First off, I bought this a little worried off some of the one star reviews. But I figured I’d give it a try for how cheap it is.
The one star reviews say some of the following:
Leaks water into pipes
Rack makes A LOT of noise
Rack rusts and doesn’t seal
Rack is very hard to put together
All of the above is wrong flat out.
First off, it’s insanely easy to put together with a screwdriver and a rubber mallet. I was able to put this rack together by myself in 30 minutes. The only reason it took 30 minutes is because I didn’t read the directions at first and had to put the rubber slips on.
Which leads me to, the people that said it doesn’t seal, must have failed to put it together correctly. The rubber slips seal the parts of the rods that go together, so water can’t get inside the tubes. The screws come with rubber washers, which also do the above.
Now I did also seal the connections between tubes with silicone as well, because why not have extra protection.
The rack does make some noise, but it’s not so loud you can’t have a conversation. If you think strapping a rack to your roof, that catches the wind won’t make any noise, you have a lot more issues with yourself than this rack.
People saying their rack flew off literally didnt tighten the rack down correctly. I placed the rack on my Subaru crosstrek, and hand tightened all the nuts. Came back the next day, and then winched down the nuts with channel locks after the threads of the bolts and nuts relaxed and loosened up, as all threads do. After a 1200 mile trip, with rain and snow in some areas, the rack is still one with the car. I can grab it and literally try to move it and the car just moves instead.
As for water, I broke the silicone seals when I get home and took it apart just to see, and the internals are bone dry. No water at all even through moderate rain storms driving 80 mph.
Another review mentioned bolts being so long they scratched the tip of the car. First off if the bolts scratched the top, you put the bolts on upside down. Watch the YouTube video or read the directions, the bolts face upward away from your car. That being said they are long for my roof rack cross bars. But remember this is a universal roof rack basket, it has to accommodate very thick cross bars also. If the length bothers you, simply go to Home Depot and buy shorter bolts for $2. Or angle grind off the excess as I did.
That being said, you have to keep in mind this is a rack that’s less than $100. It’s going to be a $100 rack. That doesn’t mean it’s junk, just simply don’t compare it to a $400 Thule, because it’s not a $400 Thule. It’s a very strong roof rack for under $100. And it does everything that you will use it for, just so long as you don’t try and overload it past it’s weight rating.
To sum it all up, for less than $100, this rack is amazing. It’s strong, extremely light, super easy to put together, and with a little extra silicone and time very easy to seal up for poor weather.
Remember, hand tighten nuts, wait a day for the threads to settle, then Chanel lock them down.
Buy this rack, and enjoy your cars MPG, while still having great cargo space.
| Manufacturer | MaxxHaul Towing Products |
|---|---|
| Brand | MAXXHAUL |
| Model | Heavy-Duty Universal Steel Roof Rack |
| Item Weight | 37.9 pounds |
| Product Dimensions | 64 x 39 x 6 inches |
| Country of Origin | China |
| Item model number | 50506 |
| Manufacturer Part Number | 50506 |
