This fit kit lets you mount Thule Rapid Podium-style feet to your vehicle with factory roof-rack tracks. The fit kit includes pads, hardware, and tools necessary for installation.
Features:
Specs:
Videos are provided as a guide only. Refer to manufacturer installation instructions and specs for complete information.
Hey everyone, it's Evangeline here at etrailer and today we're going to take a look at and show you how to install this Thule roof rack system on our 2023 Kia Seltos. So this is actually my car and I wanna carry around some fun accessories like kayaks, maybe put a roof box for extra cargo space or if needed, put a roof-mounted bike rack. My first need though is a roof rack system. So this is the Thule roof rack designed specifically for the Seltos. You then now have two crossbars that go across your flush rails on your Seltos creating that platform for those accessories. This has a 47 inch long WingBar Evo crossbars.
You have the aerodynamic shape for the crossbar and you have a little bit of length or overhang to the side. Measuring from the tower to before the end cap, I have about two and a quarter inches of overhang. The crossbar spread is fixed to your fixed mounting points. So if you measure center to center of the crossbars we have about 26 and a half inches of spread. You can move this further out to get over 36 inches of crossbar spread.
So that's pretty much as far out as you can make your adjustments depending on your roof boxes, roof baskets, kayak carriers. You may want more, you may want less. Roof clearances have two measurements you wanna think about. One is how much space do you have from underneath your crossbars to your roof So measuring from underneath the crossbar to the moon roof I have it at three and a quarter inches of space. Plenty of space for things like clamps, U-bolts, wing nuts that other accessories have to clamp around the crossbar.
But the next measurement is gonna be how much height does this add So from the roof to top of crossbar I have it at five and a quarter inches. That's gonna be where your cargo sits. Plenty of space there. There's also the option to not use clamps that go around the crossbar, but to use T-track mounted accessories. So if you flip this over, you'll see the channel where those accessories can fit into.
You do have this wind strip. The downside to Thule bars is that that wind strip does deteriorate over time and you may need to purchase extras ahead of time if you plan to use a T-track channel a lot. So these crossbars are made of aluminum but they also have this black powder coat finish. You can get them in black which is what I have here, but also silver which might be preferred if you have these accents like our Seltos. Everything is included with this kit, from the tools to the parts to install this roof rack just make sure you get the right kit. That's why it's important to use our fit guide where you put your year, make and model here at etrailer.com and then select the correct fit for you. Now let's take a look at that install process where I explain how to put everything together and how to put them onto the vehicle. To install your roof rack, it might look a little confusing at first because the instructions only have pictures. There's pads of different shapes and sizes. You have hooks, you have towers. Well I'm gonna guide you through that process. The very first thing we're going to do is we're going to set up the crossbar. First, install your weather strip. The arrow's gonna be facing the front of your crossbar. This is also when you get familiar with what the front of the crossbar is. That's gonna be the thickest one. The tapered end is the back of the crossbar. Next, install your tower. So you may have to take off your end caps, so you press down on the end cap and then you pull that cap out. Look here at the tower, see how you have these tabs. Well, when you fit the tabs into the crossbar track from underneath, you're able to slide it in and then that end cap you just took out we'll pop that right back in to secure the tower. And now that your crossbars are set up, notice how I have all four towers attached. It's now time to set up your vehicle. So what you're gonna first need is the little tools included with your kit, this little pin and this little wrench. Here we have the flush rails of our Seltos and there are different spots you can put your crossbars. For this specific set though, they are designed for the ones right above your sunroof. So we'll start there. Use your pin to remove the cover. There's a little lever in there that you need to access. So use a pin on both sides. If you don't have a pin, you can also use a really small screwdriver or a bobby pin. See here, this is a close up of what that lever looks like. Once all those covers are removed, you can then get your long nut and bolt. So this fits over the bolt that's in your flush rails. Tighten that down. You can get it, I want 90% tightened down by hand actually and you only need a small turn with your wrench to fully secure it. Back to the crossbars. We're going to attach these hooks and these pads together. You just need to make sure you get the right one. So for the front left, it's going to be 2, 4, 6. Look in the square you'll see hidden inside is a little print with a number. Fortunately all the hooks are the same so you don't have to figure out which one's which, the hooks fit into the pad like this. They kinda like slide and click into the pad. Gonna need to put a little bit pressure. Now notice the orientation of the hook. See how there's two holes on the top That's how you know it's facing the right way. Remember how I showed you, which is the front