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These heavy-duty, aluminum crossbars work with Rhino-Rack legs to create a sturdy roof rack. The square bars include built-in C-channels for mounting Rhino-Rack heavy-duty, contractor-grade accessories.
Features:
Rhino-Rack HD Crossbars - Black - Qty 2:Videos are provided as a guide only. Refer to manufacturer installation instructions and specs for complete information.
Today on our 2016 Honda Fit, we're going to be doing a test fit on the Rhino-Rack Vortex Aero Roof Rack System. We're going to be using part numbers RRVA118B-2 for the Aluminum 46" Long Black Crossbars and part number RRRLKVA for the 2500 Series Leg Kit, and finally part number DK438 for the Fit Kit specifically for our Honda Fit. This Rhino Rack Vortex Aero Roof Rack System is going to allow you to carry your roof-mounted accessories, such as your bike racks, kayak carriers, ski carriers, cargo boxes and baskets. It has an aerodynamic design that's going to help cut down on wind noise when you're on the road, and it's also going to add a sleek look to your Honda Fit. All four of the 2500 Series legs feature padding, so you don't have to worry about it harming and scratching the roof of your vehicle. The hooks here are also padded, so that when it grips the inside of the top you don't have to worry about it harming it. The crossbars themselves are made out of an aluminum construction, and they're lightweight, so they're going to allow you to maximize your roof's weight capacity, though you'll want to be sure to check your vehicle's owner's manual to see how much it can carry. Now, we'll show you how easy it is to get installed. I've already got our front one installed.
You can see how it's nice and secure. Let's go ahead and do the rear one together. We've got our whole kit laid out like this. For our rear crossbar, I've already got the leg with the fit kit installed. The other side installs the exact same way. First thing we want to do is go ahead and take our 2500 Series leg.
Let's go ahead and unlock it. We're going to take out our bolt here. Now, you need to be sure you grab the correct hook. The front hooks are different from the rear. Since we're doing the rear, we've got the elongated hook here.
Go ahead and set that in place. We're going to replace that bolt. Now, we're not going to tighten all the way down. We're going to leave that loose. All right. Then, we're going to grab the bottom portion of our leg kit here.
This is going to clip on like this and it swivels. We need to make sure that the little arrow here is pointing away. Before we put that in place, we'll grab our pad. Since we're working with the driver side, the arrow on bottom is going to be facing forward, so towards the front of the vehicle. We're just going to push it in place on the bottom of this, and you make sure it gets seated all the way around. Then with everything facing forward and then out, go ahead and push that on bottom like that. That's going to stay in place. Then, we can move over to our crossbar. We want to make sure to take off our end cap. We can turn it over. We'll take our whole leg kit. We need to make sure that the T-bolt here and nut is loosened up just enough to where we could easily slide it onto the channel here. Turn it upside down. Line it up like so. While we're at it, we can go ahead and take our end cap, put that on, and just lock it up. That way, it doesn't slide off or get damaged or anything like that. We can take our tape measure. Now, per our instructions, from the opening of the channel here to our leg kit needs to be 98 mm, which converts to 9.8 cm. I'm going to take my tape measure here, line it up to where it needs to be. Then, I'll move my leg kit forward just to the front here, just to where it makes contact, and then I'm going to take my included tool and tighten down that bolt here. Once that's secure, we can go ahead and head over to our Honda Fit. Now, you'll need to be sure you have both doors open, and then we'll gently set our roof rack system in place. All right. Then, we're going to grab our tape measure and make sure we have the correct distance apart. Now, per our instructions, it says we need to be 750 mm from center of our crossbar to the center of the other crossbar. That converts to 75 cm. Let's go ahead and take our tape, put it in the center, and then get it lined up. Once we've got side lined up, we can go ahead and line up the other side. Come back a tad. Now, for putting our hook into position, we want to pull down slightly on our weatherstripping here and make sure that the hook makes contact with the body here. Then, as we tighten it, the weatherstripping will go back up. Now, while we're here and we've got everything in position, we'll take our included tool and we're just going to slightly tighten that down. We're not going to tighten it down all the way. We're going to get it to where it makes contact and then we're going to go ahead and repeat the same process for the other side. Now, once it's made contact, since we know the other side is in position, we can go ahead and start tightening this down a little bit more. Now, it's important that you alternate sides. We're going to give this one a few turns, and we're going to run over to the other side and do the same thing. Now, once you get it tight on both sides, your tool here acts as a torque wrench. You can see you've got this curved handle here. When you're tightening it up, when that starts to straighten out by the force that you're putting on it, that's how you know it's where it needs to be. With this side being done, we'll make sure we've got the correct torque on this side, which we do. We can now close up our doors and put on our locking covers. Take our cover. We've got two tabs, one side. Put that side in first and then push it into place. As you could see, that's going to hide all of our hardware, so no one can remove or tamper with our roof rack system. Now, the way we installed the front one is per our instructions. It told us to come off of this fixed point here and measure back to the center, so we got that lined up on both sides and then we just tighten it down. That's going to complete our test fit on the Rhino-Rack Vortex Aero Roof Rack System on our 2016 Honda Fit.
