Rhino-Rack Vortex Roof Rack for Naked Roofs - Aluminum - Black - Qty 2
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2011 Ford Focus
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2011 Ford Focus
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When you’re packing for a paddle weekend or a long camping haul, space on the roof makes all the difference. These 54" long aluminum crossbars give you full-length room to mount your favorite channel-mount or clamp-on accessories. You can load up kayaks, canoes, paddleboards, or a cargo box without fighting for space. The strong aluminum construction supports up to 165 lbs while keeping weight low, so it’s sturdy enough for your gear but easy to handle when it’s time to install or remove.
A quiet ride lets you enjoy the trip instead of listening to wind whine through the bars. The aero-style design and rubberized Vortex strips in the top channels help reduce drag and cut down the hum that can come with standard crossbars. The streamlined shape smooths airflow across the rack, making long highway drives more comfortable and less noisy.
Once your gear is strapped up, you don’t want to worry about theft or loose mounts. Each crossbar includes integrated plastic locks that secure channel-mounted accessories in place. For even more confidence, you can upgrade to all-metal locks (RRVA-LEC4 – sold separately). The legs also feature lockable cover plates that keep the rack secured to your roof when you leave your vehicle parked overnight.
You don’t need factory rails to get a solid rack system. This complete setup includes two Vortex crossbars, four 2500 Series legs, and a custom fit kit that mounts directly to your naked roof. It’s a straightforward install that feels solid once tightened down, so you can get back to planning your next trip instead of spending hours figuring out how to carry your gear.
From heat and rain to road grime and salt spray, these bars are designed for the kind of use outdoor gear demands. The aluminum construction resists rust while staying lightweight, and the black finish keeps it looking clean after every season. Rhino-Rack backs the setup with a limited lifetime warranty on the crossbars and 5-year limited warranties on both the legs and fit kit for lasting confidence mile after mile.
Alternate Instructions
Videos are provided as a guide only. Refer to manufacturer installation instructions and specs for complete information.
Hello neighbors, this is Curt with etrailer, and today we're gonna take a look at the Rhino-Rack Vortex roof rack and we're gonna see how it fits and how it installs on our 2025 Ford Escape. Now, a roof rack is an excellent way to transport that extra cargo that you either don't want driving in the vehicle with you or it simply won't fit in there at all. And in the case of the Escape, you do have some cargo space here, but if you're going on a trip and you've got the whole car loaded up with passengers, it's not gonna leave a whole lot of room for luggage and other things that you want to take with you on your trip. So the roof rack is gonna be an excellent way to transport things and cargo boxes, platform racks, roof baskets, there are bike racks and kayak carriers that can go on a roof rack, all sorts of things that can go up here and help you get what you need to your destination. The Vortex roof rack is going to be an aero style of crossbar, meaning it's got more of an ovular shape. This is gonna be a lot more aerodynamic than your more common round or square bars, therefore they're gonna create a lot less noise as you're going down the road.
This is also an overhanging crossbar, so it's a 54-inch bar. And being overhanging means that it extends out past our tower here, as opposed to a flush roof rack where the bar would dead end into the tower. This is gonna give you the full 54 inches of T-track up at the top to load up accessories and it gives you a little bit of room for a clamp style accessory to go up here and be over hanging. So what that means is with this extra bar space is you could have the opportunity to have two different rooftop accessories go side by side to each other. But one thing to keep in mind, this roof rack does have a weight capacity of 165 pounds.
However, you definitely wanna double check your owner's manual to make sure of what your vehicle's roof weight capacity is. If it's lower than 165 pounds like the rack, then that's the capacity that you're gonna have to go with. But let's get up on the roof and take a few measurements and see how this fits on the Escape. While we're up here on the roof, we will be showing you how this installs momentarily, but I wanted to let you know that being a naked roof, meaning there's no rails or fixed mounting points, Rhino-Rack is very specific about where to put these towers up here. So the measurements that I'm gonna take or are going to be very relevant as far as when you put it on your Escape, we just don't have the freedom to really move these forward or back like we would on a raised rail.
But with that being said, the first measurement we're gonna look at is our crossbar spread. The crossbar spread's an important measurement because every rooftop accessory has a minimum and a maximum crossbar spread in order to let you use it. So the crossbar spread is really just the distance between our bars. So if I measure from the same place center of the bar to center of the back bar, we're gonna have a crossbar spread of 28-3/4 inches. And that for me is actually kind of a perfect spread.
