To see if this custom-fit item will work for you please tell us what vehicle you'll use it with.
These crossbars combine the strength of steel with an aerodynamic shape to create a heavy-duty yet quiet roof rack for your vehicle. Full-length bars maximize cargo carrying capacity and work with most clamp-on accessories.
Features:
Yakima 60" CoreBar MD: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'll be taking a look at our Yakima SkyLine towers. These are designed for your fixed mounting points, your flush rails, or your track systems. So if the roof of your vehicle looks like this, you probably need these. If you wanna carry around roof mounted accessories like kayaks or ladders or maybe you need to bring a Christmas tree home, you first need a roof rack system. Now this is gonna be the Yakima SkyLine towers for those vehicles that specifically require a custom fit kit for their fixed mounting points. Now if your vehicle does not look like this you might have a naked roof or raised rails.
That's why it's very important before anything to use our fit guide here at etrailer.com. Put your year, make model and then find the right fit for you. And if this is one of them let's take a look at how it works. Etrailer.com also helps you get the full kit for your vehicle because the skyline towers don't work alone you also need the appropriate crossbars as well as the correct fit kit or landing pads for you. But with this, you get a low profile roof rack so it doesn't stick too high up.
You get a heavy duty weight capacity since this is an aluminum roof rack. So usually they have 165 pounds capacity, depends on the vehicle, and you have this very sturdy but also very custom fit kit for your vehicle. That way, no matter what you put on it within reason and wherever you go, you know it's gonna stay there. But my favorite feature about this roof rack is the door design. So you pinch on the door to open it and that's it.
Just like that, you can lift the whole roof rack off of your roof. When you need to install it, you just pop it right back on. So the height of the tower is about 3 1/2" from your fixed mounting point to the top of the tower. The actual height can change depending on what crossbars you have and what rails you have, but compared to a lot of the other flush mounted crossbars and roof racks, it's just very low to the roof. Now with this style of a rack though, you are limited to the fixed mounting points or the flush rails of your vehicle.
So wherever they are, that's how much crossbar spread you get. For example, ours is set to 28" apart. On the other hand, if you have an aggressive tilt to your roof, you can actually adjust this up to six degrees forward or six degrees backward to help even out the playing field. Now I like to leave my roof rack on my vehicle and Yakima is pretty known for its durability. So the SkyLine towers are made of glass reinforced plastic, aluminum, stainless steel and elastomer. So all that is combined to help them stay strong even if you leave them on all day, all year. But if you do need to take off your roof rack you also have a feature to make it more low profile. Start by flipping both doors open and then you can lift the roof rack up and off of your roof. This way you can store it inside of your garage or in your house. You can leave your base on your roof rails. All you need to do is cover them with the included cover and that's it. You're done. The covered bases sit about 2" high up off of your fixed mounting point and makes for a much more low profile look. Your towers will have everything you need to install them which really is just one tool. And your fit kit has the hardware needed to undo the factory mounting points on your vehicle or for your track system if that's what you have. Now, that install process is extremely simple. Let's take a look at it. So these are what your towers look like when they are not on your roof. So they come all assembled in the box. All you need to do is get the appropriate landing pads for your vehicle. These landing pads can look different depending on your car and that's why it's very important to use our fit guide to get the right fit for you. You have four towers as well as the torque tool. And depending on your crossbars, you will also get a separate adapter to be used with those specific bars. With your landing pad kits, you'll get a part that fits your specific vehicle. You will get the hardware needed to install that part and you will have the base as well as the base cover. So if the towers are not on your vehicle you could just cover that base pad and take the cover off to install the tower. Here's an example of how the landing pad can be used depending on your cars. So you have a factory mounting point in this specific flush rail. So the pad goes over that hole and then you're gonna get your base which goes on top of that pad. And then you have a bolt with split washer and flat washer which is used to tighten down those two pieces to your car. The torque tool for your towers comes in handy whenever you're tightening down those bolts because it has a setting for tension. Once you get enough tension, it automatically clicks and prevents you from over tightening. Now to set up your tower for your crossbars there's different adaptor pieces. We're using the one for the JetStream crossbars. So we start by pushing in this plate into the tower. So you are gonna hear some clicks and that's how you know it's secure. Now we're gonna open up the tower door. So