roof of your car, and a way to perfectly match the contour of your roof. If you are unsure about whether or not you have the correct fit kit, I would suggest using the thule link above, or reaching out to a thule representative.
Now that you have found out what each component of the roof rack is, you should be able to identify the proper fitment and parts for your vehicle! If you have inherited any parts like I did, I would recommend starting small and buying each piece individually. BUT if you have the money to spend and don’t want to spend time researching, I highly suggest you buy a complete rack set up, like this one! Don’t forget that the roof rack just enables you to buy all the accessories that are specific for transporting goods!
But Hey- if you happen to have a 2009–2011 Subaru Impreza, here are the following links to get set up with the same Thule set up that I have!
