Vehicle roof racks...cars without the "crossbars"

[silbeej]

So i've had a few threads in the past about which car i am planning on picking up this spring, and i have narrowed it down to the Subaru Legacy Special Edition. I believe it is a great combo with AWD, good looks and decent MPG for i have our Outback, which is basically the same car over 30 on the highway. My only question now is how are the rack systems that go on cars without the crossbars there in the first place. My gripe with getting an Outback is that i'm still young and would like a stylish car, but the Legacy doesn't have the side bars to attach a rack to. So how do these cars take the racks, do they scratch a lot? Any experience with them would be appreciated.

EDIT: Could someone if they know, explain the difference between Thule's two options when you run the rack system selector? One seems to be the Aero foot system and the other is the rapid aero multipurpose system.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

I have the yamika roof rack form my car. The biggest problem is where the feet rest it has rub the paint off on the car. The thule system will have the same problem.

The best way to protect it is always make sure you put wax there before hand but it going to cause it just from the vibration and VERY VERY minor movement of the car car flexing and the rack moving a little (impossible to remove all the movement)

 

[adk]

I use Thule racks. Basically there are four little rubber "feet" that sit on the roof, and then on each foot an arm extends into the doorframe. The rubber pads support the weight and the racks basically squeeze the sides of the roof to hold themselves in place.

 

[ErikCLDR]

The "rapid" series are more aerodynamic and look fancier. I don't really know how big the difference actually is in terms of noise. We used to have a thule rack on one of our cars and it was pretty noisy on the highway.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

I use Thule racks. Basically there are four little rubber "feet" that sit on the roof, and then on each foot an arm extends into the doorframe. The rubber pads support the weight and the racks basically squeeze the sides of the roof to hold themselves in place.

Yamika system is a lot like the Thule system FYI so what I posted earlier will hold true.

As for noise it does not matter what system you go with at 60+mph noise will start happening when you start putting equipment on the rack (in my case a bike). When I do roof rack empty the only time I hear noise is when I am at highway speeds and I have high speed cross winds.

As for gas mileage effecting my car. When I have my bike on there I lose 5-10% mpg at 70 mph. at 60 mph maybe 5% at most loss according to my car.

Now mind you my car is a Sentra SE-R spec V so I have a fairly large engine for a car that size so I have fair amount of extra over head power that has to be eaten into before it starts draining the gas mileage. Most cars will feel the lost sooner than I do.

 

[Sun Baked]

Always the 3M type plastic scratch guards, buy a cheap $3 one for some cheesy electronic item and use it under the feet.