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Replace a damaged crossbar or add another bar to your existing roof rack with this half kit. Crossbar mounts to your vehicle's raised, factory side rails. Includes 2 legs and 1 black, lightweight aluminum Vortex StealthBar.
Features:
Specs:
This single Rhino-Rack Vortex StealthBar lets you replace a damaged crossbar or add another crossbar to your existing roof rack to help distribute the weight of a load on your roof. The crossbar mounts directly to your vehicle's raised, factory side rails with rubber-coated stainless steel straps (sold separately). The Vortex StealthBar has built-in rubber strips that disrupt airflow for a quiet ride, and the bar is constructed of aluminum so it won't rust. This bar blends seamlessly with the support legs to provide a from-the-factory look, and it is custom cut to your specific vehicle.
Aerodynamic Design
The rubberized Vortex strips in the crossbar's top channel disrupt airflow with evenly spaced, wave-shaped grooves. This carefully controlled turbulence minimizes wind noise and whistling, so you won't need to add a fairing to your roof rack. And the slim, elliptical Vortex StealthBar cuts through the air with minimal drag - even at highway speeds.
The Vortex StealthBar crossbar has a flush-mount design so it terminates at the legs with no overhang. This provides the rack with a seamless, from-the-factory look, and it also helps to improve aerodynamics by reducing drag and wind noise.
Strong, Durable Construction
The Vortex StealthBar is made of structural-grade anodized aluminum with an H-shaped internal extrusion. This extrusion strengthens the bar without adding significant amount of weight. And the aluminum bar wont rust so you can leave it on your roof year-round.
The rack's durable, glass-reinforced nylon legs are designed to stand up to cargo loads and weather extremes. They're also UV treated to withstand long-term exposure to sunlight.
Custom Fit for Easy Installation
The crossbar arrives at your doorstep almost completely assembled. The crossbar is already mounted into the nylon legs, and the bar is pre-cut to match the width of your vehicle's roof. The few remaining assembly steps are straightforward and only require the strap and lock fit kit (sold separately).
The fit kit includes co-molded stainless steel and rubber locking straps designed to fit around your raised, factory side rails. To install, remove the leg covers and simply attach the straps to the bottom of each leg. Then wrap the straps around your vehicle's side rails. Lastly, secure the straps to the top of each leg and replace the cover.
Channel-Mounted and Clamp-On Accessories
The crossbar has a built-in C-channel so you can carry channel-mounted accessories such as bike racks, watersports carriers, and ski racks. The Vortex strips in the top channel come in 3 pieces, so theyre easier to adjust than a single long, continuous strip. You can remove, trim, and re-insert the Vortex strips around the mounting hardware of your accessories to keep the channel capped and quiet. Replacement strips (sold separately) are also available if you remove your accessories or switch to clamp-on accessories.
You can also attach most clamp-on accessories to the bar, and the Vortex strips provide a shock-absorbing, no-slip cushion for any accessories that rest on it.
Built-In Security
Locking covers on each support leg let you secure accessories mounted in the crossbar's top channel. These sturdy nylon covers give the crossbar a finished look and also secure it to your vehicle's roof. The cover locks (sold separately) are keyed a like, so a single key opens all locks.
Videos are provided as a guide only. Refer to manufacturer installation instructions and specs for complete information.
Today we're going to be reviewing the Rhino-Rack Silver Vortex StealthBar Roof Rack, part number JA7954. This is also available in black, as part number JA7973. The Rhino-Rock StealthBar Roof Rack System is a great addition to your vehicle. It grips on to the raised side rails of your vehicle, and it gives a nice sleek look, and actually looks like part of the car. The StealthBar sheath actually sit in between the two rails, giving it more that factory look, as opposed to sitting on top of them. The aerodynamic shape of the bar, plus the vortex strip, which actually extends out to the foot here, will give you that reduced wind noise and drag. The StealthBar Roof Rack uses these rubber coated steel straps to hook onto your car. This ensures that your car won't get scratched or dented, or anything like that, while you're installing it. This roof rack comes with all the tools necessary to install it, and you can even take the allen tool and store it inside the roof rack itself, while you travel.
