Cross Bars and Bike Accessory Question
 

I have the Acura roof rails and cross bars installed and recently bought a Thule bike rack to attach to it. Does anyone know if our cross bars are the T-track system (shown below)? Meaning they have a built-in rail in them? Or do I need to buy an adapter kit?
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/acurazi...8bb5a08125.png

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/acurazi...cb7c30bd9b.jpg

I have roof rails and cross bars...there are no t-tracks in the cross bars. (I use mine to carry a Yakima cargo box on my roof for skiing in the winter).

Picture worth a 1000 words
 

Well if I understand your question, you can look at your RDX crossbars and see that there is no channel.

Not sure what adapters are needed but here is a pic of my ACURA crossbars in case you can’t get high enough to see yours.
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/acurazi...77c53ddb3.jpeg
Acura OEM crossbars

You all do realize you need to remove the black rubber piece to access the T-Track in the crossbars? This is a standard Thule crossbar, with Acura specific attach points to the roof rails.

Stupid is as stupid does
 

See! THAT’s why we use this forum. No I did not know this. Awesome.

I don’t really like the looks of the ends sticking out. But I’m gonna take them off once i can get the fricking dealer to give me the plugs to the roof rails to keep water out!!!

anyone know where to buy those little plugs?

Didn’t know you could remove it thank you

I’m also looking for the replacement rubber grommets that fill the holes in the roof rails. The dealer gave me the grommets but one was missing.

Hi Mark, unless I'm getting confused between the Thule crossbar and the Acura factory crossbar, but I do not believe the rubber blackstrip on the Acura ones are removable. I went through the installation PDFs of the crossbar and the Acura bike accessory and it says nothing about removal of the strip and availability of a T-track. My vehicle has the Acura ones.

Anyways I installed the Thule Upride bike rack! The rack came with the around the bar accessory. Here are the photos for your enjoyment.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/acurazi...b97496d408.jpg

Picture to the rescue
 

So based on everyone’s inputs I went to my RDX and tugged in rubber strip. Hope this helps.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/acurazi...45c6af10a.jpeg
Acura OEM crossbars with removable rubber strip.

Ok that helps a lot! I didn't realize that strip was removable. In the Thule videos online some say that you need to trim the rubber piece once you attach your equipment though.

Can anyone tell me if they experience excessive wind noise with the OEM cross bars? Some cross bars can be very noisy at higher speeds which is why brands such as Thule and Yakima offer more aerodynamic solutions.

Not excessive. I hear some whistling at 35-40mph (when the stereo volume is off). Otherwise, I don't really hear much. They are definitely louder than without any cross-bars, but I don't really notice it.

No noise is good noise
 

I have had mine on since 2 weeks after owning car. I’m trying to acquire the rubber Grommets to fill the roof rail holes so I can remove cross bars. Mostly to save a few ounces of gas.

I temporarily installed a cargo basket and there was definitely noise any speed >45. But with just bars, nothing that normal AC & radio don’t mask.
They are fairly high and that gap probably contributes to low noise.

Same... looking for the rubber hole plugs the dealer delivered mine minus one hole plug from the kit...their service is terrible so I won’t even bother going back there.

Checked Home Depot they have parts called a “hole plug “ but they are hard plastic and only had white color (I have black rails and crossbars).

Thanks! Can you also tell me if the crossbars have a locking mechanism to deter/prevent theft or are they easily removable?

Yes, there is a set of keys securing each of the bars to the rail.

Did anyone install the roof rails (not the cross bars) themselves? How easy/hard is it?

And where's the best place to buy the rails and bars?

Theres another thread on this website on installing the roof rails. Look in the DIY section. I read the post yesterday ... I would say it looks hard personally as you have to measure very carefully then cut into the roof in several places. The dealer installed mine.

Oemacuraparts.com is a good place to get parts.

I installed all the accessories on my car and I’d the roof rails were one of the easiest thing to install. I think it took me 15 mins tops because I was careful to not scratch the paint, no cutting required. The cross bars took me maybe 25-30 mins because I made sure it was aligned properly before tightening the screws.

Thanks for the reply. However, I'm confused about installing the cross bars. I thought there are holes in the rails. You just need to poke the cross bars into the holes of the rails and tighten?

I was hoping to keep the rails on and put the cross bars and bike rack on and off as needed. If it takes 20-25 min for cross bars and another 15 min for bike rack, that might be too long. :(

Here is the link to all the accessory installation instructions
https://acurazine.com/forums/third-g...ctions-969946/

I have not done this installation.

According to the instructions, there is no cutting required to install the rails.
The rails have 3 holes each and that you would cover them with caps. When installing the cross bars, you would remove some of the caps.

On the roof rail, there are holes that are covered by rubber plugs. You’d have to remove the rubber plugs to uncover the holes to bolt in the cross bars.

