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This custom fit kit lets you mount 4 Rhino-Rack 2500 legs to your vehicle with a naked roof. Clamps mount to legs with bolts. Includes 4 clamps and 4 pads.
Features:
Specs:
Videos are provided as a guide only. Refer to manufacturer installation instructions and specs for complete information.
Hey everyone, it's Evangeline here at etrailer and today we're taking a look at our Rhino-Rack roof rack system here on our 2021 Volkswagen Jetta. This system has the 49 inch long vortex aero crossbars, the towers for naked roofs and the custom fit kit for your Volkswagen Jetta. You can get longer crossbars of up to 54 inches if you want more overhang, but the downside to too much overhang is you're more likely to hit your head against the crossbar getting into the car. So that is something to consider. This is a very good balance between the two where you still have crossbar length but you don't have too much. So if you wanna carry around some fun accessories on your Jetta, maybe you wanna carry around some kayaks or a roof box.
The first thing you're gonna need is a roof rack system. So the Rhino-Rack System and there's a bunch that are custom fit for your car from different brands, but this one in particular is gonna be the best if you want something that's easy to install but still a custom fit for your car. So we'll talk about those features and we'll see if it is the right fit for you. With that in mind, you do have a little bit of overhang here. So measuring from the tower to right before the end cap, there's 2" of overhang.
For some accessories you can mount them around the bar or to fully maximize it, you can use the T track mounted accessories. Now with this, you do have to think about when you put cargo on your accessories, will it clear your roof So the first measurement is the height from the top of the roof to the bottom of the crossbar. I have it at 2 and 3/4". So that means if you have clamps that go around, some of them have wing nuts and U bolts, 2 3/4" on the lower side, but still pretty good. The next measurement is the height your cargo sits at.
So here we have it at about top of the roof to top of crossbar, 3 3/4" or a little bit above that. So that means if you're carrying around items, let's say skis, oh, especially skis with extra tall bindings, you wanna make sure that your cargo does not hit your roof. And if you do not have enough clearance, that's when you can start taking a look at accessories that give you that clearance. So here we have our locking end cap. This requires a special Rhino-Rack tool in order to open but once it's open, you now have access to your T track.
So those are the accessories that slide in through the top and then be secured. You do have the vortex strips up top. Now the pros to the vortex strips is if you put anything directly on your crossbars it helps cushion them. The downside is you have to take them off for your accessories and you could tend to lose them or cut up too much. So this uses a custom fit kit that is designed to fit around the contours of your vehicle. So that involves a rubber pad that sits on top and then a hook that goes into your door. So here with our hook, it does take up a little bit of extra space, but if you do it right, you'll be able to slam the door without having to worry about it. So this kit has everything you need to install it onto your Jetta. Double check and please use the etrailer fit guide to make sure you have the right fit for you just because of those three parts, which is gonna be the fit kit, the towers and the crossbars. Now, some other things you might wanna add on though is go ahead and grab your tape measure if you have a soft tape measure, even better. And finally, if you do wanna get the metal lock cores to replace the classic ones, you can find them sold separately here at etrailer. Now let's take a look at that process. So this is gonna be a really simple process actually compared to the others just because the hooks are all the same number and as are the pads. So the first thing we're gonna do is we are going to attach our tower to our crossbar. So with that metal plate loose, we're just gonna slide that into the bottom of our crossbar, bringing our tower in. Then you're gonna have this measuring strip. So this pops into the bottom of your crossbar. There's numbers on it, so cut to the appropriate number and that's where you're gonna line up your tower. So I did not leave our strip in here because of demonstration purposes, but make sure that that's there and it's lined up with the right number and then tighten it down. Next, you have these foot plates with arrows on them and then you have the pad with an arrow on them. So both of them are gonna be facing out. So just put them together where they're both facing the correct direction. Double check where those arrows are facing and then pop them onto your tower. And then you're going to have a measurement where you would put your tower. We do have included stickers so that you could just mark your spot but once you know where you're gonna put your crossbar, then just gently place them onto your roof. Since you have the rubber bottoms, you can move this around a little bit. Once you've double checked that your crossbar's in the right spot, you're then going to secure your hook. So see how it has it not right back there You're gonna have an included bolt and then you're gonna have your hook. What I do is I just line the hook up to where it needs to go. So it's flush in the sill and that's when I tighten it down. So I try to tighten it down evenly, so like halfway on this side, 75% on that side, and just go back and forth. That way you don't pull the whole system to one side and that it's even. So your wrench actually has a little bit of a torque setting. So to prevent over tightening, just put your pressure on the end of the wrench. If this flattens out, you know you have enough pressure in that bolt and that's when you stop turning it. Your final step is to pop everything right in. So you have your locking door and then you have your end caps for your crossbars as well. Just double check that everything is secure, all your end caps are in place and locked. And once they are, that's it for the install. You are now ready to hit the road. And that right there was a look at the Rhino-Rack roof rack system for your 2021 Volkswagen Jetta..
