My wife and I bought this to transport kayaks on her 2008 Mazda 3 (sedan).

Tightening this to the car was extremely difficult and time consuming. I think it took an hour the first time. The actual tightening is easy enough but I'd recommend you get a good Allen key set and keep it in the car. This is a 2 person job- one person per side tightening the bar to the car to make sure both sides stay securely tightened.

The first time we took a kayak out on it (using kayak cradles as well), the back cross bar popped off the car when going around a turn and the kayak slipped off the car and into the road. Thankfully we had a tow line from the kayak to the car so we didn't lose the kayak or cause vehicle damage.

After tightening it again, it has worked very well. You will get wind noise from the front cross bar but if you wrap a bungie cord around it (see youtube), the noise will barely be noticeable. When we first got it we planned on removing it when we weren't traveling with the kayaks. After seeing how long and difficult it is to get them properly secured to the car, we just leave them on all the time now.

I would recommend this product since it's such a great price compared to other aftermarket cross bars. But be warned- the mounting process will test your patience.

EDIT: When we removed the racks for winter, it revealed that they had chipped the paint and dented the sheet metal.

Very pleased. Quality is good, fit my car (2 door hardtop) nicely. I have used it as a carrier for my 2 seat fishing kayak and also with my camping gear loaded. I've been using it for a month now and it has never loosened up on me, staying tight and quiet. Many comments on the lock and lock covers, mostly for show, a deterrent for sure. Follow the instructions and watch a you-tube video before installing and you will do just fine. I'd like to see more accessories for it such as cargo rack, faring etc. Would have earned 5-stars if the locks were more than just for show and if more accessories were available (wind fairing, cargo rack, side loader for kayak/canoe).

I researched this product all over the internet for days before my purchase, because the reviews on Amazon scared me. I thought it was too good to be true at the price. However, I've had the rig on my car for about two weeks, and used it (with an additional purchase of 4 j-bars) to haul two kayaks, and I am completely impressed.

I have a 2010 4-door, bare roof, Ford Focus. Since I have some mechanical ability and decent working knowledge of geared mechanisms, I felt confident that I could attach this without the instructions. The reviews that I read on Amazon stating that the directions are mostly useless are true except for one thing-- the distance to set the towers BEFORE tightening down the bars with the end screws. You can throw the bars on the roof and tighten away, and it will probably work if the contour of the roof lip is at or near a 45 degree angle, but if you have more curvature then a "wing it" attempt will end in miserable door gaps and regrets. Use the directions to find out where to set that initial number. For instance, the directions said to set the front bar for my model of car at 9. That means that both towers should be slid to where the window shows the number 9 and the screws should both then be tightened as though that will be the permanent number BEFORE doing anything else. I started with the tower measurement at 9 and loosened the end screws, that actually attach the crossbars to the roof, almost the whole way. We're only working with two sets of screws total. If your initial setting is correct, when you put the bar over your car, then it will almost be in a natural-looking, working position as you begin to tighten the towers into place. The adjustment at 9 seemed a little too loose just by observing the angle, so I took the rails off, and adjusted both numbers to 8. and it seems ideal. The doors shut and opened without issue.

Now for my car, I have an outer sound proofing seal in addition to an inner water seal that lines the car door (maybe most cars do?). I read about and watched videos that show people tightening the towers over their sound proofing seal then complained about road noise and leaking. I didn't do that. I pulled the sound proofing foam down and put the tower feet directly against the medal lip of my roof. The seal is not glued or fixed in those areas, so it was no big deal to do that instead of potentially ruining the foam seal. Plus, tightening something on foam seems unsafe, and I could see that causing an issue with closing the door on a model like mine.

Back to those terrible directions... when I set the measurement bar for the back rail, the instructions said to set the bar to 19 3/4 which was a far departure from the 8 that I ended up at with the front bar. Using some common sense, I set the back bar to 8, and it worked just as well as the front bar. Perhaps the 19 3/4 was meant to be the distance between both bars? I didn't understand it, so I didn't follow that. I set all my squaring up measurements from the tops of the windshields, and kind of eyed the middle width to where I though would be a good resting point for kayaks. I also opened and closed the doors a bunch to test for door stress, and decided to keep the rails as close to the door opening side as realistically as possible that way there was more flex.

