Video Transcript for Yakima SkyLine FX JetStream Aero Crossbars Roof Rack Installation - 2022 Nissan Rogue

I'm Matt with etrailer, and today we're gonna talk about the Yakima Skyline FX Roof Rack System on top of our 2022 Nissan Rogue. It's gonna be a great option for you if you're looking for a roof rack system that's gonna be really easy to take on and off, and isn't gonna have a lot of parts that you can lose. So it's gonna be a great if you're running out of back room in the back of your car, and since we don't have a lot of storage anyways, you're gonna be able to put a lot more items on top of your roof. So let's take a close look at it. Now the system's gonna be comprised of two parts. It's gonna be comprised of our Skyline FX bars, that will attach to our fit kit tube.

So take a closer look at the crossbar. We're gonna have this arrow shape to it, which is gonna help reduce wind drag, which will prevent that wind noise. Another thing that's gonna help reduce wind noise is gonna be this rubber weather strip that's in our T channel. That T channel's gonna be used for T channel accessories, and I do like that that is built-in because you don't have to worry about cutting it down the size. Now you might be wondering how you put that on since we have these built-on towers.

The way you'll be able to put on those accessories is by the center right here will have this notch that's cut out, which is just put your items on right here, and slide 'em into place. Taking a look at the end of our crossbar, we'll have these end caps you can just take right off. And then these locking doors, you can just unlock those with your screwdriver, a flathead. And the cool thing about this is, this is what allows you to take on and off your crossbar just by opening up that door and lifting up on them. And I'm just gonna take these off completely so we can take a closer look at those fit kits, and you'll notice we have this cutout of where our crossbar is sit.

And in front of that, we're gonna have these two bolts, and that's what attaches our fit kit to our flush rails giving us a very secure fit. And since these are bolted down, they're gonna have fixed mounting points. So we can actually get our crossbar spread measurement from right here, just going from the front of our front base to the front of our rear base. And that's gonna give us 29 inches, which is important to know. So you know what accessories can accommodate that crossbar spread.

