Video Transcript for How to Install: Rhino-Rack Vortex Roof Rack on your 2016 Honda CR-V

Today, in our 2016 Honda CR-V. We're going to be doing a test fit on the Rhino-Rack Vortex Aero Crossbars Roof Rack system. This system is specifically designed to fit your flush-mounted rails on your CR-V.With it in place, you're gonna be able to carry roof mount accessories, things like bike racks, kayak carriers, cargo boxes, and much more.Now, the aerobars are 49 inches long. You can see how they span across the roof of our CR-V. This is gonna allow us to carry multiple accessories on our roof. So maybe we'd like to carry two to three bike racks up there, or maybe even two kayaks.Now, the crossbars are made out of aluminum, so we don't have to worry about any rust or corrosion.

I've got the black installed, but they're also available in silver. So if the silver is something you're interested in, see etrailer.com.Now, you'll notice that they're aerodynamic. These are gonna be a lot quieter than your traditional round or square bars. They're gonna work with your standard clamp-on accessories as well as your T-slot accessories. You'll simply remove that end cap and we can trim that rubber strip, slide that T-bolt in to our desired location, and replace it, and it's gonna give us that nice, clean look.

When it's all said and done, we can put on our end cap and we're all set.Now, the crossbars are held in place by four Rhino Rack RCL legs. These attach to the fit kit that are attached to our flush-mounted rails. With everything in place, it's a nice, tight fit. You can rest assured your accessories and your roof rack system are gonna remain in place.Now, if we remove the cover. As you can see, it's lockable.

That way no one can access it.You can see how it protects our hardware so it can't be tampered with. It's also gonna protect it from the elements. It is stainless steel hardware, so we don't need to worry about it rusting or corroding.If you'd like to take the roof rack off sometime, you have that option. You'll simply undo the bolt on the inside, replace it with the cap, put the bolt back on, and then you've got the fit kit remaining in place for when you'd like to put it back in use.Now, I mentioned the fit kit. What's unique about it is they're specifically designed to fit the flush-mounted rails on our CR-V.

You can see here how the pad is gonna contour that rail. Two bolts hold that bracket in place on the inside and it's a nice, tight fit.Here on the opposite side, you can see the two bolts. Again, it is stainless steel hardware. And since they're bolted on, it is a fixed-mounted roof rack system. We cannot adjust along our rails.With the roof rack system in place, it gives us a crossbar spread center on center of about 31 3/4 of an inch. So, when choosing accessories, you'll wanna be sure that they will work with that crossbar spread.Now, this roof rack system has a weight capacity of 165 pounds. You do, however, want to check with your CR-V's owner's manual to see if the roof can support that much weight. You'll wanna go with whatever number is lowest.Now I'll give you some clearance measurements. This is gonna be an idea of how much you've added to the roof of your CR-V and it may also help you when mounting those clamp-on accessories.Now, from the top of the roof to the underside of the bar is about 2 1/4 of an inch. From the top of the bar, excuse me, from the top of the room to the top of the bar is about 3 3/4 of an inch.Now that we've got all the features, I'll go ahead and show you how to get it set up. I've already got my front crossbar in place, mounted to my flush-mounted rails on my CR-V, as you can see. The rear one installs pretty much the same way. In fact, I've got one side of my fit kit installed. Let's do the other side together.We'll need the pad. We'll need the bracket. We'll need two allen bolts and we'll need two flat washers and two lock washers.Since we're at the table here, we can go ahead and put the pad in place. It just connects to the bracket underneath, like this. And what I like to do is I like to push it all the way on first. That way that lip ends up on top, which is what we want.And then we'll push the tabs through, just like that.So we'll be mounting the bracket right here. First, we'll need to remove the rubber covers. You can use a flathead screwdriver or your fingers, whatever works best for you.And we can either put these in our glove box or throw them away.Then we'll take the bracket and we'll set it in place.From there, we can take our allen bolt. We can put on our lock washer, and then our flat washer, and start threading that through.It's a good idea to get them both started before you tighten them down. We'll take our included tool and get those tight.Now, there's no reason to over tighten here. Just tighten them up to where that lock washer flattens out.Now, back here at the table, we need to install the RCL leg onto our crossbar. First, let's remove the end cap. We'll set that aside. And we'll need to make sure that this T-bolt is loose. So, you can loosen that up with the allen bolt on the bottom. I think we've got it pretty loose here.We'll also need to rotate it to where the long side is horizontal with the leg.From there, we're ready to slide it onto our crossbar. I'll turn it over, just so we can easily see what we're working with.Now, if you haven't removed the end cap, just go ahead and do that. Take our included key. Then we'll take that leg, and we're gonna slide it on. So, I like to put pressure on the bolt on bottom to push it out, and we'll slide it into that channel.Just like that. From here, we'll take our included tool. We don't wanna tighten this down all the way just yet, but I'm taking out all that slack. That way we've got a little bit of resistance when we push it. This is gonna help us set it up on the roof of our CR-V. So, don't tighten it all the way. Just get it loosely installed.Then we can replace our end cap and lock that up.From here, we'll wanna test fit it to our roof. That way we can get our bar overhand set.Now, when you rest it in place, you want the legs to sit directly on top of the brackets. So we want it to fit down into the slots on each side.And then, before we tighten anything down, we wanna adjust our bar overhang. So we want the same difference from the underside here to the outside of the crossbar. Now, you can either use a tape measure or you can eye it up, whichever'd be easiest.And since we left those legs loose on our crossbar, we can slide that to the left or to the right and make sure it's right.Once we've got it set, then we can take it back off and tighten them up. So we'll take our included tool and just tighten these up, being careful not to move them, since they're already set.Again, no reason to over tighten. Just flatten out that lock washer. Now we'll set it back in place on the roof of our CR-V, make sure it's right, and then we'll fasten everything down.Looks like it fits good. With everything set, we can then take our bolt, take a lock washer, and then a flat washer, and we're going to hand tighten into the hole on top of the leg here.Now we'll leave it loosely installed. Let's get both side set up first.Then we can take a 10 millimeter wrench and tighten up the bolt. Now this you'll have to provide yourself.Again, no reason to over tighten. Just tighten it up to where that lock washer flattens out. And we'll do this for both sides.Last thing to do is to put on our covers.Once everything's assembled and installed correctly, we're ready to load up our favorite roof mount accessory and hit the road. But that's gonna complete our test fit of the Rhino-Rack Vortex Aero Crossbar Roof Rack system on our 2016 Honda CR-V.