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These Rapid Podium feet let you install Thule crossbars on your vehicle that has integrated fixed points, flush railings, T-tracks, or custom install rack attachment points.
Features:
Specs:
Videos are provided as a guide only. Refer to manufacturer installation instructions and specs for complete information.
AJ: What's up everybody, it's AJ with etrailer.com. Today we're going to be checking out how to install our Thule wing bar kit on our 2020 Toyota RAV4.This is a great roof rack option, helping you get things out of the inside of your vehicle, and let's say you wanted to haul a rooftop box for more space. You get up there, there's more leg room for your passengers in the vehicle. Or just hauling stuff that you couldn't do otherwise like a kayak, you get kayak care up here. Uphaul your kayak, you don't have to try and jam it in this vehicle, it's not going to work out for you. Bike racks, roof baskets, that really gives you a bunch of options to add onto your vehicle.
The wing bars themselves are an air design crossbar, which means they're meant for the wind to travel along them and not add any friction at all.You can open up here and you see, you also have T-track option here at the top. You would just slide the T-track in the weatherstrip. Instead, if you didn't want to use the clamp round style, you can do that. It's nice to have those two options and not have to pry this off every time you're going to put a new T-track accessory in. Pull it back over.Also want to show you how sturdy they are when it's all said and done.
I'm shaking the whole car back and forth, and you don't hear any rattling or see any movement. So that's good to have that confidence when you're going down the road.Checking out the podium, you can see this spot can be switched out for a lock core, but right now you just take something flat and turn the plastic and you can remove the cap. Once you look inside, you can see this metal plate attaches to the fit kit that's made and designed for this RAV4 specifically, and a fixed mounting point right here. The studs screws in there, we add the nut, and that's what secures it to your roof. Again, there's no measuring, you don't have to move it back and forth, it goes right here.I'll shake it one more time and you can see that the cover wasn't covering up any movement or anything on the inside.
You can see it's just as sturdy as it looked on the outside. Now the podium's weight rating is 165, so keep that in mind. When you're loading up your accessories.Taking a closer look at the foot kit, you can see what I'm talking about, it was designed specific for this vehicle. It fits and mold right in there, and that rubber bottom helps keep it from scratching anything on the top of your car.Now let's talk about some measurements. The crossbars themselves are 47 inches along, and let's see how much space we have in between each one.
Looks to be from center to center, 33 inches in between, which is important for whatever accessory you put on top. Sometimes they have fixed mounted points where they can attach, and you want to make sure you have the right crossbar spread for whatever you want to put on top. Another measurement to keep in mind is from the top of the roof to the bottom of the roof bar, that'd be three and one quarter. And then from the top of the roof to the top of the roof bar would be four and one quarter. And those are good to keep in mind just as you're adding accessories on top. Sometimes they attach via clamps and the clamps take up a little bit more space here. You want to make sure you have that room.Overall, I think the wing bars look great on this Toyota RAV4. They kind of blend in and look like they're supposed to be there. Also, the install was pretty easy. I know I've mentioned a few times, but I was surprised too. You just install those studs, then run the roof rack on there, and you're pretty much done. Let's check out how we did it.The first part of our installation, we're going to go ahead up top on the roof and all of our raised rails here. We're just going to go ahead and pop out this section right here.We're going to use a trim panel tool and lightly pry up. Let me see, there's a tab right there. Pop that cover off. Now we'll take our replacement cover and install it. You can see which one goes on which side, you see the RL on there. That's the rear left, which would be your driver's side. Pop it into place there, it's got the nice hole here, so we're going to add the stud next. Taking our stud here, we're just going to screw it into the hole in the top. It comes with an included tool to help you tighten it down. Here we go. Now it's in there.Here's the table I kind of got laid out where you're going to get with the kit here. This one's already put together, I'm going to show you how we got this. We had the Thule podium itself, the foot kit, and this is the exact fit to this vehicle, our RAV4 today, and the metal bracket. So how we're going to start this, is we're going to simply slide this