Thanks, CCR76. I am adding a few pictures and thoughts for those who are still checking out their options. I bought the Landing Pad #11 to try out and really disliked the clunky appearance and huge size. I also bought some Landing Pad #6 to compare and possibly make a custom mount for (I am including a picture showing them side by side). I finally decided today to break open the fastener package and try the #11’s on the car. I was surprised how solid they felt, so for now I have them installed and might save the #6’s for a custom install later.
As for drilling the holes, it might help someone to know about hole or stud finders (picture attached). I made one on the lathe out of a spare 6 mm bolt. I’m not sure where you can buy them but the ones I have seen have a hex under the point to help you install them. You just start them in the hole, install one end of the roof trim strip and push the strip back and forth over the finder, leaving a mark where the hole will go. Anchor the forward end of the strip when you do this, because the back end slides back and forth a fair amount.
When you re-mount the drilled trim (I drilled them to 5/16”), make sure you scoot the rubber feet along the strip so they match the raised flats in the roof ditch. You will probably see muddy marks where they were before.
I noticed that the factory paint job did not get any coverage on the bottom of those rail fastener holes, so I ran some Rustoleum paint down there. About half of my holes had rust down there already (one week old car!). I counted the turns on the rack fastening screws, and the hold-downs on the car only allow about 6-1/2 to 7 turns before bottoming out on the sheet metal in the bottom of the roof ditch. If you tighten the Landing Pad screws beyond this you are bending the sheet metal hold-downs up and possibly loosening the factory seal where it bolts through the roof.
When I put the pads on, I screwed down about 2 turns and then shuffled the pad around to get the rubber base well seated. Then I screwed them carefully down to 6-1/2 plus some and could barely feel when the screw bottomed out. I gently bottomed them out, then backed off a turn. This is with wet paint in the hole, so it will hopefully cover up what I just scratched. Yakima gives you 3 choices of 6mm bolt lengths; you want the mid length.
I just took it out for a test drive with the Yakima Control Towers and round bars installed. At 50 MPH I start to hear a mild wind roar. At 60 MPH it gets fairly loud (louder than anything else while on a noisy section of road). I’m guessing a boat up there will quiet things down.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31037352@N06/8809687169/lightbox/