It took me a little long to install the cross bars because I want to make sure it was installed properly the first time. I think if you plan on removing and installing whenever you use it, you’ll get used to the process and it’ll prob take 10-15 to install and 5-7 to take off.

After extensive searching on the internet, home depot, auto parts stores, etc, I was unable to find the rubber hole plugs. Over my lunch hour today, I stopped by McGrath Acura in Chicago. The parts manager looked up the schematic diagram for the roof rails for me. The hole plugs are listed on the diagram as part #4, but there is no separate part # or SKU for them on the diagram. This is a "bad sign" (according to them)...because it means you cannot directly order these parts. When a dealer runs into this situation, it means they have to order an ENTIRE new roof rail kit to get the replacement part. They also commented that it's pretty unlikely you would find this part anywhere else. Seems silly to have to order a whole new kit, but this is exactly what the dealer would have to do if they were missing a part and it can't be ordered separately.

The manager went into the shop in back, and came back with a replacement grommet for me and handed it to me, SUPER nice people! They were awesome!

I know this probably doesn't help others find the missing grommets, but I will give a major shout out to McGrath Acura in Chicago for being the most awesome guys around!

You should have received 12 rubber grommets or hole plugs with your roof rail kit, if you didn't, go back and ask the dealer for them.

I used the crossbars over the winter for my Yakima sky box for skiing, and now that it's spring, took the crossbars off the car. Due to added wind noise, a little bit of reduced gas mileage, keeping them out of the sun over the summer and just appearance, I wanted to remove them for the summer months, so I will regularly take them on/off the car with the seasons. It was pretty easy to get them off. Haven't figured out how to put them back on yet, but just reversing the process, it shouldn't be too hard.

I would not that if you plan to leave them on the car year round, I would periodically remove the lock covers and re-tighten the allen wrench bolts down that hold it on the car....as they may work loose over time a bit.

What non OEM roof box will fit on the Acura cross bars?

Thule Boxster 611 ( superseded by Thule 612 Hyper XL ) fits OEM cross bars. Thule makes the cross bars and "feet", but AFAIK they aren't a style they currently sell aftermarket.

In regard to a previous post about the rubber being removable from the top of the cross bar, that will expose the T-track, but unless you can get the caps off the ends of the cross bars there is no way to attach Thule T-track accessories. My feeble non-destructive attempts to remove the caps have failed.

BTW, the holes in the sides of the roof rails accept small posts on the cross-bar feet. They aren't threaded for bolts. The bottom of the foot is basically a clamp. The "inside" portion is a Thule "fit kit" that should be compatible with Thule "Podium" feet, but they don't currently list those for aftermarket sale. Dunno why.

I think the "hole plugs" are purely cosmetic. I don't think missing hole plugs will cause any problem. But I haven't yet lost mine, so I haven't tested this theory. :rolleyes:

What about something like a Yakima skybox 16??

I have a Yakima Showcase 15 in Anthracite (I wanted to match the black ) on mine, love it !


im sure the Skybox would fit too.

There are 2 sets of holes on the foremost crossbar, you want to use the foremost holes for the crossbars which moves the box forward maybe 6 inches on the roof.

The allow the tailgate to open and not be impinged by the box.

With the Yakima showcase I’m pretty sure ou could even clear on the tear holes but I didn’t try i.

the showcase has the most liftgste clearance in the Yakima line I researched it pretty extensively.

In my case I don’t have a basement so storage of a skybox is an issue. I bought and installed a Harken Hoister in my garage which allows one person to easily lower the box on and off of the car and it stores away neatly by my garage ceiling


Another cool idea is to buy a rooftop step. It can be hard to reach items in the box. At home I can use a ladder but what do you do at the ski hill? Use cheap towels on the seats and door sills for one thing, but I bought one of these and carry it in my glove box

Dunno about "anyone", but I think you have answered your own question.

Aside from destroying plastic end-caps that may be difficult or impossible to replace, I see no way to access the T-tracks in these OEM crossbars.

I'm not even sure they are functional T-tracks, irrespective of whether you can get the caps off.

You could try Thule customer service.

What do you want to mount?

The end caps are removable. One of mine got yanked off unloading my kayak.

Anyways, there is a screw to remove them but it's kind of a pain because it's a tight fit.

thanks. yeah there's a hidden ish screw you have to remove before removing the end caps. the photos look like this in case anyone needs
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/acurazi...735f28482c.png

I'm trying to mount a ski rack, will follow up here once I actually mount it

Behold! Grommets
 

After 18 months of pestering and 2 dealer drops offs (normal and recall services) I asked again if they had spare grommets and finally I got some.
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/acurazi...6a414e771.jpeg
The mythical, unobtainable Roof Rail grommets.