Average Customer Rating: 4.7 out of 5 stars (3472 Customer Reviews)
This custom fit kit lets you mount 4 Rhino-Rack 2500 legs to your vehicle with a naked roof. Clamps mount to legs with bolts. Includes 4 clamps and 4 pads.Arrived quickly and ordering was super easy. I’ve purchased from this site and it’s always great
These look great, and the quality is great, however they arrived with the wrong instructions (arrived for Nissan frontier) and when I tried to call etrailer no one would answer. I looked online to find them and I only found one measurement for Jetta's 2011 and newer. I have a 2020 jetta and the measurements were not right at all. The protective part that goes against the car does not fit the top perfectly I had to adjust to make them fit.Took way longer than it should have to install.
Ease of order, receipt, installation and excellent customer service is what I received in this order.
Thank you, e-trailer!
Takes a little while to assemble the rack bars.
The stickers are great I can mark the positions after measuring the distance between the bars.
One of the screws is underneath the bar; it is hard to reach to tighten the bars.
Finally, I got the roof rack installed and it looks good.
Pretty nice rack system. Held up to my 90lb canoe no problem. However a piece did fly off on the highway and the "locking" bar end cap can pull off super easy.
The directions were ok. There is some stuff you have to kind of figure out for yourself, mainly the roof trim. I plan to leave the rack on so I drilled theough the trim
Just followed all the etrailer website prompts for my naked roof Toyota Matrix and it set me up with the three packages needed- rails legs and fitkit. Installed easily enough. I like the little arrow stickers hidden in the door jams for fast re-install later. Held two 10’ kayaks on a 2 hr journey with ease.
This is a perfect fit for our 2015 Prius V with "naked" roof. Instructions were clear and accurate, and the bars are solid and able to support our canoe and kayak easily. We added the air deflector, as there was a bit of wind noise, but now there is none. Great product at much lower price than the big names.
Absolutely love the Rhino Rack. Easy to install (watch the [online] video). Looks GREAT. Hauls my kayaks no problem. Very well made and I highly recommend this product.
The Rhino 2500 series is well built. The etrailer customer service person Trevor W. was great. He was so helpful in getting the right components for my Rhino 2500 roof rack to mount to my 2010 Silverado. Thanks for the help Trevor.
This was the kit for my 2020 equinox. The spacing of the feet on the vortex aero bars was incorrect I had to use the Euro sizes. Went back and forth with customer service trying to get confirmation that was the right size but it never was confirmed. Everything is installed now and sturdy.
Seemed to work well with my 2012 Kia Soul. I have only had it on my car for a day at writing this so I can't really give it five stars. I would bump it up to five stars once its been on for a few months. Easy to install, and after doing a bit of research Etrailer.com Had the best deal, and support for installation.
Once installed the product is very sturdy and looks great. But the directions are hard to follow because of the separate components and would have been really tough without the video which was great. I have one problem, how can I eliminate the annoying wind sound when driving when nothing on the rack. I saw a video where wrapping a line around the crossbar can help. It has helped a lot but not completely. Is there another secret for this?
Installed this and 65" Vortex Areo crossbars on a 2015 RAM 5500 chassis cab/crew cab. It is listed to fit 1500 to 3500 RAM's and neither Rhino-Rack or etrailer would confirm it would fit the 5500. My research suggested there was not much, if any difference, between the 3500 and 5500 crew cab, so ordered it any way. Installation was relatively easy, fit seemed to be good and have made multiple 200-300 mile trips with a 75lb kayak. Good price, great customer service and fast delivery through etrailer.
The roof rack is great, just pretty pricy, by me standards.
My only problem with the whole experience was that the roof rack comes in there separate packages. In my order, one package was omitted, which created some confusion. I had to go back to the company and request that the 3rd package be sent.
Otherwise I'm happy with the purchase.
I responded to a previous request fro feedback, so I'm not sure why I'm being asked again, but . . .
Customer support was great. After reading the instructions and watching the video on how to install the Rhino Rack installation went well. The ski rack has one draw back, if you leave car out over night with skis locked in the ski rack, every thing can be easily stolen. All you need is an Allen wrench to remove the ski rack with the skis. The roof rack has locking covers the prevent theft of the roof rack. The ski rack can be easily removed from the roof rack.
Fairly easy installation. Read the instructions thoroughly before hand and get familiar with the parts. Take care when installing mounting studs onto car itself so as not to strip or cross thread them. Once installed they look great.
