Is SportRack Frontier Roof Rack for 2012 Chevy Impala Compatible with Yakima and Thule Accessories

Question:

I have a 2012 Chevy Impala. Two questions 1. Will the crossbars be compatible with thule and yakima accessories? especially rooftop boxes? 2. How adaptable is this rack? Meaning with yakima you can reuse most of the parts and just by new clips. Will this rack fit a wide variety of cars? Will it also clip to the factory roof rails of my Mercury Mariner 2007?

asked by: Rob

Expert Reply:

The SportRack crossbars in semi-custom roof rack # SR1010 for your 2012 Chevy Impala are compatible with most Thule and Yakima accessories including cargo boxes. The only items that may not fit are the ones that only fit the Thule square bars or Yakima round bars because the mounts are specific to those bars. But cargo boxes will not be an issue.

This roof rack fits a lot of vehicles since it is semi-custom but it is not really adaptable since individual parts are not available to allow it to fit on any vehicle like most Thule and Yakima racks. You would not be able to adapt it to factory side rails on a 2007 Mercury Mariner. To see all the vehicles this rack fits you can look at the lower part of its product page where it says This Product Fits the Following Vehicles.

For a rack that you could potentially move to another vehicle by swapping out some parts I recommend Rhino-Rack roof rack made of the following parts:

Vortex Aero Crossbars # RRVA126S-2
2500 Series Leg Kit # RRRLKVA
Custom DK Clamps and Pads # DK187

Then to use the bars on the 2007 Mariner you would just need the SX Series leg kit # RRSX100. The bars would be longer than what is normally recommended so be careful not to bump your head getting in and out of the vehicle.