I bet you take more than a 3 mpg hit when the rack is MT and 10-12 mpg hit when hauling the kayak. Not even mentioning the antics in a crosswind. Can I take videos?

More seriously, I continue to recommend Tractor Supply's $300 lightweight trailer for towing your kayaks and stuff rather than roof racks. No 3 mpg hit or 25% hit hauling kayaks on the roof.

 

Sure, video away lol. I'm not too horribly worried about the mileage when i have something on it. I'm not usually going far when i have something on it, but the work commute is what has me most concerned.

Because of the massive amount of rain ohio has been getting lately, I went kayaking yesterday and had a blast. The kayak actually fit inside the car with only the rear seats folded down. The nose stuck up between the 2 front seats a little so i'll only be able to fit that one kayak back there unless i convert to "long mode".

They haven't shipped the clips yet so it's looking like i won't get around to testing out the rack until next week sometime.

 

25% MPG hit from the kayaks?! That's a lot. I don't know if you'll lose that much, but it'll probably depend on how fast you're going. I can see more MPG hit as you go faster on the freeway, but at 40-60MPH, I can't see losing that much MPG.

 

Hey - just did the fill-up, and calculated 35MPG for the about the same weekly work communte with the racks on.

So I took a 3MPG hit with the racks and wind deflector on the car.

This is based off of just one reading - I was expecting less of a hit. One reading isn't really that valuable, but I'm not interested in keeping them up there, even though they look cool.

 

Thanks Smartsizer! I'll see what i get with it.

 

I have a Yakima bike rack, and honestly I havnt felt the gas mileage issue just yet. I also dont commute far from work. Thats becuae its just less than 5 miles from home. I would guess its the same as what smartzier gets though..

 

Drove from Culver City to Ventura and back 65-7- mph on the 101 freeway with 2 touring kayaks (one 16' and one18') on my thule roof rack and still got 30mpg. They rode quite nicely up there on 2 sets of J-racks.I didn't encounter any cross-winds, so don't know how that might affect the numbers or amount of sway.

 

I do take them off though for my usual daily commute during the week. It saves me a couple of miles per gallon according to my calculations. Make sure the feet are flush against the roof with no gaps. My racks were secure, but there was a slight gap on one of the feet. That, and a little sand shook loose from one of the kayaks, got between the rubber foot and the finish and resulted in some abrasions to my paint that I've not been able to get out yet.

 

Roof Rack.... always.

Attaching things to the rear of the car is ridiculous.

Then it is constant BS with trying to get in and out of the rear hatch.

If you are considering a roof rack, then you already know the obvious with the gas mileage. It does not effect the gas mileage that much. I have had mine on there for over two years, slammed with kayaks and still get over 36 mpg.

This is the thread to read.

https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/fit-...ht=thule+racks

 

'm weighing the option to sell the yakima and get something to put on the back or just suck it up and put the roof rack on.

My question, anyone have these on and how much of a mpg hit do you get? Also if you have pics, I'd be curious to see a Fit with a rack.

Thanks again guys![/quote]

After all the flak we strapped a 4x6x1.5 bag containing sleeping bags on the roof and drove to Charlotte and back. It cost us 4 mpg going down and 5 coming back at 60 mph..

 

Here are my pix I've posted recently rather than make you hunt them down in the search...



This is a 42" Yakima Rail system instead of the Q-tower/clips.

With just the Rails I see no mpg hit, pop the towers on I get a little wind noise, but didn't test MPG...but since I wouldn't drive with just the tower/crossbars I figure that is a mute point. This past weekend I put the behemoth of a cargo box on it and I drove 65mph highway and one day drove like a bat out of hell trying to get to my daughters play at the theatre camp...still made 32.5 mpg down from the normal 37.5 ... Also wind noise with the cargo box on was only slight...much less than just the crossbars by themselves.

