Rhino-Rack Vortex Roof Rack for Naked Roofs - Aluminum - Black - Qty 2
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2002 Ford Focus
These items fit your vehicle
2002 Ford Focus
To see if this custom-fit item will work for you please tell us what vehicle you'll use it with.
This setup includes two 49" Vortex crossbars, four 2500 Series legs, and a custom fit kit for a solid foundation on your roof. The aluminum construction keeps it strong but light, handling up to 165 lbs while staying corrosion resistant. The system locks down tight with cover plates on the legs to keep the rack secure when you leave the vehicle parked.
The aero-style shape of the crossbars helps air slip over smoothly, so you don’t get that loud whistling sound you can get with square bars. Rubberized Vortex strips fill the top channels to help reduce drag and vibration even more. It makes those long highway drives quieter and more comfortable.
These aluminum crossbars work with a wide range of accessories that mount in the top channels or clamp around the bars. You can load up bikes, kayaks, skis, or cargo carriers without worrying about compatibility. The full-length bar space gives you plenty of room to arrange your gear the way you like it.
Plastic locks built into the crossbars deter theft of your channel-mount accessories, adding a layer of peace of mind when you step away from your vehicle. If you want even more security, you can upgrade to all-metal locks (RRVA-LEC4 – sold separately) for added protection on long trips or overnight stops.
Alternate Instructions
Videos are provided as a guide only. Refer to manufacturer installation instructions and specs for complete information.
Hi, Matt with etrailer. If you have a 2021 Ford Ranger and you're looking for a way to get a little bit more storage out of your Ranger and you want something that's gonna be relatively easy to install, then the Rhino-Rack roof rack is gonna be a pretty good option for you so let's check it out. What I like about a roof rack is a few things. So what's nice about it is it's gonna allow you to carry those extra long items because while we do have a bed, sometimes that can still be limiting 'cause if you have anything like lumber, ladders or kayaks, putting it back there just isn't gonna be ideal. What's also great about it is instead of relying on a small trailer or a hitch cargo basket, putting it on your roof is also gonna save you more space, keeping everything in just one footprint. It's also important to check you have the right type of roof and the Ford Ranger really only has one type for the most part but sometimes you might run into something else so you need to make sure you have a naked roof option.
And a naked roof option isn't gonna have any type of rails on it. A flush option will have some type of rail that you can grab on and then a raised roof option, you'll be able to get your hand underneath that rail. I also just recommend plugging in your vehicle's information into our fit guide to make sure you find the right one for you. But let's just focus on the kit that we have today. And it's gonna come in three parts.
It's gonna have our 49 inch Rhino-Rack Vortex crossbar on top. We're gonna have the tower underneath and then we're gonna have the fit kit that attaches to your roof. But let's focus on the crossbar. The shape of this crossbar is gonna be an aero style and what that means is it's gonna have a taper end to either side that's gonna help it be more aerodynamic and that's gonna help reduce wind noise. Something else that's gonna help reduce wind noise is gonna be this weather strip up top.
That's also gonna keep out any debris or water from getting into this channel. And the important reason why you want that clear is if you want to use any T channel accessories. T channel accessories are ideal if you run into any situations where you have a clamped on accessory that just won't wrap around a certain section anywhere like where the tower is sitting, you won't be able to get your clamp on accessories there. Now I will say this weather strip is just one that you have to cut down the size to work around your gear. If you're looking for something that's a little bit more premium, I'd recommend checking out the Thule roof frack.
