Roof rack noise: OEM vs Thule?

[uglycoyote]

Hello Mazda5 people,

I have recently bought a Mazda5 and I am looking to put a rack on it to carry bikes. The strongest options seem to be either the OEM rack or the Thule 460 rack. I am leaning towards the Thule for a couple reasons: 1) I like that the Thule one extends past the podiums, giving you a bit more width, 2) I think the OEM one sit a little high off the car, and look a bit funny being so narrow and tall.

However, I am a bit concerned after having read some posts about wind noise, especially this post elsewhere on the forum:

http://www.mazdaforum.com/forum/mazda5-43/roof-rack-noise-22524/?highlight=rack+noise

In which the owner reports a loud howling with the Thule, after which she returned it and got the OEM rack and was said that the OEM one was virtually silent.

I wanted to get some more feedback on whether other people have had the same problems with wind noise with the Thule rack on their Mazda5. If you have any experience with this (good or bad) please let me know!

Thanks
--Mike

 

[dieselcamp]

The thule racks are noisy due to the square tube, but all racks produce some noise

 

[uglycoyote]

Hmm, that's funny because I'm pretty sure that the Factory rack is also square and also made by Thule, however the person who posted the other thread that I linked to above stated that there was a huge difference between the Factory rack and the aftermarket one it terms of the amount of noise.

 

[jivenene]

Here is my Thule rack experience.

I have a 460R towers with Aero bars, and the noise is only noticeable with the sunroof tilted open. It's more of a "shumming" than an whistle or a howl, but still not tolerable with the sunroof open going 40+ mph. With the sunroof closed, no noise problems at all, don't even know its there. I have no fairing installed.

Also, i cannot open the sunroof all the way with a board loaded on the rack, although i forgot to put the surf pads on the bars before i tried it so the board was directly on the crossbars with no pad.

Anyway, It's no surprise the OEM rack is quieter, same went for my Honda Element. I only had the OEM rack for it, but it was silent.

That brings up the question, which bar shape should be the quietest? Round (yakima), box (thule), or oval (thule and rhino rack) crossbars?

 

[deisz001]

Experience with Mont Blanc roof rack

I have these bars: http://www.montblancuk.co.uk/our-products/roof-bars/performance/roof-bar-performance-ready-fit.html (I have the standard square bars) and they are about silent.
When I first mounted them and went for a test-drive they whistled like a football referee, but back home I discovered I forgot to install the plastic strips that close the gaps in the bars. After installing those plastic strips, it's hardly audible anymore.
So excessive noise can be caused by human error...

 

[chitownpete]

Having worked in the bike industry for many years and having sold a lot of Yakima and Thule I would never buy an aftermarket rack if a factory one is available (or the exact equivalent). In some cases the factory rack is just a rebadged Yakima or Thule and you can save some cash but be carefull. Mazda knows more about the 5 than any rack mfr. as Mazda only has to worry about the cars in its line, not every car out there. Nothing worse than a nice car with a noisy roof rack.

 

[SuperJETT]

We have an Inno rack and with the crossbars empty they have a howl going on, but with even just one bike mount on it goes away.

 

[food_yum]

My homemade solution is nice and cheap and works like a charm on my aftermarket Thule square tubes:
With 2 U-bolts ($5), attach a short section of plywood to the front bar, running along the top or bottom, it shouldn't matter. To be clear, it runs across the van, just like the rack does, not linking the front bar to the back bar!

Mine is about 4" wide and covers most - but not all - of the front bar. I rounded/smoothed the edges with a hand file and then painted it black to match the van. While a guy like me wouldn't care too much about how it looks, so long as it works, my finicky wife doesn't even mind it being there. Normally, she lectures me about how my homemade projects work well, but look like heck. But this one passed the test.
And it was a dirt cheap, homemade solution, which I like.

I didn't need to add one to the rear bar, but you may find otherwise. My rack came off a Subaru Impreza and may be at a different height than what others have used. (I tossed the "gutter grabbers" it came with, since they didn't fit the van and just drilled a hole in the middle of the foot and put a metric bolt through to the factory receiver in the roof. Rack was free and the bolts were $2.)

 

[linuxology]

I have the OEM rack on my 5. Do you ever remove yours? I have left mine up there since we got it.

 

[linuxology]

Also does anyone have the instructions for the oem rack? Thx