Yeti roof bars

[Fred_Bristol]

I've seen many references in the past to the disadvantage of having roof rails in terms of reduced mpg and increased wind noise.

All my estate cars have had them, including the little red postman pat Agila, and I've never used them or tried to remove them.

Has anybody removed the roof rails from a Yeti?

What are you left with if you do in terms of fixing holes etc?

And has anybody come across any quantitive assessment of what difference they make to mpg and noise?

(O.K. I'll go and get a life - I'll be one year nearer retirement before my Yeti arrives - not even got a build week yet.) :zzz:

[Llanigraham]

Longditudinal rails are going to have very little effect on fuel consumption, it's when you put the cross bars on that it starts to have an effect.

[Onesque]

Longditudinal rails are going to have very little effect on fuel consumption, it's when you put the cross bars on that it starts to have an effect.

I agree but I'd be surprised If you would notice any difference in mpg with the cross bars on their own, it's what you attach to them that can make a difference ie cycles, boat, roof box etc.

You might find some wind noise but there again I'm sure that wouldn't be too significant. Some bars are aerodynamically shape to reduce noise and drag anyway.

[ernieb]

I agree but I'd be surprised If you would notice any difference in mpg with the cross bars on their own, it's what you attach to them that can make a difference ie cycles, boat, roof box etc.

You might find some wind noise but there again I'm sure that wouldn't be too significant. Some bars are aerodynamically shape to reduce noise and drag anyway.

I've not done the test in this car but in my last I did test with and without and there is a significant impact on mpg with the cross bars fitted - I was quite surprised.

I guess just round the town would be OK but on the open road it's a different story.

ernieb

[Trevorminor]

In my experience the cross bars add a lot of wind noise and I avoid using them.

I don't know about the fuel consumption but I'd be surprised if it didn't have quite an impact.

[hazy]

The roof bars have a negligible frontal area and are smoothly tapered so will make almost no difference to the drag factor, which is already quite poor. On previous vehicles I have driven, the addition of cross bars made the biggest difference to wind noise and drag.

One problem that the roof bars can cause is that after the car has been parked in the rain, rows of water drops on the underside of the bars fall off onto the roof when you open the doors and the car tips slightly. A stream of water can then fall onto the back door sills just where you want to step into the car. Also beware of opening the windows when driving off if the roof bars are wet as the water runs off the edge of the roof and lands on the internal armrests.

[900000]

I've posted this link on here before somewhere. Autoexpress did a test about all the myths on fitting roof racks etc. Cross bars had hardly ANY impact on fuel consumption.

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/news/autoexpressnews/229776/the_mpg_mythbusters.html

Results at a glance

30.5mpg – Astra’s baseline fuel economy

30.4mpg – Two front windows a third open

30.3mpg – Roof bars and laden roofbox

30.2mpg – Two front windows totally open

29.7mpg – Four tyres down to 20psi

28.0mpg – Air-conditioning on

27.2mpg – Three large adult males in the back seat

24.1mpg – Roof bars and laden roofbox, plus three adults in the rear, a bike carrier with two adult bikes and air-con

[BigHusky]

myself, wife and with our 2 dogs in the boot, drove back from a nice day out at Cragside, Northumberland today.

On the twisty B roads the monster was averaging well over 60 mpg (driven quite fast but safely), this went down to a very respectable 52mpg on the motorway whilst doing 80-90mph.

This is with Thule aero cross bars fitted. I also increased the tyre pressure yesterday to 40psi in the fronts and 42 in the rears, maybe this is the reason the fuel economy has improved? MY monsters the 2WD 110 CR TDi version

[Onesque]

If I was Lewis Hamleton or Jenson Button then I would probably be worried about the effect roof bars had on my vehicle. The fact is Joe public driving as they would do normally would probably not notice any significant change in mpg whether cross bars were fitted or not.

The worst offender for poor mpg is a heavy right foot.

[Jock]

Admittedly we haven't done thousands of miles, but we have Thule Aerobars which are very quiet - in fact we don't notice the noise at legal speeds at all (and of course I don't go faster than those anyway).

With two cycles on the roof, the drop in economy is not significant (and even the noise in that configuration is only a very slight whistle which you get used to very quickly - it's not obtrusive). I'd say we probably drop less then one mile per gallon to be honest.

[Trevorminor]

Admittedly we haven't done thousands of miles, but we have Thule Aerobars which are very quiet - in fact we don't notice the noise at legal speeds at all (and of course I don't go faster than those anyway).

With two cycles on the roof, the drop in economy is not significant (and even the noise in that configuration is only a very slight whistle which you get used to very quickly - it's not obtrusive). I'd say we probably drop less then one mile per gallon to be honest.

The Skoda crossbars are quite noisy in my experience. They seem to have some sort of rounding off but don't seem to be shaped to reduce drag/noise.

[CJJE]

The picture of the new Yeti Greenline posted in this forum show it still to have longitudional roof bars fitted, so this supports the suggestion that there is no significant improvement to a Yeti's economy if they are not fitted!

I also agree with earlier posts. I have Thule roofbars and bike carriers for my Octavia hatch. If I'm lazy and leave them on the car (without bikes) then there is some extra noise and fuel economy is hit by a few MPG. Travelling to and from north-east France this summer with bikes on top increased fuel consumption by around 10% (but I was also keeping my speed on the autoroutes down to around 70 mph - the limit is 130 kph / 80 mph).

Chris