What's nice about that, that weather strip is actually built in so you don't have to worry about cutting anything down to size. We'll also have this end cap. This end cap is gonna have a plastic lock core on the end of it and it's gonna help deter theft. But if you want even more security, you can actually get that replaced with a metal locking core. We're gonna have a T channel underneath too. And what that's gonna be used for is to connect your tower to your crossbar. And if you look inside of here, I already removed our end cap. The nice thing about this is it does have a metal locking core. So you will have the extra security right here. And this is a relatively simple layout. So we're just gonna have this bolt that connects to your tower that's gonna hold this clamp and this clamp is grabbing onto your gutter right here. So it is keeping everything cinched into place. Now I will say this is a fixed mounting location. Now it's not gonna be as fixed as some other options out there where you actually have to drill or really put a bolt through a certain hole in your roof. This, you could move maybe an inch to the back or front if you really needed to. I still don't recommend it, but just know you will have a little bit of play with this when it comes to installing it sometimes. And with that clamp, that's also gonna be part of your fit kit. And your fit kit's gonna come in two pieces. So it'll be that clamp itself and we're gonna have those rubber pad underneath. And right now we're getting a really good fit from this. And what I mean by that is we don't have any gaps. It's relatively flush. So we know we're having a secure fit 'cause it's doing two things for us. One, it's giving us a pretty nice look on top of your roof, you wanna make sure you don't have any gaps. And if you did have some gaps, sometimes that can create additional wind noise or some whistling that can occur. But right now we don't have to worry about that and it's gonna give us more peace of mind since it is flush, ensuring that we do have a good hold on top of our roof. And the way it's gonna sit up here, if we get some measurements, we can get the total height and right now that's gonna be sitting a little bit over five inches. So that's a little bit high compared to some other options out there. What I'd recommend doing is just taking the total height of your vehicle, your crossbars, and anything on top of there is just so you know if you can make it underneath a spot, a spot to really think about would be a garage. And if we get the distance underneath the crossbar, that's gonna be a little bit over three inches. And why that's important is if you have any really bulky clamps, they should work. Now, if you do have a sunroof on your roof then you might need to consider that too 'cause if that opens up and expands up, it could make contact with something. Just make sure you keep an eye on it. And then for the crossbar spread, this is gonna be set to 31 and a half inches. Like I said earlier, this is gonna be at fixed points. Gears might be a little bit off if maybe your installation is just a little bit off. But just make sure it is as flush as possible. And that's important to know because you need to make sure that spread is gonna work with whatever gear you have. Something else to consider is how it's sitting up here. And what I mean by that is the angle of our crossbar, since they are at a slight angle, that's just 'cause the shape of our roof. But the good thing is both bars are parallel so we shouldn't have any fitment issues. The biggest thing is if you have any extra long items, they might be at a slight angle and that's gonna be more of a cosmetic thing than anything. And as for how much room we have for the overhang, this is gonna be a little bit more close to the tower, so it might be more of a clean finish. The big obstacle you might face is if you have any clamp on accessories, a lot won't work with this amount of space. You might be able to get a ski carrier at the very end of here. That's gonna be a big maybe. That's one of the benefits of having this T channel up top. So if you are running into any issues like that and you want your gear be as close as possible to the side so it's just easier to access, then you still have that ability. And this will have a pretty decent weight capacity and what's gonna be the limiting factor is most likely going to be your roof. So what I'd recommend doing is finding that in your owner's manual and then going from the lowest rated component. Now in my opinion, I think this is a solid choice for a roof rack. I don't think it looks bad at all on our roof and I think it's a great value option in the realm of these more custom fit roof racks. Now if you're looking for a slightly better look and a just as easy of a installation, then I'd recommend the Thule roof rack. That one is personally my favorite aesthetic wise on top of your roof, but it's gonna be the most premium one and it's gonna be at a little bit more of a premium price range. So if you're looking to save a little bit and you still want that easy installation, I think this will be perfect for you. Now if you are curious about that installation, just stay tuned, we'll walk you through the process. To begin the installation, I like to lay everything out. So for this way for me, we are gonna have our crossbar, next to that, we're gonna have the towers and their bases. And on our other side we're gonna have our fit kit that's gonna consist of these two pads and these clamps. You'll have this little measurement tab to make sure everything's even on both sides. And we're gonna have this included tool. Not only is it gonna be an Allen key, but we'll have one to take off your end caps. And we're gonna have our included key so we can lock everything up. What I recommend grabbing is just an additional tape measure just so you can make sure everything's even. We already have our front crossbar installed but it's gonna be the same process for either one. Now there will be a few differences when it comes to measurements, but we'll talk about that when we get to it. But right now I will install our bases to our rubber fit kit. The way this is gonna work is we're