Roof Racks and Crossbars

Four types, and each needs a different, non-interchangeable foot. The test takes ten seconds in the driveway.

• Raised rails — a rail front to back with a gap you can get a finger under. Cheapest and easiest.
• Flush rails — a rail sitting flat on the roof with no gap. Needs a flush-specific foot.
• Fixed points — no rail, but covered threaded holes in the roof channel. Strong and often cheaper than a bare-roof kit.
• Bare roof — nothing at all. Needs a clamp-on foot pack plus a vehicle-specific fit kit.

Full detail, including the pair that are genuinely hard to tell apart, in our roof rail types guide. If you are unsure whether you need bars at all, start with do I need crossbars.

The biggest practical difference between a cheap rack and an expensive one is noise, and noise decides whether the rack stays on the car.

A square bar makes a constant drone at highway speed. An aero bar moves it to background noise. That gap is much larger than the gap between the two leading aero bars, which is why our advice is to prioritize aero versus square before worrying about brand.

The fixes that work if you already own square bars — fairings, channel infill, and the cord trick — are in are roof racks noisy.

Most vehicles publish a dynamic roof limit between 100 and 176 lb, and it includes the bars and the carrier as well as your cargo. That is usually lower than people expect and lower than the bars are rated for.

When the bar and the vehicle disagree, the vehicle wins — which is why a 220 lb bar and a 165 lb bar are functionally identical on a car rated at 150 lb.

Our weight limits guide explains dynamic versus static ratings, and our vehicle pages carry the published figure for each vehicle we have been able to verify — and say plainly where we could not.

Fuel, and more than most people assume. Consumer Reports measured an empty roof rack costing almost 11% — about 5 mpg — on a sedan, and Car and Driver measured 12% from crossbars alone. That is money you pay every day the bars are fitted, whether or not anything is on them.

Which leads to the most useful habit in this whole category: if you use the rack a few times a year, take the bars off in between. Most systems come off in five minutes, and it saves fuel, noise and the paint underneath.