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Nothing ruins a trip faster than worrying about your gear shifting around. The Rhino-Rack Vortex Roof Rack gives you peace of mind with its solid aluminum construction and sturdy SX legs. The 46" long crossbars can handle up to 165 lbs—plenty for hauling kayaks, paddleboards, cargo boxes, or other outdoor gear. The tough build keeps everything steady on the road while maintaining a lightweight setup that won’t weigh your vehicle down.
Long highway drives can bring annoying wind noise from your roof rack, but the aerodynamic shape of these bars helps keep things quiet. The rubberized Vortex strips fill in the top channels to smooth airflow, reducing drag and cutting down on whistling. That means a calmer ride whether you’re commuting or heading out on a long road trip.
These aero-style crossbars are built for versatility. You can mount accessories in the top channels or clamp them around the bars, making it easy to switch between water sports, camping, or cargo gear. From kayaks and bikes to ski carriers and roof boxes, this rack gives you flexible options for hauling what you need on any weekend outing or big adventure.
You’ll want your gear safe both on and off the road. The crossbars include integrated plastic locks that help deter theft of channel-mount accessories, and lockable cover plates on the legs keep the rack itself secure. If you want even more protection, you can upgrade to all-metal locks (RRVA-LEC4 – sold separately) for added security when leaving your setup unattended overnight.
Designed for raised roof rails, the SX legs clamp firmly in place for a custom fit that stays secure trip after trip. Once installed, the rack blends cleanly into your vehicle’s roofline while keeping full-length space across both bars so you can position accessories exactly where you need them. It’s a dependable setup built to carry your gear wherever you go.
Ratings & Reviews
These are really nice roof racks. On our VW Golf Sportwagen, they look sporty and do not create any wind noise going down the road. We got these to use with the Vortex Aero Crossbars and the mounts are just high enough to work, but not too high to be awkward. The cross bars we got were the perfect width for the car. No issues of passengers hitting their heads on the like with other ill fitting systems. The mounts fit perfectly on the VW factory roof rails that came with the car.
Package arrived fast, in perfect condition, with detailed instructions and with tracking updates on my order. Took me 2 1/2 hrs to assemble and mount and was worth it !!
The whole kit fits great on my Honda HR-V. Assembly was simple and mounting took about 15 minutes. My Kayaks fit well and securely. I would recommend this product to a friend.
The product works as described and couldn't be happier with them. They were easy to put on and work rather well on my roof rack for my Mini Cooper.
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.
Great sturdy product. I only have two complaints and one minor thing:
1. These whistle. A lot. They do come with rubber inserts that slide into the top and bottom parts of the rail that help substantially with the whistling, but just be aware that if you have other things that mount to the rail and it doesn't line up, that you could be dealing with that whistling.
2. Mounting the rails to the feet is a pain with the included allen wrench. It doesn't need to be a security allen wrench, so I used a longer one that I had on hand and it made installing it easier. You do have to tighten the allen completely blind and spin it next to your roof, so just be careful if you opt to go with the longer allen wrench.
3. This is minor-- but the instructions said that the bolt that goes through the foot into the mounting hardware onto the roof was also an allen, but it ended up being a hex bolt. Once I figured it out it wasn't a big deal because I have my own tools to install the bolt, but if you buy this set with the RCP48-BK mounting hardware be aware that you'll need a 10mm socket or wrench. There also wasn't any instructions for what the torque spec needs to be, but I found online
There were no instructions for these but the instructions for the bases told how they were to be installed. These bars are heavy duty and well made. They come with three rubber "vortex" strips that get installed on the top (designed to smooth the air flowing over them) and two plastic measuring strips (to help you align your bars to the bases) that get installed on the bottom.
The top (vortex) rubber strips press fit into place with a lip and are best installed without the end caps on as the three pieces together are longer than the bars and one will need to be cut. Not sure why one long piece wasn't provided as there were no instructions.
The bottom plastic measuring piece strips fit into the channels on the bottom and can be used to align the bars with the bases to ensure that you have the bars evenly spaced. Once you have the bars spaced you can tighten them down and cut these strips to fit in the inner and outer gaps on the bottom of the crossbar on either side of the base.
