Originally Posted by
ian
having fitted racks to 3 different cars, and used racks on about a dozen others, these are my conclusions
modern racks are designed with separate feet so that a single rail profile can be fitted to a large number of vehicles.
One advantage of this is when you replace the car, you can keep the old rack and any attachments -- kayak supports, granny box, etc -- and just buy new feet.
For the infrequent carrying of roof loads IKEA used to sell a pair of sot bumpers and strapping that allowed you to carry stuff on a car roof on an infrequent basis.
another consideration, most light duty racks are limited to loads less than 70 kg -- it doesn't take that many boards to reach 75 kg.
also, depending on your car, the stability control software may go AWOL if the roof load exceeds 100 kg.