For me, the sweet spot is gonna be right in that 28, 29, 30 inch range, that usually puts you right in the middle of that minimum-maximum window that you find on all those rooftop accessories out there. The next thing I'm gonna take a look at is how much height is this adding to the vehicle. So if I look at my back bar here, this is gonna add about 3-1/2 of height to the vehicle, on the back bar, about 3-1/4 inches on the front bar. And that is going to be enough to clear this antenna, the shark fin antenna in the back. So if you had some concerns about that, anything that you mount up here on top of the bar, you should be able to clear over the top of that antenna without any issue. And finally, the last measurement that we're gonna take a look at is how much space do we have underneath the bar. And on our front bar, we got about 1-3/4 inches, or I mean on our back bar rather. On our front bar, it's just really about the same. So keep that in mind. That should be more than enough room to be able to get your clamp-mounted accessories around it. But if you have a model with a sunroof, you do want to keep that clearance in mind, especially underneath that front bar. Now I had mentioned earlier a little bit about the installation, so I'm gonna show you how we got these on the roof of our Escape right now. As we begin our installation, I'll start by saying we've already got our front bar installed and we're gonna be showing how to install the back bar. Now, generally speaking, installation is gonna be the exact same thing. There's just a couple other measurements that we want to pay attention to between the front and the back bar. So with the back bar here, what we're going to do first is remove our end cap and we'll do that by using this little blue plastic key that Rhino-Rack gave us. Just turn that in the end down there, remove our end cap. Next thing we'll do is we'll take our tower. Now, the tower is gonna have this metal block up at the top that's gonna slide right through there. The bolt here is gonna end up facing the outside. So we're just gonna go ahead and slip that right in there and down the side. Now, the next step is gonna be to determine how far apart our towers need to be in order to fit properly up on that roof, and Rhino-Rack gives us the scale here with the larger end saying 220 millimeters down here, all the way down to 10 here. So we're gonna put it in here with the larger number facing inside, that's the 220. And what we're going to end up measuring this to is gonna be 125 millimeters on the rear bar. Now, pay attention because the instructions actually give us a different number. However, after putting it up on the roof, we discovered that 125 is actually the more accurate measurement. So once you get it to that 125 where it's that on the end there, just kinda hold it in place, slide your tower over until it butts up against it. And then you're gonna take this tool here that is provided by Rhino-Rack, and through this bolt, we're gonna tighten our tower down into place on our crossbar. Grab your rubber pad. Now, the rubber pad is gonna have a number stamped into it that says M436. These, the 436 are gonna be going on our driver's side. The ones for the passenger side are marked M435. So you are gonna have to distinguish between those as far as which side it needs to go on. We also have this arrow pointing right here. Now that arrow should be pointing toward the front of the bar. We've got our bar turned over here. So this being the front of the bar, once we turn it over, the front of the bar is actually facing me. So we're gonna be putting it on just like this. And this is just going to kind of press down into place. We've got these kind of rubber clips here that are going to go into that cavity. This round portion's gonna go into this cavity, and we're just gonna work it around the edge until it's sitting in their flush. Once we've got that done, we're gonna go ahead and replace our end cap and lock it into place. After measuring up here and doing some adjustments, what we actually came up with to where it's going to fit is that that scale through this area right here, should read 145 on your rear bar, on your front bar, it should read 179. Next we'll talk a little bit about bar placement. The reason that we put our front bar up first is because its location helps determine the location of the second bar. So we're measuring from the door seam right here to the middle of your front tower and before the the tower cover and everything is on it, on our foot here, we've got this arrow to use. So if that clip was off of there and we had the arrow exposed from a door seam to where that arrow is on the front here would be 3-15/16 inches or 100 millimeters, from the door seam to the middle of our second bar should be 23-5/8 inches or 600 millimeters. Once that measurement is done on both sides, you're ready to move on to your next step. It is very important to make sure that you measure both sides, both passenger and driver. We wanna make sure that our towers are gonna be directly across from one another, and that's gonna ensure that our bars are going to be parallel. So make sure that you're doing all of your measurements on both the driver