gungho_15

Looking at getting roof racks on my 2010 RDX for skiing. What's everyones thoughts on OEM or an aftermarket brand?

DRR98

We went oem on our '11. It has limitations. The front cross bar is limited in travel to behind the sunroof. The drawings in the inst instructions did not show this limitation.

say what

Just bought an OEM rack off ebay and waiting for it to arrive. Does anyone know if there are specific racks for a specific year model? The seller posted the part number as 08LO2-STK-202, but I've seen others selling with part # 08L02-STK-201 and 08L02-STK-203. What's the difference?

chipmunk

Just get the OEM roof rack and install it yourself. It is not difficult at all. I installed it on my '08 in about 2-3 hours.

I also only got mine just for skiing. I purchased the Yakima FatCat6 to go with the rack.

Here is an old picture.

wrestrepo

I think that the EOM rack will "look right", I haven't seen any RDXs with an aftermarket one. Having said that, the OEM has some limitations or annoyances. As mentioned before, it does not move forward pass the line of the sunroof, this doesn't sound like a big deal, but it can be. I was mounting a roof box and the back of it was crushing the antenna, and I couldn't mounted without it at least touching it (pushing it down a bit). And moving the crossbars isn't easy, you need a tool, is not like every other one I've seen that has a quick release lever or button.

Mr Marco

OP, I've been waiting for an excuse to buy the Yakima "Rail Grab" system with a couple of bike attachments. The OEM system looks the best, however as far as strength and overall flexability Yakima Racks offer the best/most secure systems. I will be buying a bundle with crossbars and 2 bike attachments for an additional $543 with my factory rails. The current set-up is not really that stable and the goons at the dealer can't be trusted to instal it as they already stripped a couple bolts on the OEM.



***If you wanted to add a Yakima only system it would range from $700-$1,200. They are the best on the market IMHO.

wrestrepo

I should clarify something, the limiting item(s) is the crossbars. I think that you can get the OEM rails, and then pick whatever crossbars from the aftermarket options.

DRR98

The o/e cross bars are one part of the problem with this rack.

The roof is wider in front than the back.

This makes moving the cross bar forward or back, limited by the cross bar length.

A longer bar would mount more forward. Where the sunroof is.

Where the issue of sunroof clearence also is.

Looks like a tilted s/r would hit the front cross bar, if it was mounted above it.

O/e solves this by limiting travel to behind the s/r, by the length of the cross bar.

The cross bar mounted behind the s/r is too far back to mount longer things (bikes, canoe) without some additional support(s).

wrestrepo

If the antenna wasn't as tall as it is it wouldn't be a problem, a shark fin antenna (as seen in the new RDX) would have worked well.

DRR98

Unscrew the antenna?

Won't help with the bikes. I need the back tires to sit on the rear cross bar, and the front forks clamped into a bike-tight mounted on the front cross bar.

With the o/e set up the back tire hits way past the cross bar on the roof. Not so much functionally beautiful.