Average Customer Rating: 4.6 out of 5 stars (98 Customer Reviews)
These heavy-duty, aluminum crossbars work with Rhino-Rack legs to create a sturdy roof rack. The square bars include built-in C-channels for mounting Rhino-Rack heavy-duty, contractor-grade accessories.So far I love the Rhino rack. It fits well and looks great.
I especially want to give etrailer a 5 star rating for mailing them all the way to Hawaii in record time. I was surprised and delighted to get them within a week after ordering.
The rack fit well and was easy to install. Seems to be made well. The problem is the amount of road noise. I never even put the basket on. It was so loud, it roared. I repositioned it several times but the noise was way too much and I finally just removed it. I spent a lot of money for the rack and the basket and now they are in storage. I wish it would have worked out better because I thought it looked really good.
High quality rack kit. Put this on a 2018 Honda Fit. Fts well, and looks great. Only 4 stars because the instructions are a bit tricky. Pay attention to pad numbers, lefts, rights, fronts, etc. You have to hunt the instructions and parts to line everything up. Take your time and it should go well. Also, one piece of hardware was missing, but I notified etrailer and they shipped it off right away.
This rack works perfectly on my Nissan Versa for carrying my two Perception Sound 9'6" kayaks. The Rhino-Racks look good to me. The kayaks can rest directly on the rubber pads on the rails, unlike the Yakama racks I had in the past that had bare pipe rails. Also, I expect I can buy parts to adapt this product to a different car without having to buy new towers. I am sorry there are not hooks or loops to attach bungees when carrying lumber. They are noisy in the wind, but less so when carrying the kayaks.
Ordered a Rhino Rack for my 2014 GMC Sierra 2500HD Denali. Rack arrived in very good shape and all items were there. Installing at this time and see no problems ahead.
I purchased the complete 2500 Series system which included the crossbars, legs and fit kit for my 2018 Honda Fit so I could transport my kayak.. They were well packaged and their quality is quite evident. I did struggle a little following the assembly instructions but with some patience and watching a video it went well. Two items to be aware of. The front and rear leg clamps are of different lengths with the longer clamps going on the rear crossbar. The other issue was positioning the crossbars. After following the measurements for attaching the legs to the crossbars it was quite clear that the measurement for the rear crossbar was wrong. Placing the legs as instructed didn't allow the rear crossbars to be the 29 17/32 inches from the front crossbar but required me to move it back to 31 1/2 inches. There is a very faint whistle while driving around 30 to 35 mph but it's not annoying. I was so pleased with the fit and finish I went ahead and purchased the Rhino Rack S-loader to make it easier for me to lift my kayak onto the crossbars. I would definitely recommend both items.
Choosing a system for transporting my new (to me, they're actually used) kayaks was TOUGH. I love my little 2017 Honda Fit, and I knew I would love my new kayaks when I got them. I don't want anything bad to happen to either! Also, my car is small and the kayaks are fairly large, comparatively. I've strapped a lot of things to a lot of vehicles, but this is going to be a long term relationship, so I wanted to get it right the first time.
I've been researching and reading reviews for months, but I got confirmation that the kayaks were ready for pickup, so I needed to make a decision! I ultimately pulled the trigger on the Rhino-Rack Vortex Aero Crossbars with the 2500 Series Legs and Custom DK Fit Kit for my naked roof car and the Rhino-Rack Nautic Stack Kayak Carrier w/ Tie-Downs.
I placed my order on 09/15/21 at 6 PM. The estimated delivery date was 09/23/21, which made me a little sad. I really wanted to pick up my boats on Sunday, 09/19/21, but I figured I'd waited THIS long, I could probably handle waiting another week. I was very pleasantly surprised to receive an email at 8 PM the same evening notifying me that my order had shipped. AND, even better, the UPS tracking was showing delivery on 09/18/21 by 7PM! I was beyond excited, but didn't get my hopes up because shipping has been pretty hit or miss since well before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, UPS delivered my package just before noon on Saturday, which was amazing!
I got everything unpacked and reviewed to ensure that I had all I would need to assemble the system - check. Nothing missing, which is always an auspicious start. Then I started reading the instructions - UGH. This is (so far) the ONLY thing I have to complain about. I have put together furniture that had clearer instructions. I probably should have gone to Google to find a [online] video, but I powered through with the instructions provided. Since I've never put together or used a roof rack before, I didn't really know what the final outcome should look like, so that made interpreting the instructions very difficult - the pictures were not super clear, and the accompanying text did not improve the situation. Now that I know what it looks like assembled, I get it, but at the time it was rough. I estimated it took me about 2 hours to get the rack assembled and secured to my car, and towards the end my fiancé arrived and helped me to realize that the foot pads were not properly attached to the feet, which made a huge difference! The kayak carrier was much easier to install, taking maybe 15 additional minutes.