It also has a locking system here, to insure that, if you have anything set in your T track, you can secure it to your vehicle, as well as the roof rack itself is secured to your vehicle. With the feet themselves, there's actually almost four inches of play on either side, so if you have to move the crossbars further in, to make them narrow or longer to accommodate different accessories. This roof rack has an 176 pound weight capacity, although you should check your owner's manual to make sure that your car can handle that. It also has a limited lifetime warranty. Now that we've gone over some of the features of this roof rack, let's go ahead and show you how it goes together. The first step is, we're going to take this gasket here, and place it onto the end of our foot. It fits in like so, and just pops into place. This pad is actually going to be what rests on our raised factory roof rails. Our next step is we're actually going to flip the arms, or the crossbars, excuse me, right over, and just loosen this dome bolt here.
Don't take it out all the way, because it's kind of a pain to get back in. This will allow us to actually move the foot out, and adjust it when we put it onto our vehicle. With that done, we'll go ahead and flip the crossbars back over, get our T bolt out of the way, and remove this dome bolt all the way, so we can install our strap. We'll use our included allen key here, or allen tool, excuse me, remove our bolts, collect our washer. You'll see a gap right here, and that's where we're going to insert our strap. With each notch, there's a number to either side of it, and with the crossbar that we've already had installed on the front, we found that the fit we're looking for is three, or the third notch up. We'll go ahead and reinstall our washer and our bolt, and tighten it down.
Now we're ready to install our bar onto our vehicle. We'll set it on gently for now, getting everything in place, and get our placement of our feet where we need them to be, and then we'll tighten the feet down. When sliding the straps underneath, you want to be a little bit careful, because the steel tips here can possibly scratch your car. It's not so much a concern here, because the factory side rails are a little bit higher than normal, but if you want to avoid that you can put a paper towel, or maybe a washcloth down, or something, to kind of soften the metal here, and not make contact with your car. Sometimes the T bolt here can get in the way of making any adjustments. With our feet generally in place, we're actually going to go ahead and do our crossbar spread next, and then we'll tighten our feet down. That's going to be about 70 centimeters, from center to center. Now we can tighten those arms down, or those feet down, excuse me.
With our feet tightened down, now we'll go ahead and take the steel loops here, and put them around our T bolt. Now we can start tightening it down. We're going to go ahead and do this evenly on both sides, kind of get it snug first and then tighten it down. Use the included allen key, or allen tool, start in the middle of our T bolt, and start tightening it down. Our final step before we put the feet covers back onto the feet, we're actually going to install our lock core. To do that we take the key and our lock core. We insert the key and we place it into the core, and now we're ready to go. We'll go ahead and set these in place, and lock them down. It doesn't matter which way you put the locks. I'm actually going to put them facing towards the back, so no road dirt or grime is going to get into them while we're driving. Slide them in, make sure they're nice and secure, and then we'll go ahead and lock them into place, and our foot's secure. We'll repeat this for the other side. There you have it for the Rhino-Rack Vortex StealthBar Roof Rack, part number JA7954.
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars (48 Customer Reviews)
Replace a damaged crossbar or add another bar to your existing roof rack with this half kit. Crossbar mounts to your vehicle's raised, factory side rails. Includes 2 legs and 1 black, lightweight aluminum Vortex StealthBar.
Great low profile design. Better than what Chevrolet offers. Holds up great and handled the weight. Easy to install Make sure you have it spaced out to your desired liking otherwise is a little time consuming to move again but otherwise I would definitely buy again.
Great product, and great service. It not only works well for our thule top box, but looks good on the flex too. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a dependable set of rails.
When I ordered this product I was excited to see the reviews said how fast it shipped. I was not so lucky. The item was back ordered and the website did not indicate that. I received an email saying it would ship in a week so I thought it would arrive in a week. I was wrong. When I called about compatibility with attachments they told me it was back ordered and I wouldn't receive it until mid July. That whole ship in a week meant ship from the distributor to etrailer. Then it would ship to me.
Once it arrived we immediately opened it up and started assembling it. When we got to the part in the directions about attaching it to the car the directions said to go to Rhino-Racks website to find out what hole in the y-straps to use for my particular vehicle. Their website does not have an area with a fitment guide as the directions indicate so I had to call. I spoke with Jeff at Rhino-Rack and he said hole number 3. That was impossibly tight and the strap would not reach. I called back to see if hole 2 two would be acceptable and he said it should be hole 3. Well, we went with hole 2 because there was NO way hole 3 would reach the bolt since steel does not stretch.