And since these are designed to have crossbars that come on and off, they also come with some end caps to protect them from the elements. Next we can get some measurements on how this is gonna sit up here. So going from the top of our roof to the bottom of the crossbar, that's gonna be two and a quarter inches, which is important from the node to see if you have on a clamp on accessories that can fit onto that and not scratch up your roof. And then we're gonna get the total height of the system itself, which is actually gonna be our towers, and that's gonna sit at three and a half inches. So what I'd recommend doing is taking the total height of your vehicle plus your cross bars, and then if you get on any accessories on there too, and add that height to it so you know what areas you can fit under. As far as what you're gonna be able to put up here. Like I said earlier, you're gonna be able to put on the T channel accessories, and clamp on accessories and you're gonna have a weight capacity of up to 165 pounds. But what I recommend doing is checking what your roof is rated for, and going from the lowest component. Overall, this is be a great option for you if you are looking for something that's gonna be really easy to take on and off, if maybe you're going on only a few trips, once a year or you're constantly getting your car cleaned, and you don't wanna damage your roof rack. Now as for the installation, it's pretty straightforward. I will say the fit kits did take a little bit of time that get put on there just because they do have that blue lock tight on the bolts. But if you need a hand with it, just stay tuned and we'll walk you through it. To start off the installation, we're just gonna lay everything out. So we're gonna have our X-bar up front, and next to that we're gonna have the fit kit that goes along with it along with the end caps. Then we're gonna have two included tools. We're gonna have this Allen key, and then we're gonna have this other Allen key with this torque built onto it. And then we're gonna have the hardware as well. I recommend grabbing a few tools to make this a little bit easier. A tape measure, a trim tool. You can find that on our website, and a flat head screwdriver. The first step is, when we're putting on these fit kits. And to do that, we gotta get on top of our roof, and remove the caps. Now you probably noticed we already have the front crossbars installed. It's gonna be a very similar process between the rear and front. To remove this cap, all I have to do is take my trim tool, get underneath this tab on the front, and apply pressure and take it off. You can do this with a flathead screwdriver. It's just a little bit easier with a trim tool. Just like that. You repeat that process on the other side. With that cap removed, you'll see we have two bolts here, and the only way to remove those is with this include an Allen key. Now I do find this is a little bit difficult to try to take these off because I'm just, I don't have enough leverage to take 'em off. So I found it easier grabbing this torque bit wrench. And this is gonna be a size T30. Now we're gonna get that additional leverage out of this, and you just match it up, and take each one of these off. And with those bolts removed, we're gonna take this trim tool again, and get underneath the two tabs on these caps that we inchesre held in place with our bolts, and remove these. It will click outta place. You just do that on the other portion too. And we'll just repeat this process on the other side. We put on our fit kit. We're gonna start by removing this end gap just by pulling it off. If we look inside, we'll see this image, and that's gonna let you know where this is gonna go on your vehicle. So this one in particular is gonna go on our rear passenger side. Now you just have to check each one to make sure they go to their relative spots. We're gonna grab it, we'll line it up with this indention on the rails, and fit it onto place. Next, you're gonna grab your two bolts, and run it through this hole at an angle, and just hand tighten it to begin with. You do the same thing on both sides. Now one of the things I will say about that process is it can take a little bit because that lock tight can be a little bit to fight through, but if you're patient with it, you can get 'em on, and then you can move on to the next step, which is getting your crossbar ready. You're just gonna remove this end cap at the very end just by squeezing on either side of this and pulling off. Then you're gonna take your Allen key with that torque tool on it, slide it through this hole, and loosen this bolt up some. After when you've loosened it up some, we can get these end caps out of the way or these locking caps out of the way. The way you're gonna do that is by grabbing a flat hit screwdriver, putting it in and turning it until it the unlocked position. With that unlocked and this bolt loosened, if we open up that locking door, you'll notice this is gonna retract, and expend when you open and close it. So when that's ready, you'll also notice you have the ability to pull out these towers to adjust for the fit on top of your car. So now we're gonna put it on top of our car. With both of the towers expanded, and these doors opened up, we can put it up here. Now when you are putting it up here, you wanna make sure you're putting it in the right orientation, making sure that this thicker side is facing forward. At this point, you just wanna line the bottom of these towers up with these channels and just rest it there. You'll notice that this isn't going into this channel quite yet. So what I have to do is just lift on this a little bit, push this tower in, and apply pressure from the other side too. So this will match up with that channel, and push down until everything is lined up. Once everything's lined up, you can shut this locking door. If it won't shut, that's probably because things aren't completely lined up yet. It'll just apply pressure, and lock it down into place. And now we're gonna come back over here with that Allen key with the torque device on it, put it through that hole again. And this time we're gonna tighten it up. And from this point, once everything's tightened up on both sides, we're gonna actually take this back off, get the measurement for how long it is between the two towers, and make sure everything is even on both sides. Now the process to make everything even on both sides is gonna be starting with measuring from each tower, and it's gonna be about 30 inches. So what we want to do is find the center of this bar, which is gonna be marked with an arrow, and then go from that arrow to one of our towers. And if it's matching, we know we're good. When everything's even, and you have these back up here, you wanna make sure you keep these locking doors open. because now we're gonna adjust the pitch. Adjust the pitch. You're gonna find a bolt at the very top, and you're gonna loosen it some. You do that on both sides. When both sides are adjusted, you'll be able to apply pressure to the bar itself to where it's gonna be pretty much flat with your roof, making sure everything's even. Right now everything is looking pretty level. So if it's looking level, that means we can start tightening everything back down. One of our last steps is gonna be locking this back up just with your screwdriver. Once it says locked, you're gonna take that end cap, put it on from the back, just pushing on until it clicks into place. And with that done, I just recommend giving it a good shake test. Make sure nothing is moving, and if it feels pretty solid, then you'll be able to put whatever accessories you have on top of it. And if you liked everything you saw today, that's just a look at the Yakima Skyline FX Roof Rack System on top of our 2022 Nissan Rogue.