Thule Traverse Roof Rack Installation - 2008 Toyota Prius

Installation of a Thule Traverse Roof Rack on a 2008 Toyota Prius

Today on this 2008 Toyota Prius we are going to install roof rack from Thule. We are going to be using the following part numbers. For the cross bars we are going to be using part numbers THLB50 and then we are going to use the Traverse foot pack part number TH480 and then the fit kit for the Prius we are going to use part number THKIT1345. With this installed from here we can haul anything we want. It could be a cargo box, a bicycle rack, or a rack for kayaks, or a simple open basket and you can put anything you want inside of it. Lets get started and we will start with the sub assembly of the bars and the traverse foot pack. We will scoot all of our parts off to one side and we will just work on one corner at a time. 00:47

Take one end of the bar and install one of the feet. You want to make sure you have this lever opened up here and then install onto another one of the bars and it just slides on. Then you want to put an end cap on here. Flip it upside down. Open up the hatch and remove the AcuTight measuring tool to get it out of our way. Now we can start installing our fit kit. The easiest way to install this metal bracket is to just pull up on the middle like so and then this part will fit into the slot right here and push it all the way down until it clicks into place. Basically hit the lever right there and it will guide it into place. Give it a gentle pull up and it is installed. On some vehicles there are different part numbers for these brackets for our front and rear however on this vehicle we do not have to worry about it but on the pads themselves they do have different part numbers. 02:09

This pad which is actually labeled 164, one is set up for the front and one is set up for the rear so at this point we will start to decide which one we are going to make this bar, front or rear and this part simply gets pushed into place. While I have got the pad out you can easily see how thick the pad is. It is about almost an inch thick on one corner and about 5/ 8 inch on the other side. It has got plenty of padding to match the roof line of your vehicle. Just line it up and push it in place. Just flip it around and do the same thing on the other side of the bar. Go ahead and start work on the bar but it is going to be fitted to the back. When you have them set together you need to set a distance between this point and this point. The Thule fit kit instructions will tell you a starting measurement. So as a starting measurement to go by this can vary depending on the roof line of your vehicle. But we are going to start off with 41- 1/ 8 inches and then on the back we are going to do 40- 3/ 8 inches and start off there. Once we have them lined up the way we want, lock them in place by pushing down the lever. At this point we can go ahead and open up the car doors and install this rack. Now just set it on the roof. Just lay this one on top and get the rear rail and do the same thing. Start with the front rail and this is going to be set back from this point here to the edge of the foot here is going to have to be 12- 1/ 2 inches. Use the measure that comes with the foot pack. 12- 1/ 2, we are good there so do the other side. The next measurement is going to be the center of the bar to the center of this bar and it is going to be 23- 1/ 2 inches. Once you have got it in the proper position you can tighten them down. Open up the hatch and use the tool and just start tightening it down. Just do a little bit on each side. Go back and forth a few times to tighten it down and once you have everything even this little green line is going to match up to this gray line. When you have it tight enough those lines will match up and then you can leave it alone from there. Once you have it properly torqued we can put our tool back in and shut the hatch on it and go back to the second rail and do the same thing again. That finishes our install for this roof rack on a 2008 Toyota Prius.