and the passenger side. But once that's done and everything's in place where we need it, what we'll do is go in here to this bolt and we will unfasten it and remove it. Keep it handy though, we're going right back to it. But this is where we're going to install our clamp. So what I'll do is get the clamp and I'm gonna put it kind of flush up in here. We're gonna run the bolt through here and back into this block. Now this block swivels up and down fairly easily, so it should allow us, you know, a little bit more access, 'cause this bolt is gonna be going in almost upright because of the angle that we're kind of forced to be at here. So all I'm gonna do is get it started, make sure the threads catch, and once I have it in that area, I'm gonna go ahead and I'm gonna hold the clamp flush to the vehicle just like this. I'm gonna take the tool that we inchesre provided by Rhino-Rack, and I'm gonna get this tightened up just until it's snug. I don't want to overtighten one side before the other. What happens when you do that on these roof racks with the clamps like this is if I tighten this side down completely without touching the other side, it's gonna knock that other side out of place, and I'm just back to square one redoing all of my measurements. So I just want to get it to where it's snug. It's not gonna drop down when I'm not tightening it up. I'm gonna go over to the passenger side. I'm gonna do the same thing. And what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna kind of bounce back and forth between my driver and my passenger side. Give it a few turns over here, do the same over there, and I'm gonna incrementally tighten 'em down. That way that ensures that the other side stays secure and doesn't knock out of place as I'm getting everything secured. Once you've got both sides tightened down as much as you can, just double check to make sure that they're seated the way that you want to. Give it a good shake test, make sure that the towers aren't shifting or moving. Make sure your bar isn't moving. We're giving it a pretty good shake. The whole vehicle is moving, but not our bars. So I think we're good to go. Next thing we're gonna do is just go ahead and replace our end cap. So we'll put that back on, grab that plastic key, get that locked up into place. Next thing we'll do is put on our tower cover, which very conveniently comes with its own metal lock core and key. Rhino-Rack provides this outta the box as opposed to some of the other manufacturers that make you buy lock sets separately. So we're just gonna snap that into place, lock it up. And between these two security measures, nobody's gonna be able to detach my towers from the vehicle and nobody's gonna be able to get into my bar if I'm putting any accessories up here through the T-track. And that's really it for the installation. Not too difficult. Some minor adjustments that we needed to do based on what we were given in the instructions. Couple millimeters here and there, and we got this fitting really, really well. But if after watching this video, you've still got some questions about it, or if you've gotten this roof rack and you've used it a few times and you've got some experience to share, go ahead and leave those in the comments below. Sharing your questions and your stories with other neighbors just like you can help them make the best decision for themselves. Once again, this is Curt with etrailer. Thanks for stopping by.
Ratings & Reviews
I purchased Rhino-Rack Vortex Aero Crossbars with Rhino-Rack 2500 Series Legs (RRRLKVA) and Fit Kit (DK284) for my 2020 Honda CR-V EX Hybrid. The rack was easy to assemble and took about an hour. The only tool not supplied that you need is a sharp knife or scissors to cut the rubber strips to length. Once assembled, the installation took about 30 minutes, making sure to measure accurately for placement. I used blue painter's tape to initially mark the locations. I then placed the white marking arrows (supplied) to align with the marks on the tape. I then removed the tape, placed the racks aligned with the arrows, and tightened the clamps.
This product seems well made and engineered (I'm a retired mechanical engineer). Kudos to Rhino-Rack and to etrailer for selling it.
I’m so glad that the etrailer sales person recommended this product and saved me a lot of money.
I decided on the 65” instead of the recommended 59” for my 2018 F250 Crew. Before I did I called etrailer to confirm that the crossbar would be ok using the custom DK Fit and Rhino Rack 2500 series legs. The guy confirmed and I placed the order. Everything does fit and quality is great but all I received was measurements using the 59” bar. Something is different between these two bars and etrailer couldn’t help me out.
I figured it out myself and determined the bracket distance on the bar so it fit properly.
Rhino Rack should offer the proper bracket measurements for all 3 Areo Crossbars ( 59, 65 and 72 ) as they pertain to Ford F-250 “17” and up. They all fit - as bracket is in the same spot on the truck.
Great quality solid rack. I’d give 5 star if it wasn’t for this
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.
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.
