Roof rails - do they spoil the lines?

I like the look of them, think it flows well with lines

Nice, I had a Z4, but the 2.5i, then traded that in for the 335i Coupe, Good cars, Rapid and even more so with a Tune!! Will wait and see what the New M3 will be like in a couple of years time!!

Better stop all this BMW Talk before we get Banned by the RR Police!

(22-12-2011 10:27pm)THEMACS Wrote:  Nice, I had a Z4, but the 2.5i, then traded that in for the 335i Coupe, Good cars, Rapid and even more so with a Tune!! Will wait and see what the New M3 will be like in a couple of years time!!

Better stop all this BMW Talk before we get Banned by the RR Police!

(22-12-2011 09:43pm)PAT Wrote:  I think it enhances the look of the Evoque and will be adding black rails to mine.

My thoughts exactly - I was worried but seeing Cutter7's they do enhance the look; it is an SUV / 4x4 after all.

(22-12-2011 10:34pm)Coolbanana Wrote:  My thoughts exactly - I was worried but seeing Cutter7's they do enhance the look; it is an SUV / 4x4 after all.

I agree.. looking forward to the lakes with box and trailer. oh and dog...

(21-12-2011 11:43am)WB Wrote:  There's a thule bar kit that will fit without the rails if you have a 5 door Evoque - I think I'm going to go for that so I don't have to have the permanent rails.

Great! Do you have some more info here? Picture? Productnumber?

I put the rails on my white 4 door pure. I swear from 30 feet they blend right in with the glass roof and you can't even tell they are there. Stare at them for 5 minutes and walk around the different angles... it is really hard to spot them.

It took me 3 bloody hours to install them. It was not the rails that were hard to put on, but getting the finishers to sit flush. Finally I realized i needed to use a dremil tool to remove a bit of plastic to get the finisher to go down a bit more. It was not just the flush finisher line that bothered me, but if the finisher stuck up then the plastic finisher for the rail itself would not go on. Serious pain in the ass to install.

The cross bars on the other hand went on easy but are a pretty big disappointment in terms of style and functionality. They stick REALLY far up, which looks bad and precludes me from using a box as it won't fit in my garage. I hope one day Thule makes a system to put their crossbars on the RRE's factory roof rails. On the other hand the factory cross bars are quite streamline and they are quiet.

The other RETARDED thing about the factory system is that you only have 1 option for location of the cross bars as they have a pin that drops into a hole on the roof rail. This is fine if the location is good... but it is NOT! The bars are located in such a way that when you use a ski/ board carrier you cannot fit snowboard bindings between them. So rather than sticking a snowboard in with the bindings in the middle, you have to put the board hanging a like 40 cm off the front and 8cm off the back... looks very dumb. I guess I could drill new holes in the factory rails, but that seems like it might not work as the holes are on a round... so the drill will just want to wander. So I think I will be driving around with my board hanging off the front.

I would have gone with the Thule rack system but 1. they were not going to have them available until about now, and I have had my other system on for 2 weeks. and 2. I do not trust the Thule roof clips to be as strong as the factory rails.

So I guess I will just hope that Thule comes up with a cross bar mounting system to put their cross bars on the factory roof rails.

My experience is similar to your's Calef, took me ages to install the rails - the left one went on easily compared to the right but I broke a clip so alignment was a major pain.

The finishers are easy on the front but difficult on the rear - still not perfect on mine.

But I do like the rails and think the car actually looks better with them. I agree re the crossbars, they do sit quite far forward and no adjustment isn't ideal. I use the cradle in the pictures I've attached which works pretty well - I have left it attached to the bars and it is easy to put on again when required.

               

(13-01-2012 07:22pm)Coolbanana Wrote:  My experience is similar to your's Calef, took me ages to install the rails - the left one went on easily compared to the right but I broke a clip so alignment was a major pain.

The finishers are easy on the front but difficult on the rear - still not perfect on mine.

But I do like the rails and think the car actually looks better with them. I agree re the crossbars, they do sit quite far forward and no adjustment isn't ideal. I use the cradle in the pictures I've attached which works pretty well - I have left it attached to the bars and it is easy to put on again when required.

Your photo's Looks great..i do agree they make the car look like what it's all about!!

I used my rails and bars over Christmas with the roof box, driving up to Durham and didn't hear a single sound from above, and once the box and cross bars are taken off you don't even notice the rails along the sides or from inside the rear looking up through the pano roof.

Hello, any idea if you can fit the Thule bar kit without rails if you have the panoramic roof??