this involves pinching the door and pulling. Be careful because if you slide your fingers forward it doesn't feel as good. But with the door open, you can then loosen this bolt up front. It says to do it eight times. I just go until the bolt underneath is visible so you can see underneath what I mean. Notice how you have this little bolt head hiding around. You're gonna try to get at it with the tool. You can see how I do have access. That means as we flip this tower back over I can put this plate up top and then I can tighten down and thread onto that plate. With adapter and plate, this can now slide into your crossbar. For other adapters, they're designed to slide over or around your crossbar. With this specific style, I do recommend for the initial slide making sure that this is loose, but after that even if you have it fully tightened down you'll still be able to slowly adjust it on the crossbar. So with the towers on you're then ready to put this onto your roof. Now what I do is I just kind of roughly measure how far apart our landing pads are and that's when I can measure on the towers the distance apart they roughly need to be, in my case, 43 1/2. You could be off by 1/2" or so 'cause you can still move them. Also, supposedly this is when you put the rubber pieces inside of your crossbars. I do that after I've already installed them onto the roof. I take them back off and then I push them in so that I know exactly where the towers will be sitting. Make sure your towers are torqued down at their bottom bolt. Do that for both sides before installing. This is a lot easier with a friend on the other side but still doable with one person. So leave those doors open so that you can gently place them onto your roof. The bottom bracket with the door open fits onto your base so see how that just pushes into place. And then to secure it, just push that door close and you've got a sturdy fit. If you're using Yakima same key system lock cores, this is a time to switch them out on your towers. But other than that, just double check that all the towers are strong and secure and everything is sturdy. And that's it for the install of your roof rack. That right there was a look at the Yakima SkyLine towers for your Yakima crossbars for when you have vehicles that have fixed mounting points, flush rails or track systems.
Average Customer Rating: 4.9 out of 5 stars (106 Customer Reviews)
These crossbars combine the strength of steel with an aerodynamic shape to create a heavy-duty yet quiet roof rack for your vehicle. Full-length bars maximize cargo carrying capacity and work with most clamp-on accessories.Fit our Subaru Forester perfectly. Install was a breeze. For the money I wish they came with the core locks.
Very nice quality towers. Very heavy duty! They have a cool "snap" on / off mechanism for quick removal and installation.
You guys provide great products and excellent customer service.
Thanks
These crossbars were easy to install and adjust. Be sure to get all the pieces you need. There is no mention of the Landing Pads necessary to use these.
Ackage came 2 days early the install was somewhat easy (did it by myself)
Did not get to mount anything to it but seems really sturdy. One thing I can say is mark out your mounting points with provided stickers then put up and make adjustments to the roof rack.
Was skeptical at first because I needed the posts as well for my 2011 Honda Element. The Honda crossbars were not adequately weight rated and is why I opted for Yakima. Couldn't be happier with my choice as this assembly has served me well throughout the year.
Great company. Fast delivery.
Item was as described and shipping was fast. Overall very satisfied with trailer. Will definitely order my stuff from them
I want to thank the staff at eTrailer for their outstanding support. After my roof rack order got off to a shaky start the customer service staff stepped in and made it right; 100% RIGHT. I cannot thank them, and eTrailer, enough. Regarding the roof rack itself, I have now installed it and can vouch that the installation was a breeze. All parts fit and the instructions were correct. For the record, this is not my first purchase from eTrailer (I've bought hitch items from them before) and it won't be my last. They have ALWAYS given great service, their web site works, their products and descriptions are good, etc., etc. Thank you!
These really look so much better then the factory racks! Easy to install. Easy to order! Great product!
Nicole was beyond helpful!!!!!
Product was packaged well, arrived in perfect condition.
Instructions easy to follow. Installation took less than (1) hour. I did it alone & I’m 76 yrs. old.
Is very sturdy. Looks good on my 5 door Subaru.
The feature that impressed me the most in dealing with your company was how I was able to track my package inside your facility with the name of the employee handling the item before it even shipped. Very organized. Would definitely recommend you to others & purchase from you again.
We purchased the Yakima Skyline Towers roof rack with the Jet Stream crossbars. Took about 2 hours to install on the naked roof of our Flex. I drilled through the roof strip for the mounting bolts and they fit tighter than the factory rails. Very happy with our choice.
Perfect. Perfect. Easy to install and high quality. Confident in this product. Excellent instructions. Used with towers of course! Towers and crossbars have demonstrated to be strong and durable with several trips with kayaks.