I bought this last yr to haul my kayaks on my Toyota camry. Being 5'2", getting them on top of my SUV was next to impossible for me and my daughters. Since then, I have traveled from Michigan, all the way to the west coast with two 13' ft kayaks. These racks have been absolutely perfect in every aspect. I mounted them myself, and checked them regularly to see if they needed adjusted. Not once did they loosen or move. They with stood Traveling with speed limits reaching 80 mph on I84, along with the windy weather on our cross-country trip. My car moved around from the high winds, and the racks stayed put. These racks have by far reached and surpassed every expectation I had when purchasing them. I would not recommend another. Only thing I would recommend is showing installation for both front and back bars, since the measurements are slightly different for both. As I had to figure this out my self, after watching the installation video. Thank you Rhino for providing such a high quality product.
Extremely sturdy and well made. I also like the locking endcap design. Only thing I dodnt like is the rubber channel strip is 4 separate pieces instead of one long strip. Maybe they do that so you can remove a section for installing accessories, but id prefer to simply cut it where needed.
We love these racks! They were easy to install with the website videos. They whistle a bit but honestly it’s not terrible. The racks we got for our kayaks fit perfectly. Bonus - I can still open the panoramic roof!
Very straight forward to install. Took about a half hour in total. No whistling whatsoever. They look awesome on my 2016 Ford Explorer Sport! Especially with my running boards and tires...
Waiting on my Rhino basket to get here to install that next!
This is Thai Khuu ,Thanks I got packaged ,and I already installed, It just take about 1 and 1/2 hour,but I just take time to do carefully,so it is took me 2 hours, It is great ,me and my wife like it,and I my order the other package exactly like this for my second acura mdx 2016, I enclosed the pictures installed roof rack , Thanks
Perfect. Low Profile, Looks Good. Solid Rack System. Had a year and Highly recommend
I used this rack to mount two 65lbs kayaks to my vehicle and travel. One of many trips was over a thousand miles (round trip) and they moved maybe half a centimeter a piece during. I was extremely pleased with how easily I could adjust them. The original shipment had everything that was supposed to be in it and the directions were realitively clear. I had them together and on in roughly an hour. Also, they look great. When they are off the roof the only issue I have arises. The rubber feet that sit directly on the roof tend to fall off easily. Not a big deal.
Solid platform for all your gear. Easy to install and adjust, great looking as well. Initially I was frustrated because I failed to insert the plastic ruler under the cross bar. If you don't cover all the gaps they will whistle like crazy!
The instructions don't tell you that...I had to call Rhino tech support. They are quiet now at any speed.
I'd buy them again for sure!
The instructions were clear and the rack installed perfectly. I am impressed with the custom foot mouldings that match my car's contours exactly, and the rack is still as tight as when I installed it 4 weeks ago. I have been using it frequently to pick up 8' lumber for a large shelving project I have underway, and I hope to soon use it to carry my kayaks. The rubber strips on the top hold the lumber so securely I have no worry of having the load slip off the car. The two negatives I have are: (1) the crossbar end-caps consist of 2 locking and 2 slip-ons. I have come out to my car to see 1 of the slip-ons half slipped-off and I expect I will lose one or both of them in short order; and (2) the instructions should put the forward bar at least 1 inch further forward. As you will see in the photo, Rhino's guidelines result in the front bar being higher than the back bar, which results in additional wind pressure on the goods being carried. Finally, I would like to thank etrailer for shipping the product exactly as promised and also for packaging the entire order in an additional box as I requested. I found your service to be outstanding! You are welcome to post my comments and or photo if you should wish to.
The crossbars are great, but the rubber strip in the middle gets bunched up or comes out when loading heavy items across the bar. But the rubber provides grip, and the grip is amazing. I am not worried about kayaks or rafts sliding around. I do need longer ones though...
Fairly easy to install onto my 2017 Honda CR-V. The crossbars feel very sturdy and are securely attached to the vehicle. Took me about 30 minutes to get it installed and could be done even quicker if you get help from another person. The bars themselves are a little fat so my Thule ski rack has a super tight fit. There is very minimal wind noise, so I'll probably be getting a fairing for that. The instructions felt a bit jumbled but with just the measurements alone, you can install it with a bit of common sense.
i George from etrailer,
The rack is awesome! Strong, firm hold and nice looking. When doing surveys, I put my ladders on the rack.
I highly recommend this etrailer.
Hi George from etrailer,
The rack is awesome! Strong, firm hold and nice looking. When doing surveys, I put my ladders on the rack.
