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Durable nylon legs let you mount Vortex Aero crossbars to your vehicle's factory elevated side rails. Custom-fit leg clamps tighten with included tool for easy installation on your rails. Pair with 2 crossbars to create a complete roof rack.
Features:
Specs:
Videos are provided as a guide only. Refer to manufacturer installation instructions and specs for complete information.
Hey guys, Kevin here with etrailer and today I'm gonna be showing you how to install the Rhino-Rack Vortex Aero Cross Bar on our 2022 Kia Carnival. So the Rhino-Rack roof rack system is gonna be great for your bike racks, your cargo boxes. Today on our Carnival here, this is more of like a family type car, so maybe you're taking this on a long haul trip, maybe you're going to the beach in Florida during the summertime, and you need that extra storage 'cause you got your whole car full of people. Your cargo box will sit right up on these crossbar, and give you that extra space you need to store stuff. So one thing about these rails here that we have, we have raise rails, which allows our crossbar to slide back and forth, so that we can get that perfect crossbar spread for our cargo accessory. So the Rhino-Rack crossbar system that we've installed here is gonna give you a great premium option.
So most people think that just because you have these rails on the roof of your car, that's actually what's going to hold you bike racks, your cargo boxes, maybe your Kayak Carriers, but in reality, all of those require a perpendicular bar going between the rails for them to clamp onto. All right, so on our end caps here we actually have a plastic lock, to start with these are replaceable with a metal locking core instead, so that you can make sure that nobody can take off with your crossbars here. But one other things that that reveals is our C-Channel right here and we have these optional rubber strips. These strips are gonna help reduce wind noise and also allow you to mount different accessories, it'll actually mount into a C-Channel instead of just your standard clamp-on accessories. So it gives you a wider range you can haul with these.
The aerodynamic shape is also going to help with your wind noise and then your wind drag that you might experience, which is also going to affect your gas mileage. So since these are on a raised rail here with these podiums, we're actually able to easily just slide these back and forth, to fit whatever kind of crossbar spread that we need, whether it be for a cargo box or a bike rack. So overall, this is a super simple insulation, really just slaps down onto your rails here and then clamps down. Honestly, you could take these on and off in maybe 10 minutes. If you we're planning on keeping it on there full time, I do recommend replacing the lock cores with the actual metal lock cores, where you can lock it up with the key that way nobody takes off with it.
But if you don't wanna do that, like I said, you can easily just take these right off, no problem. Okay, so as you can see, we already got our Rhino-Rack crossbar installed on the 2022 Kia Carnival, but let me show you how we're going to put the feet and the crossbar together and then we'll do the back. All right, so to start off, you're gonna have to remove your end caps here. So Rhino-Rack is gonna give you a special tool, take that off, just put that in there and turn it, I've already got it undone. I'll pull that out, and then we can fit our feet in.
These are just going to slide right into the track here, and then tighten down once we have it up on the vehicle. So we're gonna leave this off until we got this up on the vehicle and set how we want it, but we'll go ahead and do the same thing on the other side. And now we can take this over to the vehicle and get it placed right. So one thing you need to consider when you're putting these on is how big of a crossbar spread that you want. Crossbar spread is going to be from the center of your crossbar, to the center of your rear crossbar. For our purposes today, we're gonna do a 30 inch crossbar spread, so I'm gonna take my measurement from the center here, and that lands us right here. So you can take a piece of tape, like painters tape, or something like that just put it make a mark that you can easily take away without damaging your raised rack here. So one other thing you need to make sure you keep an eye on while you're installing your rack here, is that your rack is going to be perpendicular with your rails. So easiest way to do this is find kind of a reference point, so like for this first one, I just went off of this little strip here where it ends, and then got a six inch measurement, and then I made sure on the other side that when I tighten it down, I stayed six inches from that as well. So we want our bars to be perfectly across, so that it's not thrown off at all, we're not gonna have anything sitting crooked, or have these clamps actually not make full contact with the rack. All right, so now we got our feet in place, we can stick it up on our rails here. So you're gonna want to maybe have somebody else help you with this just so that you don't run into any issues, you don't wanna smack roof your car, scuff anything up. But like I said before we're gonna try and keep our measurement here, these are just gonna pop down until we tighten it on, but we're gonna go to the other side as well, push that down, and then we're gonna recheck our measurement here make sure that we've got a 30 inch spread from center to center on these crossbars. Okay, so like I said we're gonna check the crossbar spread here, looks like we're sitting right at 28. So we're gonna pull this tape back, slide our rail down a little bit, and we're right on at 30 inches center to center. So now I'm gonna go ahead and do the same thing on the other side make sure that my bar is perfectly aligned here with our rails. So the next step before tightening this down is to make sure that your crossbar is actually sitting the same length on each side as you can see, our driver side is sitting quite a bit further out, so I'm just gonna slide this over, you can kind of eyeball this from the front of your car, or just take a measurement from the end of the crossbar to the feet. So right now over on the passenger side, I got about two and a half inches, come over here and look at this side we're sitting at, just under two. So I'm gonna move this, just a bit past two inches and then double check our measurements. All right, so now that I got this centered, we are going to take our tool that also came with our kit. So this is a curved handle here, as you're tightening this down, you're gonna wanna go back and forth, so that you don't have one clamp kind of pressing down and then throwing the other one off getting it crooked, but it has this bend in it, that once you start getting fully tight, and you're getting torqued up it's going to straighten out, and that's how you know that you're fully torqued down without actually stripping out your bolt. So we'll start with this side, we kind of recommend just doing it like five or six times, and then going to the other side and doing the same thing back and forth, until you start seeing the handle here bend straight. As you can see we're getting a little bit tighter here, and I'm starting to bend that. So as I'm getting straight with that, we're gonna stop now since that's fully torqued, then we can add in our end cap here, and take our other tool, and lock it in place. Once your crossbars are properly tightened down and you have your end caps in place and locked, you can go ahead and throw your favorite rooftop accessories on, and that'll complete our look, at the installation of the Rhino-Rack Vortex Aero Cross Bars on our 2022 Kia Carnival..