and the back of the crossbar Well, take your front crossbar. This is gonna be the right, it's gonna be left. 2, 4, 6 goes to the left. In order to secure, you do need this barrel nut though. So with that in place, you can then use these bolts to secure the pad and the hook to the barrel nut will come in from the front. Once they're through, just finger tighten them for now. As you're securing all four pads and hooks just do a couple turns of those bolts. You don't have to fully tighten it down. Final step before putting the crossbar on the roof is grab your split washers and your nuts. And now we're back to the vehicle with our front crossbar. Make sure you have the front and not the rear crossbar. We're going to gently set this onto the bolts and line that up before we tighten it down. The split washer and the nut go over the bolts for your flush rail. So get those lined up and tightened down. So your crossbar can slide back and forth. You need to make sure that it's centered before you tighten everything down. I have it just a little past three inches of overhang on each side. Once it's the same, you then know that you can use your included Allen key to tighten down those two bolts. Now your crossbars will still be loose and you can slide them back and forth. So make sure it's the same length of overhang on each side. I have it at about three, little past three inches of overhang. And now we're going to secure it with your included Allen key to tighten down those two bolts, holding the towers and the pads and the crossbars together. Your Rapid Podium feet have these doors and you also get these plastic lock barrels. So notice on your lock barrel how you have that lever. While that lever is going to sit to the right of the door as you push this in. And then that way you can lock it. So we're gonna fit this door over at the tower and then turn to lock. This can get tricky with just your hands so you may also want to use a flathead screwdriver for more leverage. Underneath your crossbars you have a slide out wind deflector so make sure that's pushed up against your tower. Once all the end caps are installed just double check them and try to shake them for you to make sure that they're all locked. If you want to, you can purchase metal lock cores separately. I prefer them because then you get to have a key to lock it and not just anyone can turn this and get access to your roof rack. So switch 'em all out now if you do have them. And then afterwards, keep your keys on your key chain, your tools in your car, and that's it for the install. And that right there was a look at our Thule roof rack system with the 47 inch long WingBar Evo crossbars, the Rapid Podium feet and the fit kit for the 2023 Kia Seltos.
Ratings & Reviews
Love my new roof rack. Easy installation. Also, received the kit very quickly. I am very happy with my purchase.
Quick delivery and very happy with the quality of this product. Instillation was simple and the end result looks and feels very sturdy. I went for a test drive up to 75 mph and had zero wind noise with the windows and sunroof open. Can't wait to put up the canoe and hit the lake with family. Thank you etrailer!
I just put this rack system on my car. I had some time trying to figure what parts to get to put on a 2015 Ford Edge. etrailer help me figured this out. I ordered the 65" bars so i can put 2 wide kayaks on them. will be trying this out next weekend. thanks for your help.
This is the only Mountt that I could find for the new KIA Sportage 2011/12 model on the internet. Not even the vehicle manufacturer offered load bars/mounts. I was aprehensive that Thule did not show this on there web site but etrailer did. Etrailer rocks! I called them first to verify that they had it right. They sent me electronic PDFs to verify. I ordered on a Monday afternoon and received them Wednesday morning!! Wow! Fit and look great.
Rose was awsome to work with in etrailer in KC and what great service. Very uncommon to work with a company that provides such service in this day and age. Don't settle for less with outfits like Car**. Use these guys.
Racks showed up in a timely manner, great communication from eTrailer through the whole process.
Racks look great on my brother's Mitsubishi Lancer Sport.
Easy to install, and very sturdy.
It is sturdy and well made. It looks great in black and matches the color of my van. I can now haul my 28' and 32' ladders very easily and look good while doing it! I should have purchased it long ago!
Items arrived later than expected despite cancelling an month long order due to waiting stock on a different set up that was in stock. Once it arrived the box was all torn up and the person that delivered it just dropped it in the garage with the boxes spilling out of the bigger box. Love Thule products, etailer and the shipping supplier not so much,
I was concerned at first as the factory roof rails (2019 Transit Connect) make attaching things difficult and the podium feet won't even stay up without the crossbar. They only grab the rail on the inside and one single screw holds everything together. Once installed it is rock solid, however. The instructions are trash. I spent a good 15 minutes trying to decipher the hieroglyphics. Apparently, they're in Swedish? I recommend you skip trying to read them and 1) Lay the rubber foot on the rail 2) install the metal clamps over the rubber thingy, 3) screw through the plastic foot from the back to the front, and 4 (optionally but recommended) have a beer and admire your work. Total install for the feet and crossbars was about 1.5 hours.
Bought a used 2010 Subaru Forester with no roof rails. These fit the fixed points perfectly.
