To see if this custom-fit item will work for you please tell us what vehicle you'll use it with.
These crossbars combine the strength of steel with an aerodynamic shape to create a heavy-duty yet quiet roof rack for your vehicle. Full-length bars work with most clamp-on accessories. Installs to raised rails on your vehicle's roof.
Features:
Specs:
California residents: click here
Videos are provided as a guide only. Refer to manufacturer installation instructions and specs for complete information.
Hi, Matthew of etrailer. And today, we're gonna talk about the Yakima Roof Rack System with the CoreBars on top of our 2023 Subaru Forester. That's gonna be a great option for you if you're really trying to get a lot more space out of the Forester, whether you have a lot of people with you, or it's already filled up with other luggage or items. So that's gonna be great if you have any longer items like skis, kayaks, or roof boxes. It's also gonna be a great system if you want to get this key to like with any of your other Yakima gear. So let's take a closer look at it.
Our system today is gonna be comprised of two parts. That first part is gonna be our 50-inch CoreBar crossbars, and the second part is gonna be our Yakima Towers. So we're gonna take a closer look at the crossbars. You'll notice we're gonna have these brackets up top, and that's gonna grab around here, and that's gonna be used to attach our towers to. You'll notice we also have this arrow shape to 'em and the arrow shapes will help 'em be more aerodynamic to help reduce that wind noise.
Moving to the tower, you notice we have this end cap at the very back of it. What I do like about that is it's gonna hide all your hardware. So this is gonna give you more of a clean finish, and that's actually underneath here is where your strap is gonna attach to. This strap is gonna be made of rubber, so it's not gonna be likely to scratch anything up. And since it wraps all the way around, it's gonna give you a very secure fit.
And one last thing to know about this is this plastic core we have in the back of it. You can actually go into our website and get that replaced, and put a metal locking core in that, and get that key to light to any of your other Yakima accessories. So there's gonna be a few things that set this system apart from some of the other crossbars you might see. The first thing is this is actually gonna be constructed from steel, rather than aluminum, and it's not gonna have that T-track up top, so you're not gonna be putting any T-track accessories on here, but it's gonna be great for this clamp on accessories, especially since it is made out of steel. It's also gonna have a higher weight capacity of up to 220 pounds.
But what I'd recommend doing is just checking what your roof is rated for and then going from the lowest rated component. As for how this is gonna sit up here, if I go from the top of our raised rails to the top of the crossbar, that's gonna be a little bit under three inches, which isn't too bad. What I suggest doing is taking the total height of your vehicle plus your crossbars, and then if you put any accessories on top of that, include that as well, so you know what areas you can make it under. As we overhang, we go from our tower to the end of the crossbar. There's gonna be about 3 1/2 inches which isn't too far. You're not gonna be likely hitting your head on here, but you should have some room to put some smaller accessories at the very end of here, like a ski carrier. And then talking about our next measurement is gonna be our spread. And since we have raised rails today, that's definitely a plus 'cause you can maneuver these wherever you need 'em to be and adjust for different crossbar spreads. Now, for what we have today, we have about three inches of crossbar spread, and I try to put 'em back as far as I can. They'll give you an idea of how this is gonna sit up here, and it's gonna sit at the very edge of the sunroof we have at the top. So you don't have to worry about that covering your sunroof. Now, if you have any really long accessories up here, you wanna open your hatch. That's something to definitely think about because if you have this too far back, it could impede you opening up the hatch. Overall, I think it's gonna be a great system for you if you really are trying to get a lot more space out of your Forester, especially if you like those towers too with how they secure to your raised rails and how they have that locking core at the very back of it to get it key to like the any of the other gear. Those crossbars are made of that steel which is very durable and has that higher weight capacity. Just make sure you don't overload your roof too. Now one of the downsides of these crossbars though is since they are made of steel, they are gonna be more prone the rusting. They do have that black vinyl coating on top of them, but if that coating gets scratched off, then those areas will be more prone to rusting. Now, if you want something that is gonna have a T-channel on top that can accommodate those T-channel accessories, and it's gonna be made of aluminum, so it's less likely to rust, then I'd actually recommend the Yakima JetStream Roof Rack System. It will be very similar to this, only with a different crossbar that could accommodate T-channel accessories and be made of aluminum. But if you like this one because you don't really plan on using any T-channel accessories, then I think this is gonna be a great option for you. As