Roof rack and roof box questions

.red.

Hey lads,
Just a few questions about the above.
ive an old 99 saloon civic (6th gen i think). I was thinking of buying a roof box for it till i found out i needed a roof rack to attatch it too. Didnt realise they were seperate.
I rang a local company today and i got a price for a new and second hand roof rack and a new box.
They said the 2nd hand roof rack would be new fittings and 2nd hand bars and theres €60 of a difference.
Ive looked up adverts and can get 2nd hand boxes with bars for very good prices but obviously they dont fit my car.
How do i know if these bars can be converted to my car with new fittings, and how do i find out which fittings to buy?
Thanks in advance.

mgbgt1978

Usually whether it's Halford's Bars or Thule (both ends of the market) the Bars themselves are fairly Generic, and cheap.
It's normally the fitting kit that costs the most.
So it's either keep checking Adverts for your model, phone around the breakers, New in Halfords, or try Ebay.co.uk & Parcel Motel.....you'll pay a bit extra for the Parcel Motel bit as the package will be oversize, so try Parcel Connect as well, I think they will deliver stuff that's up to 1.5m long.

As for the box itself, you'll often find one fairly cheaply on Adverts.



edit; Don't get too excited when you see roof bars for £19.99 on Ebay. These are always just bars to fit the roof rails on an estate version.

.red.

Cheers.
So if i was to buy a box with a rack i could just buy the fixing kit to suit my car and stick it on?
How do i know what fixing kit to buy?
I put the reg into micks garage and it doesnt have anything and the halfords site doesnt show for the car either.

If im getting the box and bars cheap 2nd hand i dont mind buying quality fittings such as thule

sunnysoutheast

.red. wrote: »

Cheers.
So if i was to buy a box with a rack i could just buy the fixing kit to suit my car and stick it on?
How do i know what fixing kit to buy?
I put the reg into micks garage and it doesnt have anything and the halfords site doesnt show for the car either.

If im getting the box and bars cheap 2nd hand i dont mind buying quality fittings such as thule

There is a fitting finder on the Thule website. I believe that you can only use Thule bars with Thule feet packs as they slide into a groove on the bottom of the bars (I'm not 100% on that though).

When I got a cheaper roof rack a few years ago you needed four hands just to bolt it together as it was so fiddly.

Once you have the roof rack sorted the roof box will just be bolted to the rack with U-brackets or, if it's a Thule box, there are clamps which screw down and hold it on.

darragh o meara

Some cars have different length bars so buying a set and changing the fitting kit may not work. I got a set this year from micksgarage for my car for €80 bars and fitting kit and they worked great, btw halfords and the like wanted 150+ for bars suited to my car...

Don't skimp on the bars though, a fully packed roof box is not something you want to detach from your car at 60mph.....

.red.

Cheers for the replies.
just found the fitting guide on the thule site.
The price i got for a thule set was €190 for new and €130 for a new kit but 2nd hand bars which they assured me were as good as new. Ill probably get it from them and just look out for a 2nd hand box.
Dont really need the box till next summer so ill look out for a bargain but the rack will come in handy a few times over the winter.
Is there anything to look out for in boxes? What makes the expensive ones better than the cheaper ones?
Theyll end up costing more than the car is worth lol.

sunnysoutheast

.red. wrote: »

Cheers for the replies.
just found the fitting guide on the thule site.
The price i got for a thule set was €190 for new and €130 for a new kit but 2nd hand bars which they assured me were as good as new. Ill probably get it from them and just look out for a 2nd hand box.
Dont really need the box till next summer so ill look out for a bargain but the rack will come in handy a few times over the winter.
Is there anything to look out for in boxes? What makes the expensive ones better than the cheaper ones?
Theyll end up costing more than the car is worth lol.

Maybe see if you can borrow a box? You can also get a waterproof foldup "bag" which is a bit easier to store.

The Thule kit is really well made and worth the extra cost IMHO and you can always sell on when you change the car.

.red.

sunnysoutheast wrote: »

Maybe see if you can borrow a box?

Thought of that already but I cant think of anyone i know with a box.
Cheers for the help

kooga

looking to get a set of roof bars for 2011 bmw 5 series touring, any advice would be appreciated.

I haven't priced bmw yet but had alook at micks garge and Pr Reilly.

macplaxton

Halfords roof bars and Paddy Hopkirk roof bars are just Mont Blanc in disguise.

Civic 4dr saloon 1996-2000, old catalogue numbers were 401N and set of K01 plates.

"Halfords Value" were just MB System 400 rebadge, they changed the foot style when they went to Classic Bars around 2008?

Something like
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/181515283379 + http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/331059747978 should work or a least guide used prices.

If I can fit an old Paddy Hopkirk 402U to a Honda Jazz...

2014-12-23_11-24-39_543 by macplaxton, on Flickr

The 402U I think originally had K02 plate set and was fitted to an MG Maestro. I bought the rack from a mate about 7 years ago (£20). Even though it was for a gutterless fitting, I managed to fit it unmodified to a guttered car:


040 by macplaxton, on Flickr

Then it spent some time in the shed as it wouldn't fit my other cars (all have gutters and I bought a 405U pair for those). Then it re-emerged from the shed and a set of M41 Halfords plates purchased (€32) and combined to fit it to a Jazz. Without the box though, the wind noise that roof deck creates is horrendous over 50km/h. It's bearable with the box on.