The plastic end caps come with a key to unlock/secure them to the bars but these seem to be the least secure part of the system.
My Yakima J-Bar Kayak racks fit perfectly on this system and are rock solid. For the price of this system I would have liked a little better quality in the caps and covers but other than that it's a very robust roof rack system.
Installed on a 2014 Chevy Volt. So far I am unsure how the racks will affect the electric range on the car, however they look great, and produce minimal noise when driving up to 55 mph (I have not tested it at higher speeds). They were simple to put on, the instructions were easy enough (although I did find I had to add a few millimeters of spacing to make the racks fit correctly). Primary use will be a bike rack, although they will be used for skis and a canoe as well. I would recommend as an affordable option for a Volt, as there are not many options to begin with.
One piece of advice: The feet can easily slip over the measuring strips, and at first this made me believe that the provided measurements were incorrect. Make sure that the feet and the strips do not overlap.
Great rack and great deal, I've been able to use the rack on more than one car by replacing just some parts.
Well worth the money! Vortex 2500 kit is perfect for naked roof vehicles!
Oh ya. awesome low profile rack. Making it look real nice, just order a wind fairing to lower the wind noises.
Its been one year since I installed the Rhino Rack crossbars and I have absolutely no issues. The main use is to carry my Kayaks on my 2013 Subaru Impreza utilizing Yakima JayLow kayak carriers. The only caveat is to be sure to properly cut and install the plastic channel inserts (underside) or you will experience an annoying whistling sound. If you're looking for high quality crossbars, I highly recommend these.
I am getting a bit of whistling at around 15-20 mph, but it doesn't happen all the time and can only hear it if sunroof is open. Do not notice any additional noise compared to no roof rack if my sunroof is closed, even if windows are open. Feels very strong once installed and install is pretty straightforward. Still feel it deserves 5 stars as I believe some noise is expected.
Purchased these bars for my 2017 VW Tiguan because they had the highest load rating. I hope to carry a Tepui Car Top tent on these, and they should be able to handle the load just fine since they are very well built.
Exactly what I needed to replace the factory cross bars to make it easier to take off my roof top tent. Easy to install and secured nicely to the factory rails.
These racks are great. I looked at so many and finally decided to go with these and very glad I did. The quality is great, not hard to put together, and not too loud. Although, sunroof open would cause bugs to fly in after bouncing off these so don’t do that.
First off, ordering and delivery couldn’t have been simpler. The flaps on one end of the box were open but luckily it was on the packing paper end of the box so nothing was lost.
As for installation, I’m a computer guy and while I can get a job done with instructions, it normally takes me well longer than estimated. Not true with this rack... after an initial read through of the instructions it took less than 35 minutes to get it installed by myself.
My ‘21 Toyota C-HR has drill outs for the feet to connect to so no measuring front/back was required which I believe saved a ton of time.
Overall I couldn’t be happier... I head out to pick up m,y kayak next week for the maiden haul!
Choosing a system for transporting my new (to me, they're actually used) kayaks was TOUGH. I love my little 2017 Honda Fit, and I knew I would love my new kayaks when I got them. I don't want anything bad to happen to either! Also, my car is small and the kayaks are fairly large, comparatively. I've strapped a lot of things to a lot of vehicles, but this is going to be a long term relationship, so I wanted to get it right the first time.
I've been researching and reading reviews for months, but I got confirmation that the kayaks were ready for pickup, so I needed to make a decision! I ultimately pulled the trigger on the Rhino-Rack Vortex Aero Crossbars with the 2500 Series Legs and Custom DK Fit Kit for my naked roof car and the Rhino-Rack Nautic Stack Kayak Carrier w/ Tie-Downs.
I placed my order on 09/15/21 at 6 PM. The estimated delivery date was 09/23/21, which made me a little sad. I really wanted to pick up my boats on Sunday, 09/19/21, but I figured I'd waited THIS long, I could probably handle waiting another week. I was very pleasantly surprised to receive an email at 8 PM the same evening notifying me that my order had shipped. AND, even better, the UPS tracking was showing delivery on 09/18/21 by 7PM! I was beyond excited, but didn't get my hopes up because shipping has been pretty hit or miss since well before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, UPS delivered my package just before noon on Saturday, which was amazing!