Items shipped and received in impeccable shape. Rack is on, snowboard attachment to follow when snow is visited. So far so good, pleased with service and will write a formal review after have had a chance to subject to the elements. Attached are photos. Thank you!
Just what I needed to adapt my Thule Load Bars and Ski Rack from my departed 2012 Mazda5 to my 2014 BMW M235i. The whole conversion took me about an hour, only because I was enjoying it, and in no rush.
etrailer Order Processing and Prompt Shipping got my stuff here in record time, and I'm loaded and ready to hit the slopes for mid-week madness!
Thule is the only premier cargo accessory manufacture in the industry. The design, manufacturing and quality of their products is world class. We currently own two German SUVs that are used regularly for a wide array of outdoor sports and refuse to outfit our vehicles with any other brand of equipment. This particular system was very easy to install when following manufacturers installation instructions and recommendations.
I have been eyeing on roof rack for a longest time and finally we have our first new born three weeks ago and it's time to increase the capacity of the vehicle. I had a Thule bicycle rack before and love the quality & design of it so I figured to give them another shot. The shipping is quick (3 days I think). Packaging arrived well w/o any damages. The installation was a breeze (30min +/-). Do keep in mind that the Bars are different length (one longer, one shorter). For Murano, the long bar is in the front, short in the back. The Aerobar looks slick and they actually look OEM. I absolutely love the look and the set up. Now my Murano is truly a "SUV" instead of a "crossover" lol well, kinda. I now need to look for the right size of top box.
Please see my review of Thule risers this Fit Kit was used with, as well as, Flint Hill basket. Same pic below as there. Weakest element of this item are the clips that fit into slots to secure it to - whatever - in my case, a Retrax Pro, manual Tonneau cover on the bed if my truck. See pic. Hard to visualize appropriate, secure placement. Seem to be working, but major test to come.
Exceedingly disappointed in the "fit" of this Thule fit kit for a number of reasons. First, the feet/rubber gasket leave huge, ugly gaps on the either side of where the brackets attach to the anchor points of my 2018 Murano's flush-mount side rails. Secondly, the bolts used to secure the roof rack use a modified and apparently proprietary Torx head, which make them tedious to install, the heads are very shallow and the metal is very poor quality metal that are easy to strip. Thule has never been stellar quality stuff, but never this horrible. I'd definitely recommend staying away
Great Etrailer service but the Thule instructions are horrible! Once I decided to forgo the instructions the install went smoothly. Still not sure if installed correctly though.
The rubber "boots" do not conform to the rails and the only thing holding the rack ends to the truck are the four bolts? Nothing attaches to the rail itself or hooks onto it?
Very solid when installed on the rails. We encountered an installation issue just before our vacation however because the parts and instructions included did not account for our older 460 podium foot which does not have a center screw hole. The instructions says to rotate the steel rod 1/4 turn to expose the center threaded hole, but ours does not have that. It turns out that if you call Thule, they will ship you another 4 screws and you can use the 2 side thread holes, but that is not documented and it took us some time to figure it out. Older versions of instructions show both options and included 8 screws, but it seems they made a change to save cost. The replacements did not arrive in time for our trip so I purchased 6 mm socket head cap screws as an interim solution. If you have older 460 podium feet, check for the center threaded hole first!
Great kit. Fits my Honda CR-V 2015 perfectly. Finally I Got a roof rack that that is flat instead of curved like original Honda which make impossible to put a flat stock like plywood or sheet rock on top. Unfortunate I couldn't purchase a whole kit from ETRAILER, the kit coming only with 47" bars for CR-V. So I purchase a 53" used bars. Yes I have 53". Instructions are a little confusing but if you have the kit in your hands right next to a car it fall right in place. Otherwise great product and I do recommend it.
Got our order for this roof rack system and CRV fit kit in a timely manner and even had the etrailer team contact us both when there was a small delay on our fit kit coming in as well as when everything actually shipped out!
Assembly was super easy and straight forward. The husband worked on prepping the car while I assembled the bars to the towers and then we worked together to affix everything to the car. All in all, it took us maybe 30 minutes to complete installation. Doing it alone might take 45 and is very doable.
My only gripe would be the actual footers on the fit kit. The plastic pieces looked like they were supposed to snap in somewhere but just wiggled around in the mounting gaps until we actually tightened them down. They also seemed to be a bit of an awkward fit on the existing plastic rails, but again, once tightened look fine. I was slightly worried they would crack when tightening just because the plastic isn't very thick, but no problems so far!