far as the installation, it is pretty straightforward, pretty easy to get on and off of here, 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 up front, we're gonna have our crossbar and the towers that go along with it and then the hardware that's gonna help us install the towers onto the crossbar. You have your end caps and then this tool with this built-in torque device. I also recommend grabbing a measuring tape just to make this a lot easier. We're gonna need this adapter, so we can put our towers onto our CoreBar. And when you place this on, you wanna make sure the side with the ridges is facing up. I like to place it on at an angle, putting one side in first, (adapter snaps) applying pressure until the other side clicks into place. Then you repeat this process on the other tower. We're gonna come over to our crossbar now and remove our end cap just by pulling it right off. Also recommend flipping it over. This makes this a little bit easier than grabbing the brackets that go on. And you wanna make sure you put this in the right orientation, or it won't fit on into place. So if you do have it upside down, make sure that threaded side is facing up and match the size together, so it just slides right on. If you get the first one on there, just suggest put you all the way to the other side and grabbing the second one, and repeating that process. And just make sure you put your end cap back into place. We're gonna come over to our tower now. I like to start with it upside down, and it just gonna look just like this. You'll notice we have this hole. You'll see this bolt that's inside of there, and if I push our strap in, you'll notice we have a bolt right beneath there, too, that we'll be able to tighten from the side. Now, if you don't see it, because this one's in the way, all you have to do is loosen that bolt up, until you push that strap and you're in the clear. At this point, I'd have to get control of that bolt. You can see it popping out on the other side. I like to line it up with this bracket with a threaded side, and you just place it right on top and bolt it into place. Another thing I'll note too, I just wanna make sure this isn't in the right orientation. So the side with the bolt is facing out, and the side with the strap is facing in. You just tighten that all the way down, until you hear that torque device start to click (clicks) just like that. We got both towers on. We're just gonna roughly place it on top of our roof. Now, before I get it up there, we wanna make sure this is in the right orientation, so I wanna make sure that this thicker side is gonna face forward and this thinner side, behind us. Once we have adjusted for that, we're just gonna place it up here. Try and get those straps underneath the raised rails, until it's just sitting on up here. You'll notice we already have a rear crossbar up here, and the process is gonna be the same for both of 'em. So at this point, what I like to do is make sure our tower's gonna be parallel with our other crossbar. So you can do that just by finding a point that's gonna be the same on both sides and measuring out. And if both of your towers at the, are at the same point, then you're good. We can also talk about getting the correct crossbar spread now. So if you already have one crossbar on here, what I suggest doing is just measuring from one to another, and make sure this is gonna be able to accommodate the gear that you have. Now, we can get our overhang, and what I like to do is just go from our tower to the end of the crossbar, and then I have to make sure this is equal on both sides. A way you can adjust this is just by grabbing onto your tower either pulling or pushing on the crossbar. What this is just doing at this point is just grabbing that strap and attaching that metal rod to these metal hooks. And then we're gonna come over to this bolt, not this one on the bottom, but the one above it right here. And I wanna tighten this one all the way down on both sides. (bolt clicks) We can move to the bolt below it now and tighten this. The one up top is to tighten your towers to your crossbar, and this one on the bottom is to tighten the strap itself. So when we're tightening this down, we wanna tighten it enough where it's just gonna make contact with your raised rails at first. After when it makes contact with those raised rails, then we wanna go to the other side and repeat that process, just going back and forth, so we don't tighten one side more than the other. And we have both sides tightened up. We can put on our end caps just matching it up to the shape of our tower, so it clicks in the place. I like to give it a good shake test at this point. Make sure everything feels secure and if it does, then you can load it up with whatever accessories you have and hit the road. But if you liked everything you saw today, that's just a look at the installation and some of the features of the Yakima Roof Rack System on top of our 2023 Subaru Forester.
Do you have a question about this Roof Rack?
Info for this part was:
At etrailer.com we provide the best information available about the products we sell. We take the quality of our information seriously so that you can get the right part the first time. Let us know if anything is missing or if you have any questions.
Thank you! Your comment has been submitted successfully. You should be able to view your question/comment here within a few days.
Error submitting comment. Please try again momentarily.