I highly recommend this etrailer.
I purchased a full kit for my 2017 Ford explorer, connectors, Feet and these cross bars. I will use them for hauling my roof top box on trips as well as other things that will not fit in my vehicle. The install is farily simple however some of the tools provided for tightening are not the best. Luckily I had a number of other tools to get this complete. The main thing I feel is needed is a socket allen key to tighten down the cross bars nice and tight. The allen key provided is difficult to work with and get the leverage you need to snug the bars down.
Another tip is to be sure to use the excess measuring closure to close off the inside of underside of the bars. Use a box cutter to cut the excess and fit it to the inside. I read some reviews about noise and I have zero noticeable noise. Do not tighten the bars down until you have this all inserted in and slid under the feet. Then snug it all down. If you do these things and close all the gaps the bars are almost silent.
The bars look great on the vehicle and seem very sturdy and solid. I would have no reservations hauling ladders, lumber and all of the typical stuff you see on roof racks. The rubber strips are heavy duty and add a nice non slip feel to the top of the bars.
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.
I give all 5 stars for the product and service, but...I prefer the parts to be all in one carboard, also I was a little panicking looking for blue plastic key...It was inside of cross-bar ??not falling out with strips. Anyway,
I"m owner of Honda cr-v 2022 with bare roof ,and I just installed the rack. Was it simple enough? Yes,so I can share this:
First, rubber pads are all the same, and after placements to plastic legs should be placed with arrow*out*-that is it(a lot of info regarding vertical parts, that they are all different)??
Second, on other hand, in video we informed that clamps are same -they are not. Bigger "hooks" are for rear bar, smaller ones-for the front one.
Third, do not expect precision in rubber pads position(especially on rear bar)regarding plastic rail strips on bare roof.it is not achievable, just try to make same look on both sides.
I was worried about rain and water gets inside. Well, let us see.
What I plan to care on rack? Just a small 6ft step ladder. Believe me or no CR-V is my business vehicle ,and ladder carry was the goal of rack purchase. And only question I have if I can get to underground parking with no problems to cross the front entries usually limited with 6 ft in heights I will find out soon, but rack height plus ladder on it makes me worry.??The review will be update soon. regards.
I own a 2013 Honda CRV I purchased a couple months ago. It has a naked roof and no rack or side bars, and I wanted to be able to carry up to three kayaks. I didn't really want to buy and install the side bars, and then the cross bars also. I also needed the cross bars to be a little wider than the vehicle itself, as I own two Ocean Kayak Scupper Pros, and a Venus.
This Rhino Rack package looked like a great option for my needs. Weight wise, the three boats come right to the limit. Other racks had lower weight limits, and wouldn't work.
I had a couple issues with the initial package, but etrailer took care of the problem right away, and sent out what I needed.
Installation was pretty smooth. I recommend reading and rereading the instructions, before you cut anything. The videos on the etrailer website or directly on YouTube are very helpful to see all the steps. I'd like to see more personalized instructions added in the future, just to to make everything even smoother. Make sure you identify your vehicle and the bar you received on the kit instructions before you start.
These bars are so wonderful. The aero bars make no noise when driving and no whistling that I can tell. They don't seem to effect my gas mileage. I made sure the top rubber strips and bottom measurement strips were cut perfectly with no gaps, as this is important to prevent whistling.
They look so stylish. I get complements on them, and people can't believe they are after market, and that I installed them myself. They really complement the vehicle. Once installed the first time, I can take them off or put then back on in about 12 minutes. I don't really plan to take them off though. I don't use car washes, and I like the look of them on my vehicle.
I made sure to not overtighten them, and then tightened them a few times over the next week and with a couple kayaking trips. These babies are strong and I can't make them move when I test them. I still check them regularly to make sure they are secure, for safety purposes.
I highly recommend this Rhino Rack package. They know how to make the perfect roof rack and you can tell the quality and thought that went into them. Look at my photos I have included.
Thank you to etrailer for such great service. You made the whole process so pleasant and easy.
Hi George from etrailer,
The rack is awesome! Strong, firm hold and nice looking. When doing surveys, I put my ladders on the rack.
I highly recommend this etrailer.
Do you have a question about this Roof Rack?
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Pete
6/28/2025
After a year, holding up strong. I carry 13 foot aluminum foldout ladders.