I got everything unpacked and reviewed to ensure that I had all I would need to assemble the system - check. Nothing missing, which is always an auspicious start. Then I started reading the instructions - UGH. This is (so far) the ONLY thing I have to complain about. I have put together IKEA furniture that had clearer instructions. I probably should have gone to Google to find a YouTube video, but I powered through with the instructions provided. Since I've never put together or used a roof rack before, I didn't really know what the final outcome should look like, so that made interpreting the instructions very difficult - the pictures were not super clear, and the accompanying text did not improve the situation. Now that I know what it looks like assembled, I get it, but at the time it was rough. I estimated it took me about 2 hours to get the rack assembled and secured to my car, and towards the end my fiancé arrived and helped me to realize that the foot pads were not properly attached to the feet, which made a huge difference! The kayak carrier was much easier to install, taking maybe 15 additional minutes.
The foot pads rest in the groove on the edge of the roof, I assume over the frame of the car. There's absolutely no flex in the roof where the feet sit. The hook part of the clamp rests against the metal of the car, under the rubber seal, so I don't foresee any potential issues with the seal as a result of the rack. The doors close as normal, and the rack has no movement whatsoever once tightened down. I've now used it as a handle to pull myself up towards the roof a few times (I'm about 190 lbs), and I feel totally confident that it's not going anywhere. I now have ideas about how to use the rack to haul around the larger stuff that won't fit INSIDE my car (which isn't much - I HIGHLY recommend this car!).
So, the big question - how'd it go with the kayaks?
In short - perfection! I was slightly concerned about the boats overhanging the front or back of my car, as they're 12.5 ft long and my car is just over 13 ft long. Eeeeek! I needn't have worried. They fit like a dream, and even without bow or stern tie downs were very secure during our trip home. We took local roads instead of the highway because we didn't tie down the bow and stern, so we probably didn't go over 40 ish MPH, but I saw absolutely no lift (I can see the ends of the boats out of the front windshield). I will be using those tie downs in the future, and anticipate no issues with highway speeds under those conditions.
Obviously, only time will tell how everything holds up/works out, but at this stage, I am extremely pleased with my decision and am looking forward to many kayaking adventures to come! I only have one picture at this point, but may take a few more and add them so anyone else considering a similar setup knows what they'll be getting.
Installed the Rhinorack system on my 2018 Honda HR-V to replace my Thule Evo system which would whistle at 50mph+. Installation was very straight forward with easy to follow instructions. Rack fit great, feels solid and no whistling or wind noise at highway speed! Highly recommend!
Great bars - very quiet, solidly built, and nice looking. I put these on my Mercedes E350 Wagon. I can fit 4 bikes or a narrow Thule box and 2 bicycles (with pedals removed). Definitely would recommend Rhino Rack.
The Rhino Racks Vortex Aero are solid. My first drive with them was to Brighton Utah from Riverside California. They were not only secure throughout the drive and hard winds, they were also reasonably quiet. On top I attached a Thule Force L 628 roof box and it fits perfectly. The only complaints I have are how difficult it was to install the racks to my fixed points. It took several friends, a mechanic, and two days to get everything right.
I purchased the complete 2500 Series system which included the crossbars, legs and fit kit for my 2018 Honda Fit so I could transport my kayak.. They were well packaged and their quality is quite evident. I did struggle a little following the assembly instructions but with some patience and watching a video it went well. Two items to be aware of. The front and rear leg clamps are of different lengths with the longer clamps going on the rear crossbar. The other issue was positioning the crossbars. After following the measurements for attaching the legs to the crossbars it was quite clear that the measurement for the rear crossbar was wrong. Placing the legs as instructed didn't allow the rear crossbars to be the 29 17/32 inches from the front crossbar but required me to move it back to 31 1/2 inches. There is a very faint whistle while driving around 30 to 35 mph but it's not annoying. I was so pleased with the fit and finish I went ahead and purchased the Rhino Rack S-loader to make it easier for me to lift my kayak onto the crossbars. I would definitely recommend both items.
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.
Love the bars, I had gotten the other rack parts from different suppliers. I love the look and sleek design of the Rhino Rack. I did the 2500 vortex on a 2016 Subaru Impreza sedan and it fits great and looks even better.
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