gonna have a lot of tabs on here and this is kind of just plug and play into each other. Now there's a few things we wanna make sure of before we get this all cinched together. So there's gonna be a couple indicators on this. One of the indicators is gonna be an arrow on that plastic base. And right now I have this facing out. And what I mean by that, we wanna make sure when we install this that this isn't facing towards the center of your vehicle. The second thing we want to check is the rubber base or fit kit itself. On here we're gonna have an arrow. It might be kind of hard to see, but we wanna make sure this is facing forward towards the front of your vehicle. I got my crossbar in front of me now and what I'm gonna do is grab this little blue key and I'm gonna remove my end cap. The best way I like to do this is just simply face it like this, that key's gonna sit in place and I can remove it. I'm gonna grab my key in a second, but what we're gonna be doing at this point is putting our tower on. The way this is gonna work is we got this little metal block here at the top of it and sometimes it's best to loosen this up before you get in place. If you loosen it up a bit, you have this head right here. This will give you a little bit more room to work with. And the way this is gonna seat into place is we're gonna have this T channel right here. That metal block is gonna go into it and we wanna make sure that we're putting this on in the right orientation, making sure that this bolt is facing out. We got both towers in place and the end caps back on. And what I wanna do from here is grab this strip. This strip is gonna have this measuring tape on it. And what I'm gonna do is figure out where this tower needs to sit. You can actually find this measurement in your instructions and the best way to do that is get that measurement, cut it down where you need it to sit and try it out. Now I found that this actually needs to be a little bit more in than what we originally thought, so I'm gonna try it like that. But I'd recommend sticking to your instructions first and then going from there accordingly. Once you get that measurement, we can tighten this down, which you can grab that Allen key and go from here. Now you'll notice I don't have my strip in place. That's because this is just one we keep in the studio. So we're gonna need this for a lot of different lengths but you can install yours. We can start putting it on top of our roof. Before we get it up there, we wanna make sure it's in the right orientation. So like I said earlier, we're gonna have those arrows on those rubber pads and we wanna make sure those are facing forward. Once we've done that, I'm just gonna roughly place this on top of my roof. This doesn't have to be perfect quite yet, 'cause later on I'm gonna use some measurements from my instructions to get the exact location. Your instructions are gonna have two measurements. It's going to have an A and B. Your A measurement is gonna be the distance from the top of your windshield to the front of your front crossbar. You're gonna check on both sides and make sure it's even and square it off. And then you can get the measurement for your rear crossbar, which is gonna be B. It's just gonna go from the center of your front crossbar to the center of the rear one to make sure it's squared off too. The second thing I'd like to check is how this is sitting up here. And what I mean by that is I wanna make sure this base is looking pretty good and it's flush. And right now I'm not a big fan of this, that's because this isn't cinched up against this corner. So it's gonna give me a little bit less peace of mind and that's what I was talking about earlier. Sometimes this can sit a little bit too wide, so we'll have to adjust it later on. We'll just have to bring these towers in maybe by a half inch, a quarter inch. Just kind of take it slow until you get this into the right spot you want it to. Now this is what the fit we want is, just like this. It's more flush against this corner. Once you got that, then we can start installing our clamps. To do that, you're gonna remove this bolt at the very back of it. You can use your tool to do this. It should be loose enough just to do with your hand. Once you get that out, we can just open up our door and install our clamps. Now you're gonna have two sets of these. You just need to make sure you reference a number on the inside of it, that's gonna match the right locations on your roof. Once you've done that, we're gonna reinstall this bolt back into that hole in the backside of it. Now, the best way I find to do this is to use your tool. Just kind of hold it in place like that and it's gonna be a little bit tricky sometimes, but you're just gonna guide that bolt through that hole on your clamp through that nut on the backside or inside your tower. We just wanna get this started and once that's grabbing on, then we can kind of test your fit. Sometimes you might run into this case where this clamp is just sitting on top rather than around your gutter. What I find is the best solution for that is to just pull on here a little bit and try to slide that in and push it back into the right location. And you just repeat that on the other side. And with both clamps installed, we're gonna start tightening this down. Now the trick to this is just to tighten each side a little bit at a time. And the reason being, you wanna make sure you don't tighten this up too much on one side because it's gonna start to pull and that's not gonna give you an even fit. Now, you're eventually gonna reach the point after going back and forth a few times where this is gonna start to kind of bend at the end. And you can tell if this straightens out all the way, then this is fully tightened down. And what we can do from here is kind of give it a good shake test to make sure it's not gonna go anywhere. And if it feels pretty good, then you can put your end caps back on. And with all four of your end caps in place, just make sure you lock 'em up. And then that'll pretty much do it for our look at the installation and some of the features of the Rhino-Rack roof rack on top of our 2021 Ford Ranger. I'm Matt, thanks for watching.
