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Fairing for OEM Roof Rack???

A

ampol

Passed Driver's Ed
Just installed mine today. I used this as a general guide. Made some changes to the original post because I wanna be able to remove and install the fairing when washing the car or whatever reason

Hardware:
Wing nuts x4
Headless 2.5inch screw x4
Plastic cap x4

And my special tool that allowed me to install the wing nuts without the extra holes on top. Installing the nuts was really easy and it took less than 10 min for all four



















 
Karthoum

Karthoum

Ready to race!
diecastane said:
What size was faring?
Click to expand...

44" Thule 872xt.

I did the same as the rest, cut off the clips that are for the Thule bar and drilled into the bar for bolts but instead of using wing nuts, I used license plate bolt inserts. They fit PERFECTLY in the channel. I then took M6x1.00 x 40 stainless bolts with nuts (the same thread as the Thule plastic wing nuts in the kit) spun a nut on each bolt and threaded the bolts into the holes and into the plastic inserts inside. I then took a long (24") flat screwdriver and held them from turning inside and tightened them up. I then took a dremel and cut the heads off. Like the above post, I now have 4 stainless studs attached. I backed off the nuts to chase the threads and put it all back together. Mounted back on the car and the 872xt looks like it was made for it.

Here's what I used:

4 stainless M6x1.00 x 40 with nuts
4 plastic license plate inserts
the Thule fairing

The inserts and the rack I have:



 
cbursten

cbursten

Banned
ampol said:
Just installed mine today. I used this as a general guide. Made some changes to the original post because I wanna be able to remove and install the fairing when washing the car or whatever reason

Hardware:
Wing nuts x4
Headless 2.5inch screw x4
Plastic cap x4

And my special tool that allowed me to install the wing nuts without the extra holes on top. Installing the nuts was really easy and it took less than 10 min for all four



















Click to expand...

That's exactly how I mounted mine. Works great, with no noise at all.

 
M

MJSfoto1956

New member
New 44" Thule fairing attaches without mods!

So inspired by this thread, I went out and purchased a new Thule 44" fairing for my 2007 GLI Farenheit. Thinking that I was going to have to drill the factory roof rack I was prepared to purchase whatever was necessary from the local hardware store. However, on a lark, I decide to see if the stock Thule attachment brackets might just work "as is" -- and sure enough, they do! See photos below:







Enjoy!
Michael
 
Karthoum

Karthoum

Ready to race!
MJSfoto1956 said:
So inspired by this thread, I went out and purchased a new Thule 44" fairing for my 2007 GLI Farenheit. Thinking that I was going to have to drill the factory roof rack I was prepared to purchase whatever was necessary from the local hardware store. However, on a lark, I decide to see if the stock Thule attachment brackets might just work "as is" -- and sure enough, they do! See photos below:


Enjoy!
Michael
Click to expand...

Hmmm...Not sure I would trust that to stay on. The clips you are using are made to close up and clip closed onto itself. The way you have them they are stretched wide open and "looks" like they are not connected to anything but the springiness and friction on the base bar. I would just hope it doesn't fly off at 70 mph. I would drill and mount it. It's really simple and less than $5 in hardware.
 
freeclimbmtb

freeclimbmtb

Ready to race!
Did this last night, I think I have some tweaking to do to get the fairing to contact all 4 pads on the roof though. I also installed the plexi backwards to hide the Thule logo...(not that Im embarassed, but the rack isnt really a Thule!) One help I found was to take a piece of cardboard (the front flap of the box the fairing came in worked well) and bend it into a capital "M" if you do this and drop the wing nut in the valley, you can push it all the way down the chanel to help get everythign lined up! (also use some painters tape if the wing nuts slide around)

Awesome writeup! Made the project go silky smooth!!

Side note... Eastern Mountain Sports has the 872xt on sale right now for $75!
 
Karthoum

Karthoum

Ready to race!
freeclimbmtb said:
Did this last night, I think I have some tweaking to do to get the fairing to contact all 4 pads on the roof though. I also installed the plexi backwards to hide the Thule logo...(not that Im embarassed, but the rack isnt really a Thule!) One help I found was to take a piece of cardboard (the front flap of the box the fairing came in worked well) and bend it into a capital "M" if you do this and drop the wing nut in the valley, you can push it all the way down the chanel to help get everythign lined up! (also use some painters tape if the wing nuts slide around)

Awesome writeup! Made the project go silky smooth!!

Side note... Eastern Mountain Sports has the 872xt on sale right now for $75!
Click to expand...

My two outer foam pads don't touch either until I drive then the wind seats them nicely. OK by me... :)
 
Z

zerogravityGTI

New member



46" custom thule 555 fairing
 
H

hrdboiled

Passed Driver's Ed
Went on amazon to buy thule 44"fairing and noticed there was new style out. I bought all the stuff to was ready to drill holes in my rack, but new style fairing has different attachments than old one. I used square bar attachment w/ velcro straps to attach to bar. no drilling necessary!! The middle 2 attachments are adjustable front to back as well up and down. The 2 ends are adjustable up and down only.





 
zrickety

zrickety

The Fixer
Pretty cool.
 
D

Discipline

New member
To those of you that have done this mod with the OEM rack - are you just using a pocketknife to pop those screw covers off? I'd like to reuse them after making my changes, but they feel a bit flimsy.
 
N

Nowheat

Passed Driver's Ed
Discipline said:
To those of you that have done this mod with the OEM rack - are you just using a pocketknife to pop those screw covers off? I'd like to reuse them after making my changes, but they feel a bit flimsy.
Click to expand...

You talking about the screw covers on the under side of the mounts? If so, yes, they just pop off. They can be reused. I have removed them a few times to make adjustments.
 
D

Discipline

New member
Nowheat said:
You talking about the screw covers on the under side of the mounts? If so, yes, they just pop off. They can be reused. I have removed them a few times to make adjustments.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the small oval-shaped plastic pieces on the mounts. Good to know! Hoping to do this mod this afternoon.
 
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