The need for roof bars is increasing every day due to their convenience and efficiency. Every cargo-carrying system depends on the equipment for them to fit on your car flawlessly. It is one of the main things that you must take a look at before deciding the type of roof rack to install on your vehicle. That is why you need to be conversant with the different categories of roof bars and how they affect the outlook of your car. This post contains everything you need to know about roof bars. By the time you finish going through it, you should have a clear insight on what to look for in a roof bar and which type of equipment is suitable for your vehicle.
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Types of Roofs for Roof bars
The type of roof bar you get depends on the type of roof your car has. While some vehicle comes with naked roofs, thus allowing you to install almost any type of roof bar, most of them come with a rail system. The system provides an attachment point for your car, and so you can’t install any roof rack you want. Some of the most common roof types include:
Raised Side Rails
- Just like the name suggests, this is the type of roof that comes with raised rails on either side of the car. They often leave enough room for fastening a roof rack.
Flush Side Rails
- The flush side rails are a bit similar to the raised side rails only that they have no space between the tracks and the car roof. They tend to run parallel to the car doors and are easily noticeable.
Tracks
- There are two types of tracks, the ones that come with the vehicle or the ones that you individually install. They consist of long metal tracks that run parallel to the doors.
Fixed Points
- These are a total of four attachment points that you are going to find on your roof. You can find them on flush side rails or raised side rails
Gutters
- Gutters are metal ridges on top of your car doors on either side of the vehicle. If you are not observant enough, you can barely notice them.
The above categories of roofs decide the type of roof bars that can fit your car. Without paying keen attention to the car’s roof, you risk purchasing roof bars that don’t fit. It is also what determines how you are going to install a roof rack basket that is in case you are planning to carry quite a lot of gear.
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Types of roof bars
You can now go ahead and have a look at the various types of roof bars. There are three types of roof bars, depending on their design. There is the square roof bars that come with steel material and a black coating. There are the wing bars that which are famous for their aerodynamic nature. Lastly, there are the aero bars that come with light steel material. From these three categories and the type of roof your car possess, you get:
- Roof bars for cars flush mounting roof rails
- Roof bars for vehicles with raised roof rails.
- Roof bars for cars with tracks roof rails.
- Roof bars for cars with gutters.
- Roof bars for cars with fixed points.
It is thus clear that you can’t walk to a store and pick any roof bars you want. You need to pay attention to know the roof type your car has for you to make a selection that is going to fit flawlessly.
Roof bars installation
Many people tend to have a problem with the roof bar installation process. Roof bars installation is simple only if you are the type of person who follows instructions to the latter. At first, you need to go through the instructions and make sure you keep every point in mind regardless of how simple they seem. You should then go ahead and ask for an extra pair of hands. Help is essential in ensuring you have an easy time fitting the roof bars without damaging your car.
The next step is to ensure the bars fit nicely. That is why you should pick the roof bars that sync seamlessly with the roof of your car. If they don’t, you are going to have a big problem fitting them together. Use lubes to lubricate any bolts and nuts before fastening them on your car. The step is going to give you an easy time in the future in case you want to swap or do away with the roof bars. Clean the fitting area of the car before you go ahead and screw in the roof bars. Doing so ensures that no dirt is going to give you hard installation time.
How you screw your roof bars is very important, pay attention to the manual on the amount of torque. Screwing too lose is going to make your roof bar ineffective. On the other hand, screwing too tight is going to damage your roof bars. While installing be careful so that you don’t scratch the car.
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The process of picking and installing a roof bar sounds intense, but with this post, you are going to find it completely easy. Every roof bar has a distinct design that requires a specific roof type. Matching the two ensures you have an easy time installing roof bars on your car without having any problems whatsoever.
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