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Extremely quiet, aerodynamic crossbars attach to Yakima towers to create a stylish roof rack for your vehicle. Rubber strips in T-slots push down to load carriers or accessories - no need to trim. Full-length aluminum bars maximize carrying capacity.
Features:
Yakima 50" JetStream SM - Silver: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 (89 Customer Reviews)
Extremely quiet, aerodynamic crossbars attach to Yakima towers to create a stylish roof rack for your vehicle. Rubber strips in T-slots push down to load carriers or accessories - no need to trim. Full-length aluminum bars maximize carrying capacity.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.
Yakima Baseline with Yakima CBX 18 Cargo Box fitted on my 2012 Toyota Corolla S Sedan 2012.
Instructions were clear and roof rack was easily installed.
The 50” jetstream cross bars were perfect for my 2019 Ford Ranger with my ARE cap. They are paired with the Yakima Skyline towers and appropriate landing pads (protip: call etrailer when you order to ensure you have the correct setup;)
These cross bars are SILENT on my cap. Zero wind noise. My daughter and I installed them on a Friday (I do recommend watching etrailer’s installation video in addition to the paper instructions) and left for a 700 mile weekend road trip the next day to pick up a kayak, paddle with friends downstate then drop her off at summer camp.
Even with empty Yakima Jaylows on top, no wind noise. Even with a boat in the Jaylows, no wind noise.
These are the sweetest rack’s I’ve had. With the Skyline towers and landing pads, they are also easy to take off and put on. Click click done.
They look good, too;)
etrailer customer service for the win, too. When I originally ordered, I did not order all the items I needed for installation. When I realized this, I called and they got me squared away.
Great company. Fast delivery.
These really look so much better then the factory racks! Easy to install. Easy to order! Great product!
I chose the Yakima roof rack, because It spanned 50 inches, rather than the leading competitor's 47 inches, making it better for tying down 4 ft x 8 ft sheets of building material. It also seemed to be about half the price. It took me about 2 hours to put it all together and mount it on my car. The instructions were all visual and there was one little pic I didn't understand, but the equipment seemed to go together correctly anyway. Now that it's adjusted, it should be fairly easy to remove and replace next time. I did need to put on super tacky gloves to get the covers off. Although it seemed unnecessarily complicated, I would still choose this product again.
Good condition quality. Good and detailed instructions but aittle tedious install.
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.
Great product - very good quality. I liked the fact that I could keep the risers mounted on my car, but could remove the cross bars. It took me awhile to install - but I'm not very mechanically inclined.
Arrived quickly; easy instal!
I’m using these towers in conjunction with the JetStream cross bars. Assembly and setup was easy, all the tools you need are provided, except perhaps a tape measure for mounting. Looks and feels solid and well made. This is my second set of Yakima towers and cross bars. I plan to use this setup for an old roof top hard shell case and for my mountain bike to get to the trail head.
After completing the installation I took it out for a spin to check for wind noise at highway speeds. No discernible noise, I’m very happy about that as I really don’t want to remove these when not needed. For reference these are mounted on a 2019 Subaru Forester Touring with factory raised rails. Plenty of clearance for attaching equipment and gear.
Side note: the gentleman that assisted me on the phone while ordering was very pleasant and helpful, got me the right products very quickly as I was in a time crunch. Two thumbs up!
Easy to install. No noticeable noise from the bars. Seem to be very sturdy.
As said in my other review these etrailer guys helped me where the Yakima customer service and sales people couldn't.
Excellent service
They were relatively easy to install, I received them in short order and I am happy with their substantial construction. In short, I'm a happy camper. Thank you.
etrailer installation videos were very helpful in selecting the product and first installation, although in practice, minor adjustments to method were required. Now after more than a dozen set ups, mounting the crossbars takes 15 minutes, and taking them off, 10. The system is well made, and when mounted, precise, strong, and reliable. Expensive perhaps compared to alternatives, but well worth the money. Used to carry a 50# sailboard 40 miles to the beach on weekends. ('11 Honda Fit)
One minor shortcoming: rubber sheet glued to base clips where they touch the car body have torn and moved sideways 1/16", but expect will be easily replaced with readily available 1/16" sheet rubber (e.g., shower pan liner) when the time comes.
Used in rain at least once, (sustained 60mph), with no leaks.
The crossbars are light and very strong. They fit perfectly and installed easily.
Awesome experience and product! It shipped fast and was easy to install using the directions and a recommended video. Plus, it looks super hot attached to my white Honda Accord Coupe 2016. (I leave it on all year round.) Love it and etrailer!!
Because of the 'rona-induced supply chain interruptions, I was unable to purchase all of my Yakima components from etrailer, but I did get these, and they are typically excellent Yakima components. Well-made, easy to install, good directions, no problems.
I needed crossbars for my new 2018 Mazda CX5, which came with flush side rails. The Yakima crossbars, along with the RidgeLine Towers and the the vehicle specific kit worked great. The installation (10-15 min) is super easy. They look cool, and performed great (I strapped 160-lbs rooftop tent on them!). Removing them is also super easy (10 min tops). Highly recommend.
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