Upon attaching the strap around the raised roof rails the strap slipped and I quickly found out the steel loop is as sharp as a kitchen knife as it sliced the tip of my finger. It was cut so deeply and cleanly it took over an hour to stop the bleeding. I called Jeff back to let him know about this problem. Aside from thanking me for letting him know, he did nothing to better the situation. I will say, now that my finger isn't gushing blood and the cross bars are securely attached to my 2015 Hyundai Tucson in hole number 2 on all four of the y-straps, I am pleased with the appearance and how quiet they are when driving.
Some cons, aside from the aforementioned:
-The rubber strip caved in when I strapped one kayak just to the cross bars. I will need to order a new one to prevent water from getting inside and to prevent noise. It is very disappointing when you have something for less than a week and you need to replace parts on it.
-The locks are super cheap and it wouldn't take much for someone to break them if they really wanted my cross bars.
-The options for attachments are very limited. In fact, I almost sent these back because I was having a hard time finding kayak attachments that I liked.
I wouldn't order these again knowing the hassle I've gone through with them.
I bought this rack as a Christmas gift for my daughter's 2023 Subaru Outback Wilderness Wagon. It fit perfectly! It was relatively easy to install with the help of my son-in-law. It is very secure and holds her cargo box very well. After multiple highway trips between Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts it hasn't budged!
Great rack for my '23 Outback Wilderness. Lowest profile out there. When installing use fixture point 1 or 2 for the locking strap. If you use 2 it is tight and I had to remove the barrel, attach the strap, and then reattach the barrel. Point 1 is easier and still tightens all the way.
These racks did not noticeably increase the wind noise of my car. They look great, complimenting the appearance of my Jeep, and they were quick and easy to install.
Rack looks sturdy. For my 2017 vw Alltrack the rear bar could be replaced for a shorter. On my side picture that is as far back the bar will go (item ja7975). Which it worked out for this application if you want the bar further aft a shorter bar will be needed. The front fit well within it’s range. The car tapers towards the back so back bar is shorter. I also dont like how VW put a notch on the bottom rail. It looks like the straps will be easy to cut with a bolt cutter.
Appears to be a well made product. I wanted a low profile rail. I would have preferred a clamp style cross bar, like the Yakiima Whispbar, but they were to wide for my Thule Evolution (ski box), mounting brackets.
You need to be careful when attaching the straps when attaching to the bracket and mounting to the rail. The exposed metal portion is very sharp.
The only con is see to this product is the strap mounting system, its more of a hassle to adjust.
I researched low profile bars for 3-4 hours before buying these Stealth Bars. A major reason I went with these is the metal strap inside the rubber band that attaches to your side rails. Other companies just used hard rubber that could easily be slashed with a box cutter.
Of course these lock, which is important. They were also easy to install. I installed one and my wife installed the other.
Thanks etrailer and Rhino Rack.
Product fit well, easy to install. I received a new Ford Expedition at work with an aluminum roof. I have an emergency light with magnetic mounts that will not work on the aluminum roof. Purchased these bars and used them to mount the light without having to put holes in the roof.
First of all, this review is on the actual product not etrailer. They were awesome as always on this purchase (more on that later). Sorry for the long review, but I feel the need….
2014 Jetta Sportwagen
These are not silent. At ~45 mph and less there is a high pitched whistle. At lower highway speeds there is a low level hum, like a monk chant. After that just regular wind/turbulence noise.
On to the install… etrailer website confirmed fitment. In the instructions (step 8) there is a need to go to the manufactures website to find a vehicle specific info. My vehicle came back as not supported. So called etrailer and as always, awesome. Took her a bit – I offered to end call while she searched – but she did send me a supplemental sheet and even had taken the time to read them and suggests the proper fitment. Kudos to Cathryn B.
Step 1 and 2 are misleading in a way. Step 3 should be step 1. Step 2 shows just the bar with no ends, which is never needed during the install and you would have had to complete steps 4&5 to get to that point.
In step 1, inserting the rubber fully is not going to happen with just your hand. I used a chopstick to push the nipple fully into the hole. Could use the (provided) allen wrench but that could tear the rubber.
There are two different crossbar lengths provided and the install location is not specified until step 10. Kinda should be mentioned up front as the install location is specific due to this.….