The foot pads rest in the groove on the edge of the roof, I assume over the frame of the car. There's absolutely no flex in the roof where the feet sit. The hook part of the clamp rests against the metal of the car, under the rubber seal, so I don't foresee any potential issues with the seal as a result of the rack. The doors close as normal, and the rack has no movement whatsoever once tightened down. I've now used it as a handle to pull myself up towards the roof a few times (I'm about 190 lbs), and I feel totally confident that it's not going anywhere. I now have ideas about how to use the rack to haul around the larger stuff that won't fit INSIDE my car (which isn't much - I HIGHLY recommend this car!).
So, the big question - how'd it go with the kayaks?
In short - perfection! I was slightly concerned about the boats overhanging the front or back of my car, as they're 12.5 ft long and my car is just over 13 ft long. Eeeeek! I needn't have worried. They fit like a dream, and even without bow or stern tie downs were very secure during our trip home. We took local roads instead of the highway because we didn't tie down the bow and stern, so we probably didn't go over 40 ish MPH, but I saw absolutely no lift (I can see the ends of the boats out of the front windshield). I will be using those tie downs in the future, and anticipate no issues with highway speeds under those conditions.
Obviously, only time will tell how everything holds up/works out, but at this stage, I am extremely pleased with my decision and am looking forward to many kayaking adventures to come! I only have one picture at this point, but may take a few more and add them so anyone else considering a similar setup knows what they'll be getting.
To All,
I am thrilled with the Roof Rack system from etrailer! The product went perfectly into place. The service and products have gone beyond my expectation.
I would highly recommend etrailer and Rhino Rack!
Thanks to Etrailer, I am ready to do some serious summer exploring with my 2013 Mazda 3! Rhino Racks, Malone top box, and Kuat bike rack!
Took about 2.5 hours to install from unboxing to pictures. Haven't road tested it yet, but I like the look of it.
Installed by myself (first time ever installing a roof rack) and it was super easy. Found video on YouTube from eTrailer showing how step by step). Impressed by the quality of the kit. Fits perfectly on my 2020 Honda Fit.
Good quality and locks are included. The plastic lock covers are flimsy but they will keep an honest person honest.
Thank you for the very speedy customer service! My roof rack is already here!
I got the roof rack mounted anyways. Better pics to come when it's all finished!
Awesome material .... Good instruction. ..
Great product everything fit perfectly. With the heavy duty bars almost all the hardware for anything you put on the rack is too short
I was in a roof rack jam. There was a national shortage of the rack I needed for my car and our summer vacation was a week away. I went to etrailer.com when I couldnt find the roof rack anywhere else on the web. Another website actually suggested that they might have what I needed.
I spoke to Ashley E on the phone to make sure that I was picking the right parts. Ashley was very helpful and knowledgable. She helped me find the right roof rack and made sure that I received it in record time. I am a customer for life!!!
The roof rack kit was installed on a 2019 Honda fit. Overall the kit seems good. Not much wind noise is noticeable below 50mph. The written paper instructions were not very good or straightforward. I found vague [online] videos to be more comprehensive. The measurements provided also were off just a bit for proper fitment so fiddling back and forth tweaking the position of the legs on the bars a bunch of times made it fit properly.
This kit is easy to slap on and sturdy enough to balance my skis and snowboards. I recently used the Rhino Rack on a three hour drive to a ski resort and had no issues.
This rack worked out great... I installed in on a 2017 Ford F-150. We drove 6 hrs through wind and rain with a SUP and Tandem Kayak on top. It really took a beating in a storm the whole way. One bracket was a little loose and shifted because of the wind on the Kayak, but it held together. Super happy with Rhino rack!
Have the rack on a 2019 Honda Fit. Goes on easy once fitted and off just as easy. Very solid once attached and easily carries the maximum rated load. Square bars fit all my Thule attachments. I would rate the design and quality equal or better than the Thule.
This is my second Rhino-Rack. They go on very easily and hold the bikes/kayaks and even an extension ladder very well....thanks for a great product
Received full complement of parts for a naked 2018 Honda Fit Roof Rack. 1-2hrs needed for an easy install. Anticipate it working well when we load up the kayaks and head out for some fun!
Customer Service (Connor) was great in clarifying which parts I needed which resulted in this order after two unsuccessful attempts with another reseller. Many thanks!!
I like the Rhino Roof Rack a lot. It's a great fit for my 2020 Honda Fit!
Two items I received surprised me when I unpacked the box were the rails because they were not black like I saw in the picture, and the rubber insert that I am having a hard time sliding in the rail. Should this rubber insert have come already installed in the rail or is there a top on how to put in with ease?
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