Ratings & Reviews
Looking for a roof rack for my Toyota Corolla IM 2017 and chose the Rhino rack-Vortex Aero bars combination. It is strong rack, good quality and nice finish (I picked the black color). Installation requires patience but not difficult, instructions could be more detailed. Happy with the solution it gave me, finding a good rack to transport my Mountain bike to the trail. Highly recommended!
Easy to install. The pins on the legs clamp perfectly into the fixed points on the car's flush rails. This is a nice low profile set up. The top of the crossbar is about 4" above the roof glass and does not interfere with opening the sunroof. This is a very sturdy setup for our Thule Motion XT XL. etrailer shipped extremely fast. Very pleased with my purchase.
My inital thought of these crossbars were that they were going to be too small. Two of the other big makers call for 53" min and 60" recommended. However after installing, 49" is a perfect fit for the Cayenne I feel. The rack is extremely quiet (make sure you use the channel rubber on top and bottom) The Cayenne is fairly quiet car inside and it was one of my big concerns but I only hear what sounds like a slight rush of air, no buzzing or whistling at all.
The downside to this rack is I think the black paint is too thin. Just laying it on the pavement while setting up caused scratches to appear. Silver would be the way to go if your getting these, or spray them plastic.
I bought this rack for my son who is a rower so he could take his single shell and oars to regattas using his new Chevy Cruz. First trip from Wyandotte, Michigan to Boston, Massachusetts and back was great. A learning curve to get in the right spot on roof but very sturdy & strong. He is looking forward to many regattas with this car and roof rack. Very Satisfied with etrailer and the rack itself and thank you for the quick shipping.
I got the product a little later than expected and came in a huge box that ended up moving the product around a little. It is all metal though so it was mostly still in very good condition. (little scratches here and there) Took me a while to figure out the pads due to the instructions being different from the actual product but very simple in general. I could put one together in maybe 30 minutes now. Tons of videos are online which take time to watch but are very helpful. Overall install went well and very happy with look of product. I am buying accessories today for both kayaks and bikes to be mounted on. Rhino Rack is also a great company to call. They will spend all the time in the world to help you with what you need. Etrailer might do this as well but I went with Rhino Rack. Now just waiting for summer!
These crossbars were easy to install, are sturdy when installed and look great on my factory side rails when installed with the SX Series legs. The standard end caps are an all-plastic affair and use a little key to engage a cam lock. That plus the distance from the end of the crossbar to the nut that tightens the foot onto the rail keeps things relatively secure. Most people probably want to opt for proper locking end caps, though.
The rubber vortex strips look nice and give items something grippy to rest on. I haven't tried a load test yet but did drive around in moderate wind on the highway in multiple directions. Other than a slight whistle at 70 mph, you'd never know they were there. Overall, real happy with the product and looking forward to hauling some stuff around with them.
I put 3 stars because its a useful functional non-harmful roof rack solution for my WRX sedan. This review lost 2 stars because the rubber top pieces get damaged upon any accessory removal or install like(bike, snowboard rails etc). Additionally, these accessories also look to be weathering quickly because of build quality. Hopefully this helps your decision! Thanks
The selection process that etrailer uses is top-notch. This really helped narrow down the choices for my 2019 RAM Quad cab. I bought this all kitted together. The assembly process is very straightforward and well-documented. I would highly recommend etrailer as a source for vehicle accessories. I have Yakima bike racks on our Subaru and this is as good if not better.
