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Establish a better attachment point for your bow/stern tie-downs with these hood loops from Thule. They screw under the vehicle's hood or trunk and help to prevent scratches on your vehicle's paint job. Constructed of heavy-duty nylon.
Features:
Videos are provided as a guide only. Refer to manufacturer installation instructions and specs for complete information.
Hey, everybody, welcome to etrailer.com. I'm Bobby and today we're taking a look at the Thule Hood Loops. Now, guys, these are gonna be an excellent way if you're looking for a nice little temporary or even semi-permanent setup inside your vehicle. Now, they're not gonna take too much time to set up. All we're gonna need is the actual bolt inside our engine bay here and we'll break that down later in installation how we can get that installed. But as you guys can see, this can be an excellent way of going ahead and hooking up to the bow straps for ourselves to make sure we are holding on our kayak.
Now, it does say we can go ahead and utilize this on our stern straps as well, however you are gonna need yourself a nice little bolt to start accessing and a lot of vehicles just don't have that easily and readily available, so you're gonna find yourself having to drill and do a little kind of your own little installation on it. And honestly, it's just not worth the time or the effort and you can end up kind of voiding your warranty in the back of the vehicle. So one thing you might be asking, why am I getting this I could just tie a hook on the inside here and have myself a nice little nylon cord. Well, what's nice about it, we're not having to constantly check it and make sure our ties aren't coming undone inside the frame. And also it's not gonna be getting hot where a lot of our elements in our engine bay are, and we don't want that interaction.
You can always get a little nylon cord, however when it starts heating up, it gets unfrayed. We don't want that pulling in our serpentine belt. Anything else, any of those mechanics could be bad to get it inside. This way, we can go ahead, simply loop it right at the inside, close that hood, and we know it's gonna stay right there ' cause it's not going to have any travel length to actually get to the inside of our bay. And I really do like how it's a semi-permanent fix.
I can keep it right here and that way, anytime when I take my kayak out, it's ready to go. Well, these quick loops don't take too much time to get in there. They also are gonna be made of a nice little high-quality nylon that are gonna be resistant to those UV rays. What that means, fancy a way of saying it's not gonna fade that quickly. And also though I don't want to undersell having this in the sun that much.
Of course, when it's in use, it can hang right on the outside because you guys are gonna see later, we can go ahead and put it towards the inside. So let's go ahead and take a look at the installation and see what it looks like without the strap on it. All right, guys, to start getting this installed, what we're gonna need is an actual point to start setting our grommet in. So we're gonna have to look inside our vehicle engine bay here and along the side here, you're gonna find a lot of good contact points. For ourselves today, we have a couple of bolts right here. Can be nice to go ahead and grab yourself a trim panel tool. Now these are available etrailer.com. All we gotta do, get underneath there, pop those guys out like so and we can start working back our paneling. So that's gonna go ahead and start exposing that bolt for ourselves, guys. We can go ahead and tuck this rubber back. Now we are today gonna be needing our 10-millimeter ratchet and wrench to go ahead and start working this bolt off. Now, it might be a little different at home, however a lot of vehicles are gonna be standard on that 10-millimeter, so it should be quite all right. So we can go ahead, start getting our wrench set and start working this off. Once you get it loose enough, you can start taking it off by hand. Make sure to catch the nut on the other side. Now that we have it removed, we can set our hook loop in place and start threading it on. It's gonna be very nice just to go ahead and start with your hand and then start ratcheting down. Before we get too tight though, guys, let's go ahead, try to get this in the correct position. You have to back it off too if you can. I just wanted to keep it in there so it wasn't gonna be falling out. Now that we have it nice and loose in your hand, set off to the side and then retighten now. Well, now that we got it installed, we can go ahead and kinda give it a couple of tests here. As you guys see, I'm pulling on it. It's doing a good job. That bolt is nice and secure on there. Now, the nylon is nice and thick itself too. I don't see this fraying anytime soon. Even if it is rubbing up against here, it's got a good feel. Not gonna be kind of causing any wear in our paint either as it's not harsh like a chain would be or those S hooks that you might be getting in there. So I do like that. Of course, that Thule is looking nice. Got that little style, of course, in mind and it is gonna do a good job of getting out of that hood. Let me go ahead, drop this hood for you guys so you can see how well it does just getting out of the way. So all we have to do, kind of pull it and therefore it's gonna be sitting right there for us, ready for us to put in our straps. Well, guys, hopefully that gives you guys a pretty good idea of how these guys are used. Again, highly recommend taking a look at Thule's quick loops for getting your stern secured to your vehicle. This is gonna be an excellent way, of course, of making sure our kayaks stay on our carrier when we are going on the road. Well, guys, I think that about does it for our look at the Thule Hood Loops here today at etrailer.com. I'm Bobby. Thank you for watching..
