To see if this custom-fit item will work for you please tell us what vehicle you'll use it with.
This heavy-duty, versatile Yakima roof rack comes with strong, aluminum crossbars. It works with channel-mount and clamp-on accessories, plus each bar has tie-down points on the endcaps. Installs to raised rails on your vehicle's roof.
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Videos are provided as a guide only. Refer to manufacturer installation instructions and specs for complete information.
Hi everyone, Aidan here with etrailer. Today we're gonna be taking a look at and later we'll be showing you how to install this Yakima JetStream Roof Rack System on our 2023 Volkswagen Tiguan. This is the one with the 50 inch long crossbars, but we offer a kit here at etrailer with a 60 inch long crossbar. But the beauty of these Yakima bars is that they have a continuous channel on the underside. So in theory, you could get an even longer bar if you wanted. I don't know that I would.
I think the 60 inch long kit is gonna be more than enough and offer just a bit more crossbar overhang here if you need it. But just know that it's available. And depending on your needs, you can go with one of those two kits. You maybe would go with that crossbar overhang if you had a load assist kayak carrier that needs more clearance from the side of the vehicle. But if you don't have an accessory like that, this is the kit I would go with because it's gonna be a bit more of a clean install.
Roof racks in general, I think they're a great option to expand the functionality of your vehicle. For one, it's the best place to go for larger items like kayaks. You could always go with a trailer, but that's a whole can of worms. And if you have something like a roof box, again, the roof is a great place to go with that. You can expand your cargo space up top without adding length to your vehicle.
And I think for the Tiguan, this makes a ton of sense because you have these raised rails that's a feature that's already on your vehicle. We're just gonna utilize them to attach this roof rack, which makes a very simple install and can be quickly removed if we don't wanna leave the roof rack on there all the time. The basic way this one works is you've got this band, it's got a metal core around that rubber band that will wrap around the bar and clamp to it, giving you a really strong hold. Other brands like the option from Rhino-Rack will have a clamp that kind of goes around the bar rather than fully encapsulating it with that band. So both options work great.
Some people might like this Yakima one because it fully wraps around. Others might like the Rhino-Rack option because it sits a little bit lower to the ground or to the roof rather, and gives maybe a sleeker appearance. But personally, I think either way you go, you can't go wrong. They're both gonna be solid. The core of your system though is going to be these JetStream crossbars, thicker in the front and tapering off towards the back. It's gonna help them be a little bit more aerodynamic and not have as much wind noise. They're perfect for clamp around accessories because that flat top makes for a good stable base and it's a great size for most of those clamps to attach very securely. And if you don't want to use a clamp around accessory, maybe you've got something that can mount into a channel. They do have this track up top that you can slide those channel mounted accessories into and keep them all inside the bar making for a clean install. Now, there's a weather strip here that will help block out wind noise. Your channel mounted accessories will just compress that strip wherever they sit, so no need to trim them to length or anything like that. It makes, again, for just a cleaner install. Some measurements to think about here. Your crossbar spread can really be whatever you want it to be. You don't have fixed mounting points on your raised rails, so you can clamp these wherever works best for you and your accessories. But one thing you do need to watch out for is clearance with your roof. So I'm gonna go from the tallest point on this corrugation here. And from that tallest point to the bottom of the bar is gonna be two and a half inches, so there's not a ton of room there. Certain clamps might take up more room than others, so maybe look for low profile clamps. Particularly on Yakima's roof boxes, they've got great clamps that don't sit very tall at all and would be perfect for something like this. The thing I don't love about this system is those legs, they're a bit bulky and because they don't conform around the bar, they kind of just sit on top of the bar. It doesn't look like a very nice fit. Again, it's stable, it's not going anywhere, but especially compared to that option from Rhino-Rack, I like the look there a lot better, but I think functionally the Yakima one's gonna work a bit better with the extra roof clearance and the nicer channel up top for channel mounted accessories. Regardless of which way you go though, the install is gonna be probably the next most important part. And for this, it's gonna be really straightforward. So we'll walk you through that process right now. So the first thing is take your crossbar and flip it over. That'll reveal the channel on the underside that our legs will attach to. That block will slide into this channel. So just take out your end cap and slide that leg in, making sure that it kind of tapers out to the outside edge. If you're having trouble getting this in, just take your tool and maybe loosen up that T block a little bit. Chances are it's just a bit too tight. Once you have both installed, there's gonna be a small line on the underside of those legs and we just wanna measure between those two lines and make sure that it matches up with the same measurement as we can take between the two raised rails on our Tiguan. That just lets us know how far apart these legs need to be. For us today, I'm shooting for 42 and a half inches between those two lines, and I just need to scoot it out a little bit more and just know that wherever you plan on installing these, that measurement could be completely different for you because the roof of our vehicle is gonna be a bit wider in front and taper off towards the rear. So for our rear crossbar that's already installed over there, actually had a measurement of 40 inches between the two. So almost a two inch difference here and that's just something to consider. When you have the positioning where you like it though, take that included the Yakima tool and tighten down those T bolts with those T blocks completely. There's another bolt tucked in the leg back there, and it's gonna control the side to side movement of our leg. Make sure you tighten that up too. If your vehicle had more of a taper, I'd say, then try to adjust that angle. But on our Tiguan, we can just keep it straight like this and it'll be fine. Once the tool clicks, we know it's properly torqued down and that's gonna be true for every single bolt on the whole roof rack here. So just keep that in mind too. We'll take this up to the roof. If you have an extra set of hands to feed the other side through, you can, but you can do it on your own too. Just get that set in place loosely and then feed the band under the bar on both sides, making sure that that line we saw earlier is the part that's resting on top of your raised rail. You can take that band and hook it into that little cleat right there. And before we start tightening things down, maybe a good time is now to take some measurements. You can go from a fixed point on your raised rail to the center of the bar on both sides to make sure that this is running perfectly straight side to side. And then for your second crossbar, you can take a measurement from one to the other to make sure that your crossbar spread is exactly where you want it to be. That's important to know for whatever accessory you plan on attaching and just making sure the bars run parallel to one another. But when you're done, you can take your included tool and tighten it down using that outermost screw. Now as you're tightening this, it might feel like it's not going to click and it takes a lot longer than you think it should, but it's just because the band underneath is a bit stretchy and it has that metal core. So keep turning until you hear the click and you can pop your caps back on once all sides have been tightened, And at the end, I always like to give a good shake test to make sure that nothing I installed feels loose. And particularly on that band here, that there's no front to back movement and that it's tight enough. But once I've done that, we're done. The installation process here is really straightforward, and you're left with a pretty solid roof rack system that utilizes those raised rails on your 2023 Volkswagen Tiguan. Thanks for watching.
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