The Rhino system works great the way it is. I'm going camping next week and took the two bars out of the closet and right onto the car. No adjustments were needed. The feet fell right into the roof line where I initially set it up. All I had to do was clamp it down. Last weekend I had the basket up there with two fully loaded RTIC coolers probably pushing 150 pounds with no problems. For this trip I have my Yakima easy load bike racks on the roof. They clamped right onto the Rhino bars and they're in a much better position for loading and unloading than my last truck.
I'm very happy with the product and not expecting anything else. Thanks for following up.
The rack was shipped within a day of order and delivered on the expected date. I got email updates with the order confirmation and shipping information. Etrailers provided excellent customer service. The web site allowed me to select the product with confidence that I was getting the right rack for my 2015 Subaru Legacy.
Assembly and installation were easy using the provided instructions. It probably took about 45-60 minutes to complete. I especially liked the measuring strips that Rhino provides. It makes setting the foot width on the bars painless.
I have not used the rack yet, but it's a solid mount and I do not expect any difficulties. It also looks good on the car.
I purposely left the cover plates off in the pictures so the clamp mechanism was visible.
Been wanting to get a roof rack for my small Honda H-RV suv for some time now. Finally decided to pull the trigger on one and opted for this Rhino rack system.
Watching the etrailer install video and following the manufacturer's instruction, the front rack went on easily and perfectly. However, the rear track turned out to be a very long process. Why? Because I thought the manufacturer's measurements for the rear was an error. After the rack was assembled, it didn't seat into the roof channel at all. It appeared to be well short. So, I proceeded to use my mechanical ingenuity to get this rack to fit on my own. After a lengthy span of time and numerous adjustments, I'd come to realize that the manufacturer's measurements were correct. The footing did not sit perfectly until the unit was fully tightened against the vehicle. Live and learn.....once again.
The rack is absolutely solid, and looks very clean and sharp on top of the H-RV. I could not detect any additional noise while driving, even at highway speed.
The main purpose of this roof rack was for transporting my recreational kayak. I was not aware that these bars had a rubber strip running along the entire top of the bar. This turned out to be perfect for the kayak. Now, I didn't need to buy a specific kayak cradle. The kayak, one strapped down, is held absolutely secured to the rack.
I am very happy with this product! Once again, etrailer comes through perfectly with another of my order. Prompt service and indepth product info are the reasons why I shop here!
Purchased a Rhino Rack custom fit rooftop system, along with the kayak rack to hold two kayaks and the Swagman rv bike rack. Made several trips and they all work great! Included photos to share.
The Rhino Rack is very well made. I installed it my self on our 2016 Ford Escape, but had an assist from my wife to fine tune it at the end. There was no whistling or any other distracting wind noise on our 3,500 mile drive to visit family out West. A Sear's Cargo Box was easily mounted to the Rhino Rack and it remained centered and secured at western highway speed limits plus. The included locks on the roof mounts were the selling point for me. The Rhino Rack remained securely mounted to the roof with no additional adjustments or tightening being needed. Great Product. Donna P. @ etrailer was super with the order.
You have to order the cross bars and connector hardware separately. I also ordered the end cap locks.
I consider myself a pretty good DYI person and it took longer than I expected according to other reviews on here to get everything installed and overlapping the same on both sides.
Once installed the crossbars are very solid. I do get noticeable wind noise at say 70+MPH.
I installed these on a 2020 Jeep GC Overland and they look and function great! Was a bit concerned about the sun roof retraction with the bars, but there is plenty of clearance. No issue.
I for sure recommend the Rhino Rail crossbars. Etrailer is a great site to get the bars. Given the COVID issues and supply chain breakdowns retailers are facing, they still had everything I ordered to me in a very reasonable time frame.
This roof rack works great! At first I was skeptical about putting a rack on my IS250, but it couldn't have turned out better. Paired with the Yakima Highroad, I can easily transport my bikes around without worrying about anything coming loose while driving. The installation instructions for the legs and bars are pretty straightforward. Takes about 30-45 minutes total to install.