I ordered the wrong set up for my car, but the excellent customer service specialist set me up and expedited my roof rack that fit perfectly. I highly recommend calling and speaking with the knowledgeable staff about your needs. I'm super happy with the experience overall!
Yakima SkyLine Towers are well-designed and well-executed. They easily fit into the Yakima Landing Pads and form a tight fit when closed. And they also fit nicely into the Yakima JetStream Crossbars when following the Yakima instruction manual and various YouTube videos. I did run into a snag at first where I found the rubber seal on one SkyLine Tower getting caught on the JetStream Crossbar track, but after that I was careful not to let that happen with the other towers.
I find the appearance of the Yakima SkyLine Towers to match their level of quality in materials and design.
Paint getting scratched off from sliding kayaks up onto the bars. I hope they don't rust. Otherwise, I love how quiet they are.
Lightning fast shipping. I will use you you again.
The 60" CoreBar Crossbars will be much more useful to us than the original 50" bars placed on our shell at the factory. The only issue I had was that there were no instructions with the bars. It took a little while for me to figure out how the old bars came off and how to put the new ones on but I'll consider that a learning experience.
I have truly enjoyed this system. It allows our family of five plus our dog to stretch out in the car while our gear is secured on the roof. It takes a bit to mount it but I want it secure and it does fine with a roof box at interstate speeds. I absolutely recommend this system.
The roof rack has been awesome! It has been really handy to be able to attach our bike rack attachment, kayak bars or traveling cargo carrier. My only complaint is that the end caps fell off somewhere along one of our many adventures and looks a bit disheveled. Other than the appearance it has been very versatile and we love it!
I am going to include the Landing Pads, Skyline Towers, LockNLoad adapters, and Pivoting Mounts that are all required for my vehicle in this review of the 84" x 54" LockNLoad Platform. First, I had done months of research trying to figure out what would work and meet my needs for a 2008 GMC Yukon XL. Without the help of etrailer's agent, Ashley, I'd probably still be trying to figure things out! Ashley was patient and thorough, she made sure I had all the parts I needed for a fairly complex (and large!)project. I cannot thank her enough!
On to the assembly and installation: Ashley confirmed that following instructions was key to efficient building - I found that combining online instructions with the included hard copies worked best. As an example, the online fastener images and descriptions are far better than the paper ones. Then, having the paper instructions in hand made "in the moment" progress much faster. All of the Yakima parts fit together perfectly, and by methodically following the instructions (I cannot stress this enough!), including pre assembling Landing Pads, Towers, and Pivoting Mounts, there was no need to backtrack. Once I had a day to devote to the project, everything went very smoothly. Placing the large Platform on the mounts does require two people, but the rest was easy for one fairly handy person to accomplish. Making adjustments to be sure the Platform is centered and square to the roof took some time but it's worth it in the end. Again, thanks to etrailer and particularly Ashley! It was a pleasure doing business with you!
I have not bought car roof racks for decades--back when there were those very useful rain gutters. So I was shocked with the high prices. But what you get today is much more carefully engineered with a complicated construction. This Yakima version even comes with a manual 3.5 mm hex driver which turns out to be a torque wrench too. You use it 16 times, torquing to its limit, in installing the two cross rails on the four towers. Years ago you installed the towers where you wanted them on the rain gutters and adjusted the cross rails by sight. No more. You must go on line to Yakima. You must get the precisely engineered dimensions for your exact vehicle. You even adjust the towers for the roof slope and any toe-in of the roof line. Pay attention to the precise instructions. The result is very solid. I wish that I had more space between the cross rails. There is room for another 6 or 8 inches given where the door openings on my 2019 Toyota Highlander are spaced. But then the rear base clips would be different and that logistics would add yet more to the price. I am confident that I can secure a 4 X 8 sheet of plywood on the cross rails. And I will find my vehicle in the mall parking lot easier with those good looking rails. While I am happy with the end product, I wish the vendors had given more explanation of the fixed dimensions of today's installations. That would have helped make my on-line shopping less frustrating. Part of the problem is that Yakima and Thule do not provide cross rails for my LE Highlander's existing tower bases. And I could not get 60 inch cross rails on any of the versions that fit my LE's bases.
One year later and everything works well. I had a problem early on where the rubber protection for one of the j clips from the base towers came off. Contacted etrailer and they sent me a whole new assembly direct from Yakima. Thanks for the prompt response and service!
Holding up our large cargo basket for a year without any issues! Love these
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