 

Sans Thule fairing which I need to avoid annoying whistle when racks are empty. No fairing needed with kayaks on top, surprisingly stable and no audible wind noise at 65-70 mph on the 101 to Ventura.

 

Those all look pretty good. After some dealings with an outfitter to get the clips, i finally got the roof rack on. Here it is with the bike. I try out kayaks this weekend. I can't post mileage because i haven't gone through a tank yet.

 

I just don't think I would want to lift my 30 lb bike on top of my car onto a rack. Seems like too much of a pain after a tiring ride. I didn't even like the trunk mounted bike racks. I would rather deal with loading everything up in the hatch, then putting the bikes on a hitch mount like the Saris Thelma. Looks like it only takes a couple of minutes to put the bikes on or take them off and then you can fold down the wheel holders and be able to open the hatch door. YouTube - Saris Thelma Bike Carrier Demonstrated by Rack Outfitters

Does anyone have one of these and know for sure that the door will open with holders folded down?

 

Don't have these but do have $300 trailer from TSC that hauls the whole shebang easily and lets the rear door lift easily. Its very useful otherwise. And there are foldup trailers from Northern and similar.
TSC = tractor supply company.

 

You may be interested in reading my piece titled "Honda Fit Roof Rack Installation Instructions"; go to "search" at this site. The rack I used is so easy to take on & off, gas mileage is not an issue when the bars are not mounted. Idaho Jake

 

Honda Fit - roof rack pictures from friends & fun photos on webshots

 

not mine. But what i plan to do with mine.

 

Groggsie,

The guy's roof rack job looks good. The differance between his & mine is that his front pad is stationary & further forward than I wanted. I didn't want stationary because it limits ajdustability, esp for Yakima accessories. I didn't want my front pad that far forward because the rake of the roof being downwards toward the rear would make the nose of your load higher & thus wants to catch air & lift off. This consideration appies to loads likely to catch wind like a boat carried upsidedown or a mattress set or sheets of plywood, etc. I found the length of Yakima track specified in my article ideal.

Idaho Jake

 

From what my bike shop told me when I bought my Fit specific clips back in 2006, I may have actually received the first set sold through Thule.

https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/fit-...e-fit-kit.html

I had my car for a few months before I got the rack and once I installed it the first time, I never removed it until about a month or so ago.

Here's a couple things I've noticed in the 2 plus years I've had the rack on my Fit.

1. The little bit that the feet affect the window molding makes no difference to anything. Look at how your window rolls UP INTO the window molding. I have had zero leaks for an extended period of time.

2. Most of my day to day driving is around town and I am rarely on the interstate. I get between 285 and 300 miles on average between fill ups and looking at my receipts I typically fill up with 9.2-9.5 gallons. I guess that's between 30 and almost 33 mpg.

I don't have any official records from when I bought the car in 6/06 but I do remember being dissappointed after the first couple tanks that I wasn't getting like 35mpg...but coming from the WRX that got like 17-19 MPG in the same driving, I was happy enough.

That's a whole lot of words to say that basically, in around town driving, the rack has not made a difference.

I have no idea what my interstate MPG was before the rack but I know the last time I took an extended trip in the car with nothing on the rack, my best tank was about 335 miles so that was about 33-35 depending on how much it took to fill up. That's with the cruise set at about 70-75 depending on traffic.

3. When I removed the rack, the paint under the feet was completely fine but the window molding did stay slightly deformed. I will probably get out the ol' heat gun to see if I can heat it up a little to straighten it out....that trick worked on my Prelude way back when.

4. I carry bikes up top quite a lot and of course that does kill the MPG but it's still WAY BETTER than my WRX carrying the same load so I don't care.

5. I have carried many different things on the rack I otherwise could not have taken home without it. I have carried up to 3 sheets of 4x8 pieces of plywood on top using a couple ratcheting tie down straps. I carried a plastic kiddie pool, a giant kid wagon thing I though would fit in the car but didn't....