Thule Wingbars
Has anyone fitted these,have to buy a set of bars and the Thule blurb says they are lots quieter and more fuel efficient than aerobars,look nice to me but do they stay nice with use?
Many thanks
I have just bought a set of these, have had some good reports from users as to how quiet they are. Have not got them on yet to try them out. I have an estate with roof rails, the ones I got (S44) cost £145.00 + £5.00 postage from Roofbox. Maybe Thule are trying to catch up?
Skoda Octavia Estate 2.0TDi 4x4 towing a Sprite Alpine 4
As they are the first set and are not much more the payback may be better but I was thinking of the noise factor TBH which your answer,Prof, reassures me.
For Tukums am impressed with yours but the price on the website comess up as £297,and includes a kit,a leg kit and bars.Is the website having a bad day as Thule ones work out to about £170,it looks like I am being charged for a kit and separtely for parts if that makes sense.
As they are the first set and are not much more the payback may be better but I was thinking of the noise factor TBH which your answer,Prof, reassures me.
For Tukums am impressed with yours but the price on the website comess up as £297,and includes a kit,a leg kit and bars.Is the website having a bad day as Thule ones work out to about £170,it looks like I am being charged for a kit and separtely for parts if that makes sense.
With roof rails, no fixing kit needed, they just clamp to the inside of the rails. With my Citroen, just changed it, had to get fixing kit, foot packs, bars and the bike carriers, the cost adds up; at least the bike carriers will fit on to the Prorack bars.
Skoda Octavia Estate 2.0TDi 4x4 towing a Sprite Alpine 4
As they are the first set and are not much more the payback may be better but I was thinking of the noise factor TBH which your answer,Prof, reassures me.
For Tukums am impressed with yours but the price on the website comess up as £297,and includes a kit,a leg kit and bars.Is the website having a bad day as Thule ones work out to about £170,it looks like I am being charged for a kit and separtely for parts if that makes sense.
I think my expedition rack may have a bit of a whistle to it!!!
You'll soon find out with a little luck
Have now got the Prorack Whispbar, roof bars fitted now, find they have a low profile and good looks and at 65mph on the A1M, no noise at all and very pleased with them.
Skoda Octavia Estate 2.0TDi 4x4 towing a Sprite Alpine 4
Thule may have a point:-
The noise you get from roof bars or indeed any other protuberance is the inability of the air to move smoothly passing over and around the object turbulence usually down stream of teh obstruction causes drag, and produces noise. The tear drop cross section of the new bar is a classic aerodynamic shape, and especially the long tail will allow the parted air floew to come back together with much fewer vortexes (turbulence).
By reducing the number and size of any vorti, will reduce the drag and noise compared to a conventional roof bar.
Whether the improvement and thus savings will be detectable is open to debate, because the principale use of roofbars is to carry large (and usually not aerodynamic) items, which are likley to several magnitudes bigger than the roof bars. However the principal is correct.
If you already have a set of (traditional) roof bars, you would have to do a lot of driving to offset the cost of replacing them with the new design. But if you are looking for your first set, then pay back would be a little quicker, But I seriously doubt that any normal driver could work out how much fuel the new design saves, as there are so many other variables to confuse the issue.
All advice and opinions given are my own and are given in good faith, unless quoted with references, The reader should verify the information given with relevant professionals