Great sturdy rack. I put it together myself and have already started using it. I was concerned that it would cause leaks in the door the way it has to mount..but its Florida and its rainfall in the past few days and no leak! The weak link would be the end caps..two do not lock on and im concerned the will fly off at some point.
Got this for a 2015 Prius. High quality works great. Use their measurements included as a guide and measure everything out yourself before cutting the spacers and when installing. I had to make minor adjustments to make it perfect.
Look how nice my crossbars look? I ordered these and paid extra for expedited shipping so that I could have them to put a luggage carrier on my roof. The legs for the crossbars never showed up and the crossbars came late as well. I ran out and got a trailer hitch basket for extra storage. Tack on an extra $[XX] in addition to the extra $$ for fast shipping and I'm $[XX] into these crossbars that I couldn't use for their intended purpose. I called early enough that the company could have overnighted the legs but they just kept blaming UPS. Very disappointed.
Excellent price and quick shipping. Excellent support for missing bar end cap. Rack was easy to put together and install and video was helpful. My only complaint is when trying to tie down kayak to cradle it is not easy to keep the loop over the top of the upright "U" shaped bar, it keeps siding down. We wrapped two pieces of foam around the bar to create a channel to hold the strap now it is easy.
The racks fit perfectly! They are a great fit to my car. They don’t interfere with the sunroof’s operation. I assembled it on my own with no difficulty. It was easy to assemble. The directions it provides to you are easy to follow. The only down side was getting the plastic pieces to lock on the ends of the bars. Other than that they are great and they look great on my car! I plan to use them to transport kayaks! They are very sturdy and very trust worthy for transporting a couple of kayaks. I recommend these racks to anyone who has a 2016 or 2017 Nissan Altima!
etrailer.com's videos and additional customer support made the purchase of a Rhino Rack system from them for our 2010 Malibu a no brainer. The rack fit the car perfectly, and with the videos and clear instructions that came with the kit, I got it installed on the car with only one misstep. The instructions came the the measurements in centimeters and inches. I didn't have a metric tape measure, and ended up messing up converting fractions to decimal.
My Daughter is going to college 500 miles away and is moving into an unfurnished apartment and needed to pick up some small furniture that wouldn't fit in her Malibu. She purchased several items from Facebook Marketplace and was able to transport a twin bed and mattress, a medium sized desk and some dining room chairs (in several trips) with no problems.
The only thing I can think of to improve the installation would be to have the Inches measurements in decimal or to include an inexpensive metric tape.
Purchase for a 2019 Jeep Grand Cherokee, black rails. Perfect fit.
Bought this rack to carry canoe, etc. while towing our camper. Installation is easy with one person so long as you take your time to get the original setup meticulously correct. If you're planning to put it on only occasionally when you're using it, it's 10 to 15 minutes for one person to install once the original setup is done and the clamp points marked with the little unobtrusive stickers they send with the kit. Originally planned to put it on only when using because we only really need it a couple times a year (we just throw the canoe in the back for local trips). Looks good enough we might leave it on all the time. Even thought I didn't know I needed it until I was already at the store, it certainly came in handy bringing home a 10 foot long 2x8 on a rainy day when I needed to keep the bed cover closed. etrailer's service was prompt and flawless as always.
etrailer.com's videos and additional customer support made the purchase of a Rhino Rack system from them for our 2010 Malibu a no brainer. The rack fit the car perfectly, and with the videos and clear instructions that came with the kit, I got it installed on the car with only one misstep. The instructions came the the measurements in centimeters and inches. I didn't have a metric tape measure, and ended up messing up converting fractions to decimal.
My Daughter is going to college 500 miles away and is moving into an unfurnished apartment and needed to pick up some small furniture that wouldn't fit in her Malibu. She purchased several items from Facebook Marketplace and was able to transport a twin bed and mattress, a medium sized desk and some dining room chairs (in several trips) with no problems.
The only thing I can think of to improve the installation would be to have the Inches measurements in decimal or to include an inexpensive metric tape.
easy install look good and work great etrailer was fantastic to do business with thanks
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