To see if this custom-fit item will work for you please tell us what vehicle you'll use it with.
This stylish, aerodynamic Yakima roof rack gives you the space to carry gear on your vehicle. Rubber strips in the top channels push down to load carriers or accessories - no need to trim. Installs to fixed mounting points on your vehicle's roof.
Features:
Specs:
Alternate Instructions
Videos are provided as a guide only. Refer to manufacturer installation instructions and specs for complete information.
Hey everyone, it's Evangeline here at etrailer and today we'll be taking a look at our Yakima SkyLine towers. These are designed for your fixed mounting points, your flush rails, or your track systems. So if the roof of your vehicle looks like this, you probably need these. If you wanna carry around roof mounted accessories like kayaks or ladders or maybe you need to bring a Christmas tree home, you first need a roof rack system. Now this is gonna be the Yakima SkyLine towers for those vehicles that specifically require a custom fit kit for their fixed mounting points. Now if your vehicle does not look like this you might have a naked roof or raised rails.
That's why it's very important before anything to use our fit guide here at etrailer.com. Put your year, make model and then find the right fit for you. And if this is one of them let's take a look at how it works. Etrailer.com also helps you get the full kit for your vehicle because the skyline towers don't work alone you also need the appropriate crossbars as well as the correct fit kit or landing pads for you. But with this, you get a low profile roof rack so it doesn't stick too high up.
You get a heavy duty weight capacity since this is an aluminum roof rack. So usually they have 165 pounds capacity, depends on the vehicle, and you have this very sturdy but also very custom fit kit for your vehicle. That way, no matter what you put on it within reason and wherever you go, you know it's gonna stay there. But my favorite feature about this roof rack is the door design. So you pinch on the door to open it and that's it.
Just like that, you can lift the whole roof rack off of your roof. When you need to install it, you just pop it right back on. So the height of the tower is about 3 1/2" from your fixed mounting point to the top of the tower. The actual height can change depending on what crossbars you have and what rails you have, but compared to a lot of the other flush mounted crossbars and roof racks, it's just very low to the roof. Now with this style of a rack though, you are limited to the fixed mounting points or the flush rails of your vehicle.
So wherever they are, that's how much crossbar spread you get. For example, ours is set to 28" apart. On the other hand, if you have an aggressive tilt to your roof, you can actually adjust this up to six degrees forward or six degrees backward to help even out the playing field. Now I like to leave my roof rack on my vehicle and Yakima is pretty known for its durability. So the SkyLine towers are made of glass reinforced plastic, aluminum, stainless steel and elastomer. So all that is combined to help them stay strong even if you leave them on all day, all year. But if you do need to take off your roof rack you also have a feature to make it more low profile. Start by flipping both doors open and then you can lift the roof rack up and off of your roof. This way you can store it inside of your garage or in your house. You can leave your base on your roof rails. All you need to do is cover them with the included cover and that's it. You're done. The covered bases sit about 2" high up off of your fixed mounting point and makes for a much more low profile look. Your towers will have everything you need to install them which really is just one tool. And your fit kit has the hardware needed to undo the factory mounting points on your vehicle or for your track system if that's what you have. Now, that install process is extremely simple. Let's take a look at it. So these are what your towers look like when they are not on your roof. So they come all assembled in the box. All you need to do is get the appropriate landing pads for your vehicle. These landing pads can look different depending on your car and that's why it's very important to use our fit guide to get the right fit for you. You have four towers as well as the torque tool. And depending on your crossbars, you will also get a separate adapter to be used with those specific bars. With your landing pad kits, you'll get a part that fits your specific vehicle. You will get the hardware needed to install that part and you will have the base as well as the base cover. So if the towers are not on your vehicle you could just cover that base pad and take the cover off to install the tower. Here's an example of how the landing pad can be used depending on your cars. So you have a factory mounting point in this specific flush rail. So the pad goes over that hole and then you're gonna get your base which goes on top of that pad. And then you have a bolt with split washer and flat washer which is used to tighten down those two pieces to your car. The torque tool for your towers comes in handy whenever you're tightening down those bolts because it has a setting for tension. Once you get enough tension, it automatically clicks and prevents you from over tightening. Now to set up your tower for your crossbars there's different adaptor pieces. We're using the one for the JetStream crossbars. So we start by pushing in this plate into the tower. So you are gonna hear some clicks and that's how you know it's secure. Now we're gonna open up the tower door. So this involves pinching the door and pulling. Be careful because if you slide your fingers forward it doesn't feel as good. But with the door open, you can then loosen this bolt up