Ask MF: Best Roof Rack for an R50 MINI
This week’s Ask MF comes courtesy of Lisa:
>I want to purchase a roof rack for my 2005 Mini Cooper. Â Please point me in the
right direction. Â Should I buy Thule, Yakima, or other? Â Which is best/ easiest
to work with?  Which foot  packs, etc do I need?  I want to haul kayaks and
bikes. Â I’m sorry for all the questions but I keep getting different answers
from different websites and distributors. Â Thanks for any help that you can give
me.
We’ve had experience with Yakima and the OEM rack but would like to throw this out o our readers. Let’s hear it MINI owners, sound of below…
Related:
+ MF Quick Reivew: Yakima Rack / MotoringFile
<p>If you need a roof rack, get the MINI factory one. Very easy to install / remove. High weight capacity. Low risk of scratching the roof. Zero risk of damaging the plastic “drip rails”.</p>
<p>To get rid of the whistling with the MINI factory roof rack, remove the rubber strip from the front load bar.</p>
<p>I recommend the Yakima. It fits nicely, and has rubber feet to protect the paint. The locks keep it right where you need it too.
I also know where you can get one cheaper than anywhere else, let me know if you are interested…. 🙂 Sorry for the plug.
[img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3548/3798151198_724c855640.jpg[/img]
[img]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2422/3797335585_7612368b34.jpg[/img]</p>
<p>Not specific to this model, but for Clubman owners, we got the roof rails (factory installed option). A few weeks after getting the car my wife was planning a 400 mile road trip to visit relatives for a long weekend and we weren’t sure we could fit everything inside so we bought the MINI brand Cross Rails (82-71-0-435-867) for a bit over $200 and then the MINI roof box 1900x630x360mm (82-73-0-140-766) for about $450.</p>
<p>It worked very well and held a surprising amount of stuff. The box itself went from just a fraction of an inch in front of the antenna to hanging a bit over the windshield. Car drove fine and other than a quick check of the bolts, and a bit of tightening, before returning there was no problems with it.</p>
<p>Installation is pretty easy. I picked up the cross bars from my dealer, brought them home and installed in about 10 minutes. Includes everything you need including a torque wrench to make sure they are tightened the proper amount. A few days later I went back to the dealer and got the box. About 10 minutes in the parking lot to mount it and I was good to go. If you use this approach, make sure to bring the wrench for the cross rails with as you may have to fine tune the cross bar placement for the mounting brackets on the box.</p>
<p>Another vote for the Yakima. I’ve had a Yak Rack on my ’02 MC and now on my ’04 MCS. For me, I knew I was going to be driving into the garage with the bike on top and having an after market (tear away if you will!) rack minimized the damage. I had to replace the drip strip above the door window, which was no problem at all.
Imagine what would have happened if I drove into the garage with something bolted on. Ouch.</p>
<p>Here are some pics of the rack installed on my ’02 MC
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=roofrack%20mini&w=54993679@N00" rel="nofollow ugc">http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=roofrack%20mini&w=54993679@N00</a></p>
<p>If you decide to take the Yakima rack off, it’s a cleaner look as well.</p>
<p>I just purchased the Thule base system for my 05 cooper S. It’s rock solid! I put a 16 cubic ft. hard box on top, stuffed it full and had a great road trip. The box didn’t budge at all going 80+ MPH. It was the most cost efficient way for me to get extra storage, and Thule’s european design compliments the design of the mini well. Also, with all the components that work with it, I can use it for anything now. I liked this option over the factor rack because I didn’t have to drill holes in the roof. Oh, and the sunroof opens just fine with everything installed. I couldn’t be happier.</p>
<p>I have the dealer-installed (a/k/a “factory”) MINI brand rack for my 05 MCS. I don’t recommend it because the dealer has to drill holes in your roof. They seal them up, but if you have a less-than-careful tech doing the work (as I did) you have globs of silicone at all the holes. Snid is right, it is easy to take on and off. The trouble is once it’s off, you have 4 pairs of unsightly grommets showing. They give you plastic covers for them, but they’re slightly better than useless. The rack system is actually made by Thule, which I’ve had experience with (good and bad). I accidentally tried to pull into the garage with my bike mounted on top. No damage to the bike or car, but the garage door and bike carrier took a hit. I took the tray from an old Thule rack I had and swapped it for the bent one. If I had it to do over again (no do-overs here because you can’t undrill a hole), I’d go with the Yakima.</p>
<p>I’m with Snid. I’ve had each of the racks mentioned. I had a Yakima on one of my cars, and my parent’s truck (I didn’t like them much, or the round bars). I’ve had Thule on a few of my cars in the past, and my wife has an entire Thule system on her Forester (I prefer these, with their rectangle bars which seem a bit stiffer, and their products seem very well thought out). And finally, I’ve had two R53s, and I’ve had the OEM dealer-installed, bolt-on racks on both. For the same reasons Snid mentions, these racks are the best, and they are compatible with both Thule and Yakima products. I’ve mixed and matched with Thule on the MINI racks, and they worked great. They hold the most weight, are the stiffest/strongest, the best looking when on, and don’t look bad at all when off.</p>
