Today on our 2012 Ford Fusion, we'll be test fitting the Thule Traverse Roof Rack System, using part numbers TH480, THLB50, and TH1529. Now with our roof rack set up as indicated in the fit kit instructions, we're ready to fit it to the vehicle. We'll simply place the front crossbar on top of the roof and then we'll need to take a measurement. We'll measure from the top of the windshield back on our roof six inches. This will be the location of the leading edge of our crossbar tower. When installing your roof rack system, it's a good idea to have your doors open as the clamps clamp to the door opening.
Now with our front crossbar in the correct location as indicated by Thule, we can go ahead and work back and forth on the towers, tightening them down using the included acutorque tool within each foot. Now with our front crossbar secured to the vehicle, we can go ahead and open our rear doors, place our rear crossbar on top of the roof. This time in order to find the correct location, we'll do another measurement. We'll measure 26 3/4 inches from the center of the crossbar to the center of the rear crossbar. This will ensure that our rear crossbar is placed where Thule recommends, it will also ensure that the rear crossbar is parallel with the front crossbar.
And with our rear crossbar positioned correctly, we can go ahead and use the same tightening procedure that we did with the front crossbar to secure our rear crossbar. And with the rear crossbar secured, our roof rack system is fitted to the vehicle and we're ready to load our accessories. And that completes our test fit of the Thule Traverse Roof Rack System, using part numbers TH480 and THLB50 with kit number TH1529, on our 2012 Ford Fusion.