front. It says to do it eight times. I just go until the bolt underneath is visible so you can see underneath what I mean. Notice how you have this little bolt head hiding around. You're gonna try to get at it with the tool. You can see how I do have access. That means as we flip this tower back over I can put this plate up top and then I can tighten down and thread onto that plate. With adapter and plate, this can now slide into your crossbar. For other adapters, they're designed to slide over or around your crossbar. With this specific style, I do recommend for the initial slide making sure that this is loose, but after that even if you have it fully tightened down you'll still be able to slowly adjust it on the crossbar. So with the towers on you're then ready to put this onto your roof. Now what I do is I just kind of roughly measure how far apart our landing pads are and that's when I can measure on the towers the distance apart they roughly need to be, in my case, 43 1/2. You could be off by 1/2" or so 'cause you can still move them. Also, supposedly this is when you put the rubber pieces inside of your crossbars. I do that after I've already installed them onto the roof. I take them back off and then I push them in so that I know exactly where the towers will be sitting. Make sure your towers are torqued down at their bottom bolt. Do that for both sides before installing. This is a lot easier with a friend on the other side but still doable with one person. So leave those doors open so that you can gently place them onto your roof. The bottom bracket with the door open fits onto your base so see how that just pushes into place. And then to secure it, just push that door close and you've got a sturdy fit. If you're using Yakima same key system lock cores, this is a time to switch them out on your towers. But other than that, just double check that all the towers are strong and secure and everything is sturdy. And that's it for the install of your roof rack. That right there was a look at the Yakima SkyLine towers for your Yakima crossbars for when you have vehicles that have fixed mounting points, flush rails or track systems.
Average Customer Rating: 4.8 out of 5 stars (252 Customer Reviews)
This stylish, aerodynamic Yakima roof rack gives you the space to carry gear on your vehicle. Rubber strips in the top channels push down to load carriers or accessories - no need to trim. Installs to fixed mounting points on your vehicle's roof.The only problem I had, was when I watched the video showing how to install the rack, I did not realize that the actual installation process was a lot more complex. For example, the woman who was in the video only showed the installation one rack (I believe itg was the back rack and she gave the width measurement for that one. The front rack was already on the car and the woman neglected to say, "check your manual. The width of the front rack (may be) different than the back. She also did not explain carefully that there were three different screws that needed to be adjusted for a proper fit so the towers were properly adjusted for yoiur specific car. (My car is a 2018 Chevy Volt.) (I also bought Yakima kayak cradles from you guys, which were easy to install.)
However, I blame myself for not reading the manual carefully, so when I installed the racks, they did not fit right and one of them actually fell off while I was driving. (Luckily there were kayaks on and no one was hurt. The two towers were damaged but luckily the rack and the kayak cradles were fine. I called etrailers and was told I had to contact Yakima, which I did. I explained to the Yakima customer service rep that I was at fault for trusting the video and not reading the manual carefully and after asking me to send him photos of the damaged towers he sent me two new towers for free, as well as another torque wrench, so I could work with a second person.
This time I read the manual carefully and watched the Yakima video many times during the a week before I felt confident enough to try installing the racks again.
This time they fit perfectly. I love both the rack and the kayak cradles. I use them to transport my two kayaks down to the Hudson River near my house and have also used them to carry the kayaks to a family camping site 50 miles away, confident they are safe and secure.
But please, review the video you put out for the installation of the racks onto a 2017 Chevy Volt, and either correct the shortcomings by doing it over, with an explanation about the adjustment of the widths, and also reading the manual and finding the correct positions for the adjustment screws. (Or delete it and refer your customers to the Yakima installation video. Though it’s more generic than yours, at least the tell the customer to refer to the manual.
Super happy with my purchase from e trailers purchased yakima roof rack. Knowledgeable sales rep.Help me through the process on purchasing my roof rack Recommended to anyone quality parts
Super happy with my purchase from e trailers purchased yakima roof rack. Knowledgeable sales rep.Help me through the process on purchasing my roof rack Recommended to anyone quality parts
I chose Yakima because I had one in the past and they were always reliable. Thule was my next choice but didn’t like the look of 53’ crossbars on my car. I really appreciated the easy to follow instruction that made installation a breeze. The kit came complete with everything I needed to install right out of the box. I purchased the 2 Hightower bike racks to go with the roof rack system and plan to safely secure both bikes for our trips. It was a bit heavier than I anticipated (combined with the bike carriers) which will hurt my MPG but having easy access to disassemble the bike carriers when not in use made it a no brained. Additionally, I love the look of the system on my car.