Step 4/5 – even after loosening the bolt it still had a catch when adjusting length. I thought it was at the end of the road but when it was still too short while attempting to connect to my rails I looked over and saw that I had another inch or so, took a bit of muscle to get past that position.
Step 6 – the crossbars on one had apparently fallen out during shipping – took a few minutes to hunt down in the box/packing material.
***Step 11 – HEED THE WARNING. I’VE GOT OLD MAN LEATHER FINGERS AND STILL WAS BLEEDING LIKE A STUCK PIG. I WOULD RECOMMEND PUTTING BANDAIDS ON YOUR INDEX FINDER PRIOR TO THIS STEP. Also make sure you have the t-bolt just barely on the threads as it will give you maximum slack to complete te step, hopefully without causing injury.
Step 13 – please define ‘overtighten’. Lots of room for interpretation there.
Step 15 - I would truly like to see a video of someone successfully completing this step. If all other factors of the install are done correctly, I don’t feel this is needed anyway so I gave up after about five minutes.
Final, and biggest issue, is the sunroof. I don’t use it often so not sure if this will cause me to return the product, but a ‘guaranteed fitment’ means this should not be an issue.
First issue is that it rubs when the sunroof is open. Second is apparently my sunroof has a sensor that keeps it from closing if it sense too much pressure. Third is to compensate for this I had to move from my preferred rearward location to all the way forward. It rubs in both positions however at the forward location the sensor (so far) has not picked up on it despite having a longer time / area rubbing when opening and closing. I did push down on the crossbar as much as I could (and I’m semi fat) to simulate a load and still opens / closes. Now, because of the forward location I have a nice wide black bar blocking the center of my sunroof.
2021 Subaru Crosstrek,
Website video for installation was easy to follow, installed to spec, might have to adjust span when I get my roof basket. Cross bar seems solid, and was what
I wanted, a little better than OEM. Look great
It looks great. I have not heard any noise from these bars, so far while driving. The crossbars were installed on a 2022 Subaru Outback Wilderness. The Rhino-rack hardware kit RSK01 was shipped separately. It contains four CA1319 RSB Short Locking Straps. Hole #1 (i.e. the farthest hole) worked best for the installation.
Looks like good quality product. The only problem was I didn't know what hole to use on locking strap, called Rhinorack.com headquarters. They quickly got info I needed for my vehicle. Wish there was an insert with that info.
Perfect fit for our 2013 Ford Flex. It was easy to install and seems to be very secure. We've already used it with our rooftop carrier box and it's worked quite well
The stealth bars are sturdy and low noise. But they are so close to the roof of my 2016 Escort that the knobs for attaching the J-hook kayak carrier rub the roof. I put a eighth inch hard rubber pad between the rails and the crossbars and removed some of the unthreaded portion of the knobs to make them fit to my satisfaction.
I had one problem with my order: one of the cross bars was missing the rubber vortex strips. If you could have someone send these out it would be greatly appreciated.
Other than that, I'm very satisfied with the product.
Great job etrailer!!!! I received a phone call from etrailer about my credit card. Once all was cleared, I received my crossbars in 2 days. I was surprised how quickly I received them.. Installing the crossbars was pretty simple. The first one always takes a little longer; reading the instructions; going slow, making sure I am doing everything right. The second bar took half the time, if that much. The outside noise that other customers complain about, is none existant unless I am traveling over 70mph.Definitely recommend the product.
Very well-made and easy to install. As-advertised, these are compatible with a 2021 Subaru Crosstrek. They don't interfere with the operation of the sunroof - this had been a concern but there are no issues at all. They are low-profile and look good on the car. We'll use these to transport a paddleboard and kayak.
Works well on a 2021 Mini Countryman JCW
Pretty simple to install. I did need to adjust the length of the crosssbars to accommodate the diverging rails on my Flex. It worked great. The straps take a little effort to wrap around the rails but that was as difficult as it got.
I got these for my '22 BMW X7. There are really tight on the factory rails to remove/install. Quality of the bars is solid. They do clear the sunroof.
It’s missing parts, the locking mechanism, keys, and straps to install the bar on the rack….
Rack setup and installation was a breeze. Offers a nice low profile design while being really sturdy. Mounted my extended cargo basket and the pair is rock solid.
The racks were easy to install, look good as they fit between the racks and not sit above and make no noise when driving even on the interstate.
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