Average Customer Rating: 4.6 out of 5 stars (27 Customer Reviews)
Establish a better attachment point for your bow/stern tie-downs with these hood loops from Thule. They screw under the vehicle's hood or trunk and help to prevent scratches on your vehicle's paint job. Constructed of heavy-duty nylon.Worked as expected. Good quality heavy webbing and the grommet seems to be quite secure in reinforcing the attachment point. Easily installed under a factory built with integrated washer. Held my front kayak straps very securely at highway speed with no signs of wear and has not impacted my paint at all from any chafing or rubbing. Another quality product from Thule. I have been happy with all my purchases from their brand and these simple good straps are no exception.
Thule did not provide any specifications on loads or placement of these straps on the vehicle.
My Toyota Camary did not come with any type of front tie-down points. This product worked perfectly to allow me to tie my canoe to the roof of the car. I used my trailer hitch to secure to in the rear.
Erick S.
6/27/2015
Still working great, moved Itoy newer Camry
This is a very nifty method of tying down the bow of my kayaks.
I loop them to the tow rings on the front of my F-150.
I will check to see the option of under hood anchor points.
Duke
1/27/2015
The tie down straps have been the perfect solution for tying down the bows of my kayaks!When not in use they tuck under the hoodAnd are at the ready when needed.
The product was ok the problem that i have is that they need to be longer. On my 2008 subaru outback the fender bolts are way to flimsy to attach anything to. So what i had to do was mount the straps to the shock towers were that is plenty strong. The other issue there is i have to open the hood hook straps to binders snug everything up then close hood. Then there is all the hooks rubbing on things that don't need to be rubbed on. So i have to insulate those parts. If the straps were about 4" longer would make all the difference but it is what it is. Thanks for listening.
The hood loops were exactly what I needed to make sure my tow lines stayed in place. Before, they would always move from the front to the side of my hood. A number of fellow kayakers showed me theirs and how they worked. I put one under my hood to one side and then the opposite corner in the back of my hatch area. Those lines aren't going anywhere!
Product was easy to install and works well. Am using the straps to stabilize the front and rear of a 12 foot kayak on top of my Hyundai Santa Fe Sport.
It was out of stock but as soon as they got it they shipped it. Excellent customer service as they made me aware of the delay and gave me the option to choose something else, cancel or wait. They also let me know when the item was delivered!
The hood loops for tying down the bow of my canoe performed flawlessly. Thus, they exceeded my expectations.
I've had these on my RAV4 for one year now and they show no signs of deterioration. When not in use I just tuck the strap inside of the hood - easy peasy. Great product and I would buy these again.
Very good quality and heavy duty straps. Easy to install on my Toyota Highlander. Thanks Etrailer for the quick delivery!
Great ! Market these more aggressively ! Every canoe paddler will want a set !
They work great. Easy to install and they help protect my car hood from damage. Brilliant idea.
David
4/1/2022
Working well.
Works ok - think I would go with the more expensive option next time.
Have not used them yet.
Perfect concept for 2003 trailblazer
Product came on time and as ordered.
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Sierra K.
11/5/2021
The quick loops do not really have any load weight restrictions as the weight of the kayaks will be mostly on your vehicles roof rack. As long as you do not exceed your roof or carriers weight limit, it should be fine. Now these loops can be installed a number of ways. For a semi-permanent installation, you would remove a trim panel under your hood to reveal a bolt like in this attached installation video starting at the 2:07 mark. If you do not have a bolt there, then drilling will be required. If you do not want to drill or use the bolt you can purchase item # TH530 to simply shut the hood over the anchor loop!
Helpful Links
Accessories-and-PartsThuleTH530.html
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