<p>I’ve been in the outdoor industry for years and almost exclusively use Yakima racks. Their quality has been so good that my cars usually get replaced before the racks do! A couple of new clips and the racks swap right over to the new ride. They also have, IMHO, better ergonomics than the Thule products. The bike holders are easier to use and tighten, especially for my wife. I like the clean mounting of the factory setup, but I would never cut into the roof of my car just for a rack!</p>
<p>A huge plus for my Yakimas has always been the ability to rotate the accessories on their round bars which you can’t do on OEM or Thule. What that means is that, when I’m not using them, I can take my snowboard holders and rotate them flat so that they don’t create as much drag. It reduces wind noise and increases my highway fuel economy. Bike wheel holders and Kayak holders can also be rotated down. The up-side to this is that I can leave the snowboard holders on year-round in the middle with bike holders on either side and just rotate the snowboard stuff up come winter. I never have to take anything off!</p>
<p>Do the Yakima towers crush or damage/mar the rain gutters under proper tension? Or do they interfere with the window operation?</p>
<p>Mini-fini is the best solution I have found, and the one I own. It allowed me to use any hitch rack I want (because I ordered mine with a 1.25″ hitch). I needed to carry more than two bikes and I don’t like hanging that much weight off of a strap type rack. Definitely didn’t like the idea of drilling holes into the roof, it rains everyday here and I was afraid they’d eventually fail. Not the cheap solution, but I am happy with it.</p>
<p><a href="http://minifini.com/" rel="nofollow ugc">http://minifini.com/</a></p>
<p>@<a href="#comment-265384" rel="nofollow">Steve Grobben</a>:</p>
<p>I’ve had no issues with mine after 5+ years with deformation. There could be an issue with some rubbing if you leave it on year-round, but nothing major.</p>
<p>The OEM rack is the best for hauling heavy/bulky stuff on the roof. If you’re looking to haul Kayaks and other bigger items I think it’s the way to go. If anything happens you can always go back to the dealer and have them fix it. If you go aftermarket and something breaks, you have nobody to blame but yourself. Piece of mind is worth something.</p>
<p>I use a Yakima. Got a great deal on it on caigslist. I had a Thule on my previous car (vw jetta). I hated it. The Yakima build quality feels a lot better and comes on and off easier.</p>
<p>Used a Thule rack system and box for MINIs on Top a few years back. Used the the same Thule system for bikes on the MINI and on a previous Civic. Have no complaints about the Thule rack. nice and solid, left little dents in the rain gutters – but they went away after a few weeks of the rack being removed.</p>
<p>I have a Thule rack for our MINI. It’s by far the best rack I have had. I used to have a Honda Accord with a Yakima rack; I think the Thule is stronger and easier to mount. I recommend Thule by a mile.</p>
<p>I’m a big fan a 1-1/4″ receiver-style hitch (especially the MiniDoMore) that accepts any standard accessory out back: bike racks, cargo trays, hitch, etc.</p>
<p>I much prefer having the bikes out back than on the roof for the following reasons: less wind resistance, easier to lift, less risk of roof damage/drops. (Side note: for carbon or aluminum frames, wheel or fork mounted racks are recommended over the clamp-on-frame style.)</p>
<p>I have had the factory racks on both my 2002 and 2006 MCS. Never had any issues with leaking. The bolts keep the rack safely off the surface of the roof, so no issues of scratching the paint if the roof isn’t perfectly clean when the rack is mounted.</p>
<p>Best things about the factory rack system are; (in no particular order) double the load capacity of either Yakama or Thule @ 75kg (165lbs), no problems with the plastic rain gutters, solid universal mounting accepts many accessories from other manufacturers, once any accessory is mounted on the cross rails the rack is quiet at any legal highway speed (or even more), I can fit two 15′ roto-molded kayaks 56lbs each, or two bicycles, or a cargo box or combinations, easy to remove when not needed or replace when you do. As for the bolts sticking out of my roof I just tell people, if asked, they are “Frankenstein bolts”. I gave up on the covers. The white ones fade and yellow and they never made any silver ones to match my silver roof, so when the rack is off, which is most of the time, there are 8 bolts sticking out. No big deal.</p>
<p>You can see the rack with a bicycle and cargo box mounted here; <a href="http://www.mini2.com/galleries/showphoto.php/photo/10149" rel="nofollow ugc">http://www.mini2.com/galleries/showphoto.php/photo/10149</a></p>
<p>Hi all, I have the factory roof rack mount from mini and I am trying to remove it for the winter. I can not figure out how to remove the clip from the car. Anyone have an answer or advice?</p>
<p>thanks!</p>