Does anyone know the min and max distance between the roof rack cross members? Looking to potentially fit a roof top tent

 

I don't think you can put a tent on the roof. Unless you weigh less than about 150 lb and you plan on sleeping in it alone, and what fun is that?

The weight limit on the OEM roof rack is 165 lb.

 

Great point, if I'm not mistaken, the OEM roof rack weight limit is what they consider the "dynamic" limit or in other words, when the vehicle is moving. Usually the static weight limit is much more than that.

 

Yes, the static weight limit is likely much more than the dynamic limit. And any specified weight limit should have at least a 50-100% safety factor. I would guess the roof of the vehicle and rails should be able to take 400-600 lb, or more, but I have no idea. Good luck getting an answer from Acura. I wouldn't be surprised if their answer is "Not recommended."

Also, most of these rooftop tents, hard or soft weigh well over 100-200 lb. by themselves. There may be after-market rails and cross-members but I would think the weight limit would not be significantly different.

To your original question, I don't know anything about the rails and cross members on the RDX OEM rack but I had the OEM cross members on my Honda Pilot and they were not adjustable. They were fixed in place and could not be moved.

 

I called acura to try and get more details on roof capacity limit and they just recommended 165lbs max regardless if it's dynamic or static. I did not think the agent had the information on hand and was just looking through car manuals.

 

Doesn't surprise me. Nobody is going to go out on a limb and suggest anything other than what is officially published from Acura. Unless and until Acura engineers test and validate how much weight the roof rails can support, and under what conditions, and publish it, you're on your own.

Then again, I've seen trailer hitches on VW Bugs, so people do what they do.

 

26" or 32" on center distance between front and rear cross bars. There is on 2 options in where to mount front bar and the rear location is static. in other words the bars cannot be slid forward or backward for multiple setups.

 

Appreciate the response, it's unfortunate that they don't give us more flexibility. Do you know by chance if the bars sit level with one another on a horizontal plane?

 

i currently have mine set on the “furthest apart” setting, which is used for hauling larger loads (10.4ft long kayaks in our case). The bars are not perfectly leveled plus they are curved.
The other setting which makes bars closer to one another is used for wind noise reduction. I will probably move the front one back for long trips.

 

https://acurazine.com/forums/third-g...estion-979484/
another thread that might help