metal bracket into the foot kit here. You're going to match up this hole with this hole, you can see the grooves in there, just go ahead and slide it down in there. It's nice and snug, even without a bolt through it or anything you can see it's not going to pop right back out. So, that's awesome.Now I'll attach our podium. It's got a hole up here, match up these two holes with the holes in there, I don't know if you can see those or not. We're essentially going to run this through this. You just lightly put the screws in, don't tighten it down too much because then you won't be able to slide onto the bar. With it all assembled, we're ready to go ahead and slide on our bar. You just want to match up this with the groove, slides right on. Now, if you had these over-tightened, this part would be up a little bit more and it wouldn't go in. That's why I said you just have to loosely put it in there, easily slide it on. I'll go ahead and add our cap at the end.And then we're going to set it on top of the vehicle. Remember it's rubber padded on the feet or the fit kit itself, so if you do set it down on the roof, it's not going to scratch anything. Gently set it down over there. Line up the stud with the hole in the center here. There we go. We see how it falls down into place and goes perfectly around the raised rail. Now with this whole process, I've repeated all the steps I've told you on the opposite side as well, and you can see me do this last one. Line it up like that. Now that it's still loose, we can also check how far the bars are actually going to stick out for a vehicle and get them straightened here.We're going to come back up here and tighten down these screws, that way the bar won't slide along the top. We'll add our lock washer, and our nut to the stud in there. That way, it keeps it all down and attached to the roof. Get it hand-tightened, and come back with that same tool and tighten it snug. With that tightened down, we give the shake test and see I'm shaking the entire vehicle, these bars aren't moving at all.Last step is at our cover of the podium. Use any flat blade screwdriver or anything just to turn it and lock it. Like I said before, it's that easy. We're done. And that's it for our look at the Thule wing bar installation with the Thule podium on our 2020 Toyota RAV4. Hope this helped..
Average Customer Rating: 4.7 out of 5 stars (158 Customer Reviews)
These Rapid Podium feet let you install Thule crossbars on your vehicle that has integrated fixed points, flush railings, T-tracks, or custom install rack attachment points.I have not actually used the product yet, but I'm happy with the quality of the construction. My only complaint is that the instructions were very bad, which caused the assembly to take a lot longer than it should have. (And I am very experienced in assembling things.) But you should know that your choice of UPS is not a good one and has already resulted in my son-on-law and probably two others to purchase from REI instead of etrailer. UPS delivery was first scheduled for May 14. Then I got a message saying an "incident" occurred which may result in delay. I could never get an explanation of the "incident." However, I repeatedly got this same message for each of the next 5 days, while the tracking system continued to show the expected delivery as May 14. Finally, on May 19 I got a phone call to confirm delivery for the next day. The window was noon to 6 PM. It did not come. They called again to schedule delivery for the next day (Friday) with the same 6 hour delivery window. It did not come, but I got a message saying it would be delivered the next business day, which would have been Monday. It did not come, nor did they call. So I called them and scheduled a delivery for the next day between noon and 6 PM. So this became the 4th day that I had to rearrange my personal schedule to accommodate a 6 hour window. It finally was delivered at 6:40 PM. You may want to consider using a different delivery service.
A bit pricy but it's a really good system. Went on easy and hauled my bike and kayak well. My only gripe is that for this price it should come with locks.
The product fit really well but the instructions were horrible. You should expect to spend some time figuring it out.
Jason - 12/01/2020Just installed on 2020 Telluride. They look great. The 3 minute video from etrailer was perfect....though it took me about an hour.
I really appreciate the prompt shipment. I was able to get the roof rack on the car in about an hour. Are used it about two hours later to carry a ladder. It was very sturdy. Instructions were not great. But it was not a complex install either.
2019 Mitsubishi Outlander Sport Limited Edition.. Easiest rack I've ever installed. Instructions were clear and easy to understand. The rack looks amazing. Definitely an upgrade from my previous ones.
These Thule podium feet fit my Honda CRV perfectly. Allowing me to set up the Thule Evo crossbars and luggage carrier. Etrailer’s customer service was great when there was a slight shipping issue.
