[swfire271]

OEM Subaru Crossbars showed up last night. Found them on eBay for $160 shipped to my door. Got them installed this morning. Really easy to install - only took a few min. They even provided the hex screwdriver to tighten everything down!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

 

[Subir_roo]

Very nice! I have a set of these sitting in my garage so if anyone else is looking for them PM me, I even have the tool still I think! Mine came on the car but I swapped them for a thule set up.

 

[andthereyouare]

Just an FYI on these cross bars it says to crank 'em to a certain torque spec. The spec is too much, one of the clamps fell apart on me. I fixed it and all is good, now.

 

[swfire271]

Just an FYI on these cross bars it says to crank 'em to a certain torque spec. The spec is too much, one of the clamps fell apart on me. I fixed it and all is good, now.

Yeah I just tightened them by hand until they were good and snug. Didn't want to over-torque anything.

 

[chasem]

The car looks fantastic with those mounted.

 

[AlexAlejan]

Looks great! I am planning on ordering these soon myself, so I can throw my kayak up there. I read a review somewhere (maybe amazon?) that these oem bars weren't very good. For those of you who have them, what's you opinion?

 

[Subir_roo]

My XV came with the OEM bars. I swapped them out for a thule set up for a few reasons. First off you can't lock the OEM bars to your car so someone could run off with your rack, I've seen it happen. Secondly the bars are not flat/level like the thule bars so if you put a bike up there is got a bit of a lean to it. And thirdly the thule bars seem to mount much more securely than the oem ones do. I have my OEM set so if you'd like to give them a shot just let me know and you can have em for cheap. Honestly though for boats I'd recommend a thule set up.

 

[AlexAlejan]

My XV came with the OEM bars. I swapped them out for a thule set up for a few reasons. First off you can't lock the OEM bars to your car so someone could run off with your rack, I've seen it happen. Secondly the bars are not flat/level like the thule bars so if you put a bike up there is got a bit of a lean to it. And thirdly the thule bars seem to mount much more securely than the oem ones do. I have my OEM set so if you'd like to give them a shot just let me know and you can have em for cheap. Honestly though for boats I'd recommend a thule set up.

Thanks for your advice. What is the model of thule bars you use?

 

[CJBROWN]

I thought they were nice enough, they came on the car. But I took them off for less wind drag. Will probly get a basket to use with them when I really need to haul extra cargo. Would be perfect for when we start using the car behind the motorhome.

 

[Subir_roo]

I hope you've got a flat bed trailer to tote it around on! I'd like to see a RV towing an XV!

 

[CJBROWN]

I hope you've got a flat bed trailer to tote it around on! I'd like to see a RV towing an XV!

It will make an excellent 'toad'. Light at 3200lbs, and a great driver when we get to our destination.

The 5spd manual tows four-down. Roadmaster has the baseplates out for it, I already have a Brake-buddy and a towbar. We used to tow a Scion XB and a couple of Jeep Wranglers. Will post pix when it gets setup. The desert khaki isn't a perfect match, but it's a complimenting color.

Here's the rig with the XB:

 

[Subir_roo]

Ah yup, 5-speed flat tow for the win! It should look pretty snazzy!

 

[ClubCrosstrek]

They look great, swfire!

Thanks for your advice. What is the model of thule bars you use?

I second this question! Though, I may be interested in your OEM bars depending on how much the Thules are going for.

 

[Subir_roo]

It's the thule 450 foot pack and then cross bars. Usually in the ball park of $280-$290. I think you can order the full kit from thule or any local rack place should be able to set you up. I personally prefer the square thule bars to the round yakima bars as mounts are more stable. I'll snap some photos of mine when I get a chance.

 

[chasem]

I highly recommend searching ebay for the rack setup Subir recommends. I got the same setup for my XV and you can find them in great shape on ebay for 30-50% off retail if you're patient. At least for the feet and crossbars.

And I'm with Subir on the square Thule crossbars. I like how sturdy they feel with racks mounted to them, and they're more compatible with mounts than aero crossbars.

 

[AlexAlejan]

Do the square bars create a lot of noise and/or wind resistance? My only experience with roof racks have been with round thules and yakimas.

 

[Subir_roo]

Most bars do create noise, the square ones maybe a touch more. The noise is caused by the smooth flow of air around the bar resonating. To fix it (and this works with almost ANY bars) you can take a piece of black, or a fun color if you wanted, paracord and wrap it like a candy cane across the front bar. Once I get a picture up of mine you'll see I did that. It brakes up the flow of air over the bar and thus kills the noise! I found even the stock bars on this car made some noise, the thule bars made a bit more as they're not aero but once I wrapped them there's no noise from the bar that's noticeable, now I'm just back to tire noise.

 

[swfire271]

Yakima Frontloaders installed:

The reason I mounted them with the bikes facing backwards is so that the rear part of the rack doesn't hang out the back, which prevents the rear hatch from opening all the way up. This way everything is fully functional.

 

[AlexAlejan]

Most bars do create noise, the square ones maybe a touch more. The noise is caused by the smooth flow of air around the bar resonating. To fix it (and this works with almost ANY bars) you can take a piece of black, or a fun color if you wanted, paracord and wrap it like a candy cane across the front bar. Once I get a picture up of mine you'll see I did that. It brakes up the flow of air over the bar and thus kills the noise! I found even the stock bars on this car made some noise, the thule bars made a bit more as they're not aero but once I wrapped them there's no noise from the bar that's noticeable, now I'm just back to tire noise.

Thanks for the tip! From my brief searching it looked like the thule aerobars were a lot more pricy than the square ones. Good to know that I can reduce the noise.

 

[Subir_roo]

The aero bars cost way to much!

swfire271: I have my Rockymounts racks mounted bikes facing forward with no clearance issue but I don't have the larger wing so that's probably why yours wouldn't clear that way.