All items ordered were as described wind were easy to install . The shipping was less than stellar . Tforce sat on the items for 3 business days before finally calling . No tracking was provided for tforce till I called in to etrailer questioning why shipment went from ups to T FORCE . Driver from t force claimed he could not get into address location per length of his trailer . Had to meet driver at another address . Came back to original delivery address and fed ex freight was sitting in parking lot just fine ( had same size trailer as TFORCE ) . Tforce Driver was basically being lazy by not coming to original address . Hope etrailer changes shipping companies
Easy assembly and installation. Pay careful attention to pad direction as shown in instruction sheet for the fit kit. One gripe: one end-cap refuses to lock (blue plastic key lock). Had to tape it on so I don’t lose it.
This review covers the Rhino Rack 2500 Vortex Aero crossbars and associated parts (DK284, RRRLKVA, RRVA137S-2) for a naked roof installation on a 2018 Honda CR-V.
Very solid racks. We just took our first trip using them and the didn't budge. As recommended, a few days after installing, I tightened the bolts a bit. I'm not sure they needed it--just a little insurance.
The installation process was clear, but fairly detailed. It would be easy to miss a step, so take your time. Also, I tried a couple shortcuts in the order when installing on the car, but had to back track. So, go in the order they give you.
The racks easily supported our filled "pod" and a couple surfboards, strapped side-by-side. Sorry, no photos of the rack loaded. One thing to watch out for is that our old Thule pod almost didn't fit because of the thickness of the racks. I had to loosen the bolts almost entirely.
Of note: I feel that although I followed the measurements to the millimeter, the fit on our 2018 Honda CR-V wasn't exact. Where the pads sit on the roof of the car didn't align perfectly. I could have adjusted this by just re-trimming the rubber pads that go in the channels, but it's not a big deal, so I just left it.
Finally, I do have one concern. The angle of final installation doesn't really protect the racks from theft very well. The plastic plate that locks over the screw would allow someone with the proper tool to get up under it and loosen the bolts. That being said, someone so inclined could also just break the little plastic door or drill a hole in it to access the bolt. So, I guess it's just a deterrent anyway.
Overall, I'm very happy with the racks and etrailer.com! Despite shipping delays due to Covid-19, they were able to get the racks to me in time for an upcoming trip. I did choose to expedite shipping, but the cost was very reasonable.
I bought the roof rack to carry kayaks back and forth from Pennsylvania to Florida. The rack is solid and performs that task very well. My plan was to take the rack off and on but I decided to just leave it on. I do notice some wind noise since I've added the rack but it does not distract me and I would say that it is not excessive but it is noticeable.
I did have problems during the installation. I mounted the racks on a Ford 250 super duty. And the instructions were very clear as to where the feet that's support the rack where to be installed. Plastic strips are cut and the feet that support the rack on the roof push up to the cut plastic strips and that is what determines placement. I read the instructions several times and had seen an installation on another truck owned by a friend of mine. When I pushed the feet to the proper position I could not attached the clamps from the rack feet to the rain gutter on the truck which holds the whole assembly on the roof. They were too short. I spoke to Etrailer and a consensus was that I had cut the strips correctly. Etrailer's input of course was over the phone and they could not actually see or measure anything that I did. Nevertheless, in order to install the rack I had to move the feet on each side a bit closer to the rain gutter on the truck. I did not think that this would make any difference and based on the performance I have not noticed any problems. I would have given this product and excellent rating if I did not have to deal with the little problem that I had with the fit. As I said I have not taken it off the roof and I reach up and check it now and then and it's as solid as the day I put it on.
These were exactly the right part for my car. They were easy to put on the crossbar kit. The crossbar kit also worked great. I can't imagine how a more expensive set would have worked better than the Rhino Rack we bought.
The installation was easy and it does it’s job. My only gripes are the locks are a little tough & the wind noise can be a lot if you get a good head wind! Besides that I’ve enjoyed it
The rack was fairly easy to mount on my Durango. I was able to load my kayak from the side since I have a bike rack on the rear. I use a bathroom rug and flip the boat up on the car, then slide the boat directly onto the rack. I only carry it this way for short drives to local lakes. There is some wind noise at 50 mph.
We originally got this rack system (Custom DK Fit Kit for 4 Rhino-Rack 2500 Series Roof Rack Legs - Naked Roof Item #DK427) mostly for our Kayak racks on our 2015 Ford F-150, which worked great. Then we totaled our F-150 and the racks actually fit on our new 2022 GMC Sierra 2500 HD P/U. We took it on a 16,000 mile trip from the East Coast to Alaska with both 12 ft. kayaks on the top. Through the various speeds (sometimes up to 80 mph), weather conditions, and the high crosswinds of the mid-West, the racks help up perfectly. No issues or problems. I would recommend these to anyone.
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Jon G.
10/23/2020
The DK Fit Kit DK424 that you received actually does fit a Nissan Frontier as well which is why you were seeing those instructions. If you check out the installation instructions linked on this product page you can see that it has the mounting dimensions for both a Nissan Frontier and your 2020 Volkswagen Jetta.