I expected my order at the end of the month because one of the pieces wasn't in stock. My order arrived two weeks earlier than expected and had it on my car in less than an hour. I couldn't find a roof rack anywhere even on manufacturers sites, but etrailer had it to me without issue. I'll be coming back for more
Good products, but the cap to the podium feet doesn't feel secure. I had to put zip tie it together.
These just work great. It's a little pain to start the threading the bolts in. When I finished installing them, they felt very secure.
By no fault of their own I'm sure, a cap was missing in the box. They were awesome!!! Sent me the missing part right away. Now I'm ready to show off my new hobby this summer. Thank you!!!
Bought the Thule AeroBlade and all the fittings recommended by etrailer earlier this summer. Everything fits perfect, was easy to install, and looks really great on the car.
Great product. Relatively easy instructions for install. Although not giving 5 stars because I was pretty disappointed with the shipping time (even despite COVID challenges). I purchased from etrailer because the availability date of the parts was sooner than other vendors, only for the shipping date to be delayed in total by more than a month without any update on the delay unless I went in to check my order status. I would think that a delay in shipping date, especially when it happens multiple times, would trigger and email notification to the buyer.
Thule is the only premier cargo accessory manufacture in the industry. The design, manufacturing and quality of their products is world class. We currently own two German SUVs that are used regularly for a wide array of outdoor sports and refuse to outfit our vehicles with any other brand of equipment. This particular system was very easy to install when following manufacturers installation instructions and recommendations.
Just installed the Thule roof rack system including the Fit Kit, Aero Blade Bars and the Podium Foot Pack. All components are made with excellent quality materials. The installation took me less than an hour overall. etrailer provides detailed instructions in their video which makes the installation very easy.
Doug C - 01/19/2020great product, very easy install, video very helpful and customer service was excellent. highly recommend etrailer and their products.
I purchased a full direct mount Thule kit for my 2018 Infiniti Q30s. etrailer.com made it very easy, pairing what I needed at a great price. My kit arrived earlier than estimated and looks great on my car. If there was one negative, it would be the Thule instructions. Written in multiple languages to cover thier market made installation a bit challenging but it all worked out.
Easy to install and it looks great. Wish it had holes in the ends for hooking bungee cords on. But other than that its perfect.
Great tutorial videos on website, easy ordering, and fast shipping.
Great roof rack. Everything shipped and arrived as expected. The kit had everything I needed to install on my 2017 Highlander with factory side rails. Followed the directions provided and watched the video. Install took about an hour by myself. I have purchased a number of products from etrailer and have never had any complaints or issues.
I needed a way to haul SUP board's on my 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee. Product was exactly what I needed. Make sure you read all the instruction from the multiple boxes before you begin. Easy to install and a great fit!
We just purchased a 2019 Hyundai Santa Fe as our retirement vehicle for traveling. We wanted to install cargo accessories but the dealer prices were WAY to high. After researching for several days we found etrailer.com. The prices were the best we found and the service was outstanding! We installed a Thule roof rack system that fits flawlessly and allows the panorama sun roof to plenty of roof to operate. The videos made in really easy to install. We also installed a trailer hitch system. The Tekonsha Trailer Wiring kit was also a piece of cake to install. If you're hesitant to work on electrical systems, there's no need to be afraid. It's actually easier than it looks in the video. The Curt Trailer Hitch gave me major headaches. The delivery company banged the box up pretty badly. Apparently it tweaked the hitch just enough so that the holes were misaligned. No problem, after talking me through the installation one more time to be sure it was damaged, they shipped a new unit. The second hitch went in fine. It took a while, and it's not as easy as it looks in the video, but I'm 67 years old I did the installation myself... Overall, I gave five stars because the price match guaranty makes it a wise choice price wise. he videos are a big help during installation. But the real difference is the service. A lot of folks provide good service to make a sale, but etrailer goes the extra distance to provide great service afterwards. That's unique! Thanks etrailer!
Great product that compliments the look of my vehicle while serving a function. Initially, the product arrived missing some key parts, but the staff responded immediately to my email and took great care of me to ensure that my experience was completely satisfactory. Carol and Kelsey are truly attentive to the customer’s needs. Great job everyone!
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