Yakima Rack Fitment

[Oliver in Seattle]

I just had my smart over at Rack - N - Road on Aurora in Seattle. Scott spent about an hour figuring out the fitment (Q34 clips were a key suggestion, thanks SCOA!). He used the Q stretch kit. Bars are far enough apart to mount a small box, but my intention is to use it only for skis and bikes. Scott sent around the fitment details to the other Rack N Road shops, but I would guess that any competent installer would be able to make it work. Here are some links to photos

[SMART]

Did you just give it your best shot or was there a generic kit that worked?

[Oliver in Seattle]

Since Yakima doesn't have a solution yet, I brought it over to a pro installer (a little shop that sells only car racks). I read on this site that the Q34 clips were necessary. I went over the car with the installer to explain where they could put the towers (on the Tridion) and where they could not (on the roof panel). They spent about an hour and a half on the fitment (although now that they have all the measurements I think it would take less time).

If you don't have an installer in the area, this is what they used for my car:

Q Tower set
48" round bars (2)
Q34 Clips (2 pair)
Q stretch kit

Installation, locks, 32" fairing were extra.

Since the rack needs to be farther over the edge than standard, I would recommend using an installer unless you are pretty comfortable with this type of rack. The silicone pads are pretty far over the edge of the roof, as seen in the photos. This was the first time I had used an installer for something as simple as a roof rack installation. The cost was worth it to me to be sure that all the bits would fit together properly.

Hope this helps. The car drives fine with the rack only, but I haven't had it on the freeway, and haven't had anything up top yet. Will report back once I've driven on the open road and with a load up top.

SMART: Thanks for adding the pictures to the post!

Oliver

[dmwery]

From page 301 of the manual:

Weights: Roof Load - NONE

"This vehicle is not intended to carry items on its roof. Thus roof rails and any roof
mounted devices must not be used."

I really like the look of this Yakima set-up & I've used their roof racks for bikes, etc. on previous vehicles but always where the manufacturer has listed a roof rating. Does anyone know if there is a structural reason for having a zero load rating for the roof or is it simply they could not envision a workable arrangement? Has anyone asked smartusa?

[SmartAzz]

Originally Posted by dmwery

Does anyone know if there is a structural reason for having a zero load rating for the roof or is it simply they could not envision a workable arrangement? Has anyone asked smartusa?

Perhaps because of how narrow/tall it is? Throws off the balance too much (danger of tip over)?

If it were because of the polycarbonate roof I'd think the manual would state that considering that the Pures don't have it..

[Alustiza]

With that safety cell, the roof is plenty strong enough, but the entire idea of the cell is to protect the occupants, so if something is in the way of the cell, like a rack with stuff on it, the ability for the cell to do it's job is most likely diminished. Also the aerodynamics most likely does also play into the scenario, as the car is not the most aerodynamic thing in the world, so anything that may throw off what it has, cannot be good.

[Old smart]

Some years back I routinely carried four bikes and six wheels on a LaPrealpina rack, mounted on a Peugeot 505 STI (a pretty heavy car with big meaty tires). Crosswinds would have it all over the road.

[Oliver in Seattle]

The rack is not mounted on the roof; it's on the tridion cage. I doubt that the rack will in some way weaken the tridion (it's not drilled). The Pure has an opaque plastic roof, also without load bearing capacity.

Clearly carrying a bike or even skis or snowboards will make any vehicle more susceptible to crosswinds, and also make it less fuel efficient due to increased wind drag. The rack itself has pretty low drag (having done the experiment on several cars, you lose very little fuel efficiency - it's almost undetectable).

On the other hand, I am not planning to put a box on top of the car, nor am I planning to carry much more than 50 lbs up there (two bikes, for example). In any case, wind drag is clearly a much bigger deal than the weight, but the clips fit really well, and the rack is very solid.

Having said all that, this car weighs 1800 lbs, more than an original VW beetle or squareback, and probably close to the weight of a classic microbus. I have driven lighter cars (our old squareback was under 1600#) with considerably 'looser' steering in high winds with both bikes and skis on top, and never had a problem. The microbus, on the other hand, was terrifying on a two lane highway with any significant crosswind (without any kind of roofrack). I doubt that with a bike, or two pairs of skis, there will be too much of an increase in susceptibility to crosswinds over the vehicle without a rack. But this forum will be the first to hear about it.

Oliver

[Mr. Incredible]

Usually roof means the roof panel (polycarbonate panel). There are no 'roof bows' supporting the middle of the polycarbonate panel only the front and rear header.

The location of the Yakima Rack appears it is being support on the aperture (side of car) of the Tridion cell.

At my local smart center, on display is a body-in-white, the skeletal metal structure, of the smart fortwo. From what Oliver in Seattle did it appears the rack will work with the Tridion cell.

His solution looks like the direction I want to follow. I have a triathlon bike and a tandem bike that I would like to carry. Since my tandem bike is 8 foot long the roof idea appears to be an ideal solution. I will be removing the front wheel so it fits better on the roof rack.

[2mutch]

While in France in 2000 at the same time the Tour 'd France race was in full gear (pun intended ;)), I saw numerous smarts with racked bikes. In one instance, I counted 6 bikes on the roof with another 6 mounted on a trailer behind! They were typically stuffing bikes in wherever and however they could be fit (the large racing teams had numerous bikes for each rider and many riders to outfit using multiples of vehicles).

I also saw a couple smarts at rental stores outfitted with multi-purpose racks for carrying skis and/or surf boards.

While it may state in the manual that there is a zero weight rating for the roof, my thought is that it refers to the ROOF (panel or, heaven forbid, the cabrio 'roof'). They don't want someone attempting to strap a sheet of plywood directly on the roof - if something were to break, I'm sure it would fall out of the warranty if caused by weight on an unsupported roof panel. On the other hand, the tridion frame seems able to carry a basic rack good enough for a couple bikes, skis, snowboards, etc.

The install you've done looks nice. I would say try it and give us some updates - and a couple images with bikes/skis loaded!

- FRED "2 MUTCH"
Is it a car? Is it a mind set? It's BOTH!