We're only one week after installation now, but love the look of them on the car, haven't noticed any extra noise while driving, and are excited for the first kayak trip this weekend to actually use them!
This kit attaches the OEM roof rails (in my case a Chevy Bolt) to the foot pack which holds the Aeroblade cross bars. Overall quality is very high and the product seems very sturdy and secure. Installation is fairly easy but the Thule instructions are of little use, being only small drawings of the pieces and how they fit with no written instructions. You tube videos of the installation are much more helpful.
One concern is that Thule only provides a kind of "L" wrench for the Torx screws that attach the THKIT3168 to the roof rails. The screw locations makes this an awkward process and I was concerned about scratching my car's finish using the wrench. A T25 Torx security-type screwdriver or bit driver would be much safer. If you are going to remove and replace the rack often, I would suggest using something other than the "L" wrench. The product is 5* but the instructions and the wrench lowered my score.
I already had an "older" Thule roof/bike rack,
purchased for a 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee, then used on a 2010 Hyundai
Elantra Touring (this was the roof rack with the "strapped-on to roof rails"
feet, and the bike carriers with the cantilevered, front fork-secured,
mechanism). My new 2013 Hyundai Elantra GT does NOT have roof rails, thus
the need for this new Thule package consisting of: 1) TH460 - Thule Podium
Roof Mounted Foot Pack for Square Load Bars, 2) THKIT3068 - Thule Fit Kit
for Podium Syle Foot Pack and 3) THLB50 - Thule Square Load Bars - Steel -
50" - Qty 2. MY plan was to "re-use" the pair of "older" Thule bike
carriers.
Etrailer's online info was excellent. The installation videos (although not
for this identical package on the same vehicle as mine - but the 2012 Honda
CRV's roof-mounting system is very close to the Hyundai's) were even MORE
excellent! The box arrived on-time. The components were all there, and
undamaged. The installation instructions were clear and concise... even for
these 67 year-old eyes/mind! My "older" Thule bike carriers fit
PERFECTLY... the new load bars are identical to my old ones (the only reason
I needed new ones was I'd "cut down" the old ones when I moved the rack from
the Grand Cherokee to the Elantra Touring, and now they were ~2" too
short!!!).
We tow the car behind our motorhome and we've found the Thule roof-mounted
products to be excellent for our needs... holding up to three bikes on the
top of our "dinghy".
Dealing with the folks at Etrailer.com was a very pleasant experience!
I originally purchased this roof rack to haul my 80lb skiff to and from the local lake, and for those purposes, it works great. Easy installation (and removal for the off season). My only issue is trying to make sure the bars protrude evenly from both mounts - less of a concern after in place, but it's a bit fiddly to get it right (measure, adjust, measure, adjust, etc).
As others have said, it can whistle with the squared off rails, but it's only noticeable when the rack is all the way forward and the sun roof is open. Driving on the interstate with the windows up, there's no cabin noise from the rack.
53” Thule bars fit our 2021 RAV4 Hybrid! Most people appear to be using 47” bars for the 2021 RAV4 with flush roof rails, but that’s smaller than I wanted. I sometimes carry a sheet of plywood, or a kayak plus a cargo box, and wanted a wider rack for that. I had heard that upsizing to the 53” bar was potentially not possible because the mounting slots on the bottom of the bar may not accommodate the rail locations relative to the bar length. ETrailer helped me out with some dimensions, so I bought the 53” bar knowing it would be close. There is only about a quarter inch of play on either side on the rear bar, but it fit (the front bar had more play, since the towers are a bit further apart at the front).
I’m SO happy with the result! Now I can carry what I want on the rack, and have room to spare! It looks pretty good too!
Thule is a horrible company compared to what it was back in the day.
In drilling holes into my brand new cap based on dimensions that thule gave me (superficial dimensions with no definite "from"-"to" locations) then confirming these dimensions based on the risers, suddenly the dimensions they said were several I chest different, and then they started saying the dimensions of their racks are proprietary. Basically ruined my cap.
So in a fit of rage, I removed the Thule junk, and designed an adapter in Solidworks that would hold LED floodlights and route the power cables through the 1/4" mounting studs without modifying the cap further, and SLS nylon printed 4 sets of these mounts and mounted LED 5" floodlights in 4 locations. (See image).
Then I went and bought a Rhino Rack HD Track for my cap. Best thing I ever did. Thule lost a 20 year customer.
I called several times and every agent was super . They were all knowledgeable, helpful and to the point without belaboring the conversation. Much appreciated !
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