Average Customer Rating: 4.7 out of 5 stars (334 Customer Reviews)
Durable nylon legs let you mount Vortex Aero crossbars to your vehicle's factory elevated side rails. Custom-fit leg clamps tighten with included tool for easy installation on your rails. Pair with 2 crossbars to create a complete roof rack.Package, both items appeared used, but in good condition. The legs were not in the factory box, but just a eTrailer box. The instructions were hard to follow, even with a little help from YouTube. Just about to test drive to check the noise level. Time will tell, there is soft rubber on the legs and it may be wise to remove these when not in use, especially during Florida summers.
Rhino rack products are superior and I prefer them over Yakima or Thule.
However, I would like eTrailer to know, and to warn other customers that over the years the items I order from them always come with cosmetic damage or missing parts due to insufficient packaging.
In this case, my Vortex bars were shipped in the retail box which had opened in transit so two of the end caps escaped and are who knows where. Under a conveyor belt line in some UPS building or in one of their trucks somewhere.
This is not an issue as these end caps I intended to dispose of replacing them with the locking end caps I ordered with my bars and towers.
etrailer, I do not need resolution for this issue but your track record with packaging and shipping is sub par. Please step up your game so your customers receive complete orders.
Jenny N.
7/7/2023
I know that you are not looking for replacements. I hope that you will have a good experience with the rack and I will share your experience with our shipping department.
I haven’t installed rack yet and everything appears to be in order.
* I wasn’t anticipating that Rhino -Rack Sports Ladder Peg (s602) be made of plastic.
Does it have the strength, durability to perform well and not get brittle in colder temps?
Jenny N.
12/1/2022
I wanted to let you know that the racks to do have longevity in all type of weather and are made to be taken off and on the vehicle.
James
12/2/2023
I purchased the rack and pegs a year ago. I was just recently reflecting on how well the racks have worked out for me with my work. I’m glad I made the investment in them, it was worth it.
Mike L.
12/2/2023
Using Rhino-Rack Vortex Aero Crossbars, Using Rhino Kayak holders. Also use a Rhino bicycle rear receiver mount. Love Rhino products.....strong, well engineered, low noise, and every part is quality... mounts, straps, etc. Photo is departure picture from last years trip to Big Bend, Texas. We probably put a couple thousand miles on these pieces of Rhino equipment on all types of roads at both Big Bend Park and Big Bend State Park... You really cannot go wrong buying Rhino products. Everything they make is well designed and will not disappoint.
Glynn D.
4/20/2021
Rhino products are just great products They work today like the day I bought them and they show very little agewear. You really cant go wrong with Rhino products.
I bought these for my 2013 Rav4 primarily to transport wood from home depot. Getting the bars safely installed and latched onto the cars longitudinal bars was pretty simple. The problem was the whistling. The cross-bars having a tee slot will whistle if you don't properly cut and install the 2 types of rubber/plastic tee-slot blocks provided. There is a slot block for the top, and for the bottom. The top one is easy to install since it is just one piece, but the bottom one requires 4 piece of this tee-slot block (2 outer pieces and 2 inner pieces. It took me a while to get the bottom blocks installed, quite a bit of measure, test cut, check, remeasure, cut, insert, recut yada yada.
Once I thought I had everything right, I could still hear whistling on the freeway and had to re-cut some better fitting bottom slot blocks. It turns out the more you tighten the legs, the more of the tee slot is exposed, and you need to have more of the tee-slot block. Having looked at some of the equpipment you can attach to the top of these tee-slot racks, I don't see why the bottom tee slot is even necessary.
