Today on our 2011 Volvo XC70, we'll be test fitting the Thule AeroBlade Crossroads Roof Rack System, product numbers TH450R and THARB53. With our vehicle equipped with factory side rails and our roof rack already pre-assembled, we're ready to begin fitting it to the vehicle. When installing these crossbars, there are three things that you need to remember. You need to make sure that the crossbar is even from left to right. You need to make sure that the triangles on each of the feet are directly over the side rails on the vehicle, and third, you also need to make sure that they are perpendicular with the side rails. We'll do this by finding a fixed point on the side rails and measuring the same for each foot.
Once our crossbar is in position, we can go ahead and clamp it down using the provided Allen key within each foot. With our front bar clamped down and is now secured to the vehicle, we can move on to the rear crossbar. We'll again set the crossbar down on the side rails and at this time, when measuring from a fixed point, we'll use the front crossbar. Thule recommends not to exceed 55 inches of spread when placing the rear crossbar. In this test fit, we are going to go ahead and set it to 28 inches.
With our rear crossbar where we like it, we can go ahead and repeat the same tightening procedure as we did with the front using the included Allen keys within each foot. And with our rear crossbar clamped down, we'll go ahead and give you a measurement of overall height added to the vehicle, and there is approximately four and a half inches of height added to the vehicle with the Thule AeroBar System. And that completes our test fit of the Thule AeroBlade Crossroads Roof Rack, product numbers TH450R and THARB53 on our 2011 Volvo XC70.
