Make roof racks more aero?
 

I carry my racks all the time nowadays because i haul one or two mountain bikes a few times per week. Yes, the bikes do fit inside the car (stw) but now that muddier time of year is coming i dont want the interior to be filled with dirt&sand. Foggy windows is the other thing. Not to mention winter time and all that.

The rack itself not that quick to take off/put back on so is there any way to make that rack more aero? Some kind of deflector?

One thing to do would be a hitch rack but they cost A LOT here.
If this is already discussed here, please do give me a link to that thread, i didn't find anything with search.

Unless you are prepared to remove the bike adapter, nothing you get is likely be very aerodynamic.

The Thule AeroBlade or Yakima Whispbar look like best bets. Probably not saving money over the hitch mount though!

I bought a generic hitch mounted Cargo Carrier for fifty bucks. I would suggest something like that figure out a good way to mount the bikes on it or just put them on it. It would also be useful for other things. I have deleted the roof mounted racks from all of my vehicles that I have gotten with them.

If you really wanted a roof-mounted Cargo Carrier, I would suggest a smooth relatively heavy stick of aluminum flat bar or other material with drilled tapped holes that you can thread eyelets into but remove when it was not in use it would be nearly flush with the roof but you could quickly thread some eye bolts into it. Get real fancy and you can make it over hang the back and hold something like a boat tail.

But fundamentally cargo should not go on the roof of your vehicle, it is better to store it lower for center of gravity and not in the Wind.

This has come up before. I pointed out the foldable rack on my 2011 Town and Country.
https://youtu.be/kVuScwomMa4

Take it off when not needed is the best aero.

There's always driving slower too.

I'd invest in a hitch mounted rack since it can be used on other vehicles, and it only takes 1 time forgetting bikes on top while driving under something low to erase any savings of a roof rack.

"Don't do it bad idea" doesn't really answer the question. I have a rear bumper rack now, but I used to carry the bike on a removable rack like so:

https://ecomodder.com/forum/member-f...1-100-0037.jpg

I took the picture to record how to dispose the pedals so they didn't bear on the roof. I used a 4" thin redwood board on the front like Thule does to cut down the humming from the crossbars at 45mph. They're quieter faster or slower. Lengthwise wooden slats are preferable:

http://vwparts.aircooled.net/v/vspfi...91-01988-2.jpg
http://vwparts.aircooled.net/v/vspfi...91-01988-2.jpg

I suppose some kind of deflector/shield-board doesn't have much effect on fuel consumption?
Surprisingly my roof racks are very quiet. At least up to 110km/h, have not gone faster than that.

I'll see if i can come up with some sort of deflector and test it out.
Thank you for your replies. :thumbup:

It'll increase frontal area, full time
Might be just as bad, or even worse


Best option is a rack behind the car

Agreed:
https://ecomodder.com/forum/member-f...9-100-0381.jpg
The point was acoustics, the rack is removable.

I do have a hitch-mounted rack in the garage...problem is that when you put the bike on it, it blocks my tail lights and access to the rear door. In order to avoid this, i would have to buy a 300 euro thule rack that has separate tail lights and folds backwards out of the rear doors way. In my opinion not worth to spend hundreds to save a few euros per year. :o

I would say wire in a trailer plug and get a set of trailer lights and mount them. I have a 1 1/4" receiver on my car and the wifes. In June we did a roadtrip to California and back. On the way back we had a large tote with camping gear on the basket, as well as a full trunk and back seat (probably pretty close to maximum weight for the car) and I still managed to get 44MPG at 80MPH. I'm thinking to some extent that it worked like a box-cavity. I was surprised at the mileage mainly due to the fact that the car was very much squatting in the back. Point being, putting stuff in the wake of the car will minimize (to some extent at least) the drag it induces, and in some cases can reduce drag overall.

I definitely wouldn't drop that much just to get access to the rear. I feel I would just strategically load stuff to minimize my need to access the rear when the hitch rack was on. You could probably figure out a way to have to rack fold down once the bikes are off to allow access. A little design work and welding could likely take care of that issue.