I gave a 4 instead of a 5 for two reason. Reason number one is that the locks are garbage. I could probably pry them off with my bare hands. Reason number two is that even though the settings seem optimal my doors do pop ever so slightly when I open them sometimes. I think it's because the metal is so thick on the tower feet hooks-- which might actually be good since thinner metal would mostly likely denote poorer quality. Oh, and the rubber feet that actually sit on the roof have to be muscled into the right resting angle. Don't let the feet fool you into believing that they are at a fixed angle, because they are totally adjustable on a single plane.

Get this if you want to save money and are a weekend warrior like me. Get the initial adjustments right, and you probably won't be disappointed. I know I was delighted as I was paddling down the creek on my first adventure that didn't involve me wrestling with makeshift pool noodles rigs on my car roof or relying on my friends' trucks for kayak transport.

I'd like to give them a bit less than 4 stars, but Amazon won't let me, so let's go with 4

First, some context: I ordered these to tie a table (and other things) to my roof and drive across country savely. The vehicle I used was a Chevy Cruze 2014, and drove about 1.500 miles with 90 pounds attached to it across rain, cold, snow and wind, above all wind.

I couldn't find these rails in any store in town so I ordered them only with two day delivery. I placed the order on Thursday and got them on Saturday at noon, so perfect timing for me to do the installation and prepare my car.

The rails do the job, there's is no doubt about that. Ever since I got them not only did I finish driving across country, I've also carried bigger items on top of my car. So whatever the job, as long as you don't exceed the weight limit 'of your vehicle', then these guys will do the job for you. In case, it was 90 pounds, in yours that might be more or less; always read the fitting manual.

The reason why I don't give this item a full 5 start is both aesthetic and functional:

1.- The product has a rubber coating on every clamp or surface that touches your vehicle, this protects it from scratches. The problem is this prevents the doors from closing properly so you have to 1) slam them harder, and 2) hear that awful Pop sound when you open them that tells you there's a lot of pressure on the lock. I was afraid the whole time there would be damage on my hinges or locks, specially on the back doors.

I installed this following instructions from the manual, including the distance between each rail and the door frame. Still, the match was poor and the doors had to put up with that.

They should revise the manual. My Cruze has dents on the inner door frame that seem to be put there for the purpose of attaching this kind of rails, yet if you follow the instructions the clamps end up nowhere near these dents, which seems counterintuitive.

2.- They don't look cool. That's it. The more expensive ones look a lot prettier than these. Sure, my car looked sporty, I guess, but very far from elegant.

This is a minor thing, and if you're worried about budget, believe, this is the best you'll find, and it's worth it.

Some advice:
*Make sure the model you choose matches your car. I bought the wrong one at a store and spent to hours trying to install on my car to then drive back and return it.
*Pull on them once you're done installing them. Even the lightest object becomes a projectile when you're driving at 20, 30, or more miles an hour.
*Don't exceed the maximum weight your roof can carry. You'll regret it if you went it or even if your things are ejected if you hit the breaks.
*Whatever your moving, use proper attachments. I like using ratchet straps because I think it doesn't get safer than that. You can get them for cheap at any home depot.
*If you decide to you rope then make.sure you are tying things properly, and that you are making a decent knot.
*Drive slowly, or accordingly to your load.
*Be mindful of the weather conditions, specially the wind. Anything strapped tomyoir roof is a potential sail that will either jerk your car around, or take off flying. It doesn't hurt to have a weather app and check wind conditions as drive, specially with tall cargo, that way you can adjust your speed for safety.
*If you're gonna use a cover, please make sure you use restraints on it. Really, that's literally a sail.
*If you do use a plastic cover, consider using tape to seal possible air pockets, this helps a lot with the aerodynamics. A bit of tape on this and that corner can be the difference between your roof making horrible scary noises and the cover tearing, and a smooth ride.

These rails can be more helpful than you can imagine. I paid less than $200 dollars for them, they helped me super load my car across country, and even after that trip was done, they saved me $100 worth of delivery fees by simply attaching my stuff to the roof.

Conclusions: Get them, and use them safely. They're a good addition to.yoir toy box.
To the manufacturer: You have to either fix your design or come up with a fix for the immense pressure the doors have to withstand. It's worrying to think you'll have to strap these things to your car for too long.

I buy things from Amazon all the time with great success. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend this product to anyone. After taking the rack on an 8 hr trip, the rubber boots on each of the feet came loose, even though I had the rack very tight. This caused metal on metal contact between the rack and the roof of my car. I now have to purchase touchup paint and pay to have a dent removed from my roof.

The rubber pieces are not firmly fastened to the metal feet and the overall build quality is extremely poor.