A good product. Very easy to install. I installed them in about 15 mins. They fit secure to the Highlander rail system. No gaps. The caps stay on going thru the car wash. They raise the bars up high enough so the sun roof can be opened all the way with rack accessories. I have an existing skyline system with 66" round bars from my previous truck that I purchased in 2005. The existing system matched the landing pads perfect. I am not sure if I will shorten the bars or not yet.
The yakima jetstream crossbar looks beautiful. Quality is great. Took my vehicle for a test drive, and i didnt hear anything loose or broken from the bars. Very satisfied with the product and the instructions were great. It was my first time installing a roof rack too.
The installation was super easy, and despite a long time stuck in shipping the delivery itself was extremely fast, and the package arrived in spotless condition. The manuals were very easy to follow, and the end result is absolutely amazing. I love that there's a rubber piece in the top rail that doesn't need to be cut, which makes it a very flush and smooth fit. I also love the modularity and the weight that it can handle, especially for the stuff i plan on carrying.
Fit our Subaru Forester perfectly. Install was a breeze. For the money I wish they came with the core locks.
Lightweight and actually quite quiet with no attachments on them. With my bike racks there is a fair amount of noise but it doesn't come from just these. Mine is on a 2011 BMW 335.
These crossbars were easy to install and adjust. Be sure to get all the pieces you need. There is no mention of the Landing Pads necessary to use these.
Very nice quality towers. Very heavy duty! They have a cool "snap" on / off mechanism for quick removal and installation.
Very nice quality towers. Very heavy duty! They have a cool "snap" on / off mechanism for quick removal and installation.
Amazing quality easy set up fast shipping buy the locks the 4 pack With this fast shipping super impressed
Fit our Subaru Forester perfectly. Install was a breeze.
Very happy with our purchase. I love how easily you can remove the entire rack easily. Too bad the locking mechanism comes separately but we are still happy with what we received.
Super solid rack and the only one that fits the Jeep Cherokee without rails well and looks good too. Easy to install and worth the price
These hard to find landing pads fit perfectly on my 2021 Highlander. Quick ship/great communication from site.
I waited several weeks for roof rack to arrive after ordering online. I am accustomed to Thule racks, but could not find any towers/bases to fit the 2019 Santa Fe. Once here, the Yakima rack mounted with ease and I look forward to hauling kayaks or basket on the roof.
Thank you etrailer.
For a 2015 Mazda 3, 4 door sedan.
I used the 50" jetstream bars with the skyline towers and the #22 Landing Pads.
Went together easy, great quality, very solid feeling! And, easy to remove and install when needed.
I chose Yakima because I had one in the past and they were always reliable. Thule was my next choice but didn’t like the look of 53’ crossbars on my car. I really appreciated the easy to follow instruction that made installation a breeze. The kit came complete with everything I needed to install right out of the box. I purchased the 2 Hightower bike racks to go with the roof rack system and plan to safely secure both bikes for our trips. It was a bit heavier than I anticipated (combined with the bike carriers) which will hurt my MPG but having easy access to disassemble the bike carriers when not in use made it a no brained. Additionally, I love the look of the system on my car.
A good product. Very easy to install. I installed them in about 15 mins. They fit secure to the Highlander rail system. No gaps. The caps stay on going thru the car wash. They raise the bars up high enough so the sun roof can be opened all the way with rack accessories. I have an existing skyline system with 66" round bars from my previous truck that I purchased in 2005. The existing system matched the landing pads perfect. I am not sure if I will shorten the bars or not yet.
I waited several weeks for roof rack to arrive after ordering online. I am accustomed to Thule racks, but could not find any towers/bases to fit the 2019 Santa Fe. Once here, the Yakima rack mounted with ease and I look forward to hauling kayaks or basket on the roof.
Thank you etrailer.
Still look and work great after a year. Fantastic investment and they didn't reduce my fuel economy. They don't produce a lot of wind noise either.
Really well made, great fitment, a little complicated instructions, but perfect install when they’re followed closely.
These crossbars were easy to install and adjust. Be sure to get all the pieces you need. There is no mention of the Landing Pads necessary to use these.
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