Anyway, once installed (properly), these bars work great. I can transport wood Lol
Awesome parts. Strong grip and kudos on the rubber flares for the seal.
This rating is not for the product and solely on the practices of ETrailer. ETrailer erred and did not ship this product when they confirmed and when called to check the status charged me an additional $xx plus for overnight shipping in order that I have the product in time for our trip. 2 of the 3 parts of this order did arrive on time and in good shape, but the fact that Etrailer charged me additional for their shipping error does not sit well with me at all and I would never recommend the company to friends.
Katrina D.
12/14/2023
I am sorry to hear that your items did not arrive on the day that you had paid for. I see that our customer service department is currently working on getting some compensation figured out for you.
Its been one year since I installed the Rhino Rack crossbars and I have absolutely no issues. The main use is to carry my Kayaks on my 2013 Subaru Impreza utilizing Yakima JayLow kayak carriers. The only caveat is to be sure to properly cut and install the plastic channel inserts (underside) or you will experience an annoying whistling sound. If you're looking for high quality crossbars, I highly recommend these.
Just what I was looking for for my 2021 MB Metris Cargo Van with Raised Rails, for hauling a 14-foot SUP. I wanted as low profile as possible and the Rhino Rack SX Series Legs and Aero Crossbars looked best. Relatively easy to set up.
I am very pleased with the etrailer.com. Easy to navigate website and expedited shipping for no extra cost. I ordered and received my product in about a week, which is very reasonable for being across the country.
The product arrived in tact and with no damage. Easy to put the rack bars on my jeep. I've included pictures of the completed result. We plan on buying the attachments that will mount our bikes and when we do we will be doing so from etrailer.
I purchased the Rhino legs, cross bars and J-style kaya carriers together and could not be more pleased with the combination. The system was installed in an evening and used the next day. The legs were very simple to install on the cross bars and then mount on the vehicle.
These feet worked like a charm! We were able to use these to install the Rhino Pioneer Rack onto our existing factory rack (2007 Toyota Land Cruiser). Adam at etrailer.com was awesome!
I spent a week reading reviews and forums to find the right one for my 2019 Jeep Cherokee that I just bought a few weeks ago. I just have to overthink everything but it paid off. I just received them this morning and installed them myself! First time for everything! It was really easy. The only part that was frustrating was the very first part... sliding the rubber pieces into the crossbars. They would not slide very well so I ended up using a bit of oil to make them slide better. Other than that, installation was easy and quick. I LOVE the looks of them. Very gorgeous!!! Thank you so much!! Very happy with the end result!!
I would have given 5 stars except that upon delivery the boxes with the cross bars in them both had open ends and the bars were sliding out. Also the box containing the leg supports had a huge hole punched in the top. So I had to quickly do an inventory to make sure all the bits and pieces were still present and to check for any damage. Fortunately all was good, but I honestly don’t know how. I was lucky. Your shipping department needs a do better slip in the way they package things together. Otherwise great price, and Rhino-Rack I already knew was a highly rated product.
Great product except it scratches the drip channel on the roof. Would recommend.
Easy to install on the Bronco Sport factory roof rails allowing for a very low install height for the Pioneer platform!
It is rather hard to give a review on each part.
Here is the review of the SX-Series Rhino-Rack.
I enjoyed the detailed shipping status.
The bars will be used with a roof tent (also from etrailer).
Climbing trip to Idaho in a few weeks.
We shall see how well this all works!
Interestingly, the upper side of one internal bar is white with my black set.
Maybe it was missed in the painting process.
etrailer has been a pleasure to work with thus far.
Shipped according to schedule, easy to install, and looks great. Can’t wait to put it to use. Thanks!
Nice, solid rack. It went together very easily. It will support my canoe and my rod rack fits well on it. It’s very light weight and the directions were spot on. There is also videos to help make installation easy.
Love the Rhino Roof Rack system plus the incredible Customer Care.
I love this product.It was easy to assemble and easy to use.
Despite obvious(fair amount of box damage) rough handling by the shipper. Everything inside looked great. And it arrived 3 days early. Thank you etrailer!
Unfortunately, the vortex aero crossbars whistled very loudly on my 2022 Subaru Crosstrek. In addition, I found it difficult to center the crossbars with the SX series legs. And, finally, these legs would not stay tight for more than a day or so.
Amazing. Easy to put on a 2022 Subaru Outback Wilderness. Never shifted with my 123lbs RTT for continuous use in offroad and highway speeds for 10 months. Held up in every weather and temp from -8F to 100+F.
They fit perfectly and as described, had no issues whatsoever. Whole rack system installed easily in an hour with all needed tools being supplied. They also work well with the kayak racks I had purchased prior to these.
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Richard
11/13/2023
I really like how the racks are holding up. I kept them on the Jeep, but it is garage kept. I like them much better than my Thule racks. I havent put a kayak up there yet.