CAR RACK INFO :----: FIND OUT Everything You
Need
to Know about Car Racks for Snowboards !
Find out all you need to know about car racks and cargo boxes for snowboarding...RIGHT HERE...RIGHT NOW !!!
NOW UPDATED FOR THE 2011/2012 SEASON !
10/23/2011- Saw Snow on the Mountains a Few Hours from the Home Base last weekend!
Won't be long until it's snowing here too! Welcome to the New Winter Season!
The first thing you need to know are the words YAKIMA and THULE...These two companies rule the cartop rack market for snowboards, skiis, bicycles, etc...
YAKIMA rules the car racks and THULE rules the cargo boxes...Both companies make really good quality products...But both the product lines of both these companies can be very pricy...
There used to be a third contender,TERZO...But Terzo has bailed out of the US market and concentrates on other international markets and is #1 in Japan...still very popular with Japanese skiers and snowboarders. You will see many more Terzo racks and boxes than Thule and Yakima products put together in Japan where Terzo has the home field advantage...
MY small bit of advice is ...NOT to buy a used Terzo car rack or cargo box as it is next to impossible to get replacement parts and isn't worth the hassle...
So lets see what makes these two companies the best and what products they carry that make them the leaders of their industry and market!
Best bet is to visit the websites of both Thule.com Racks and Boxes Thule has very high quality products with excellent customer service. As they say themselves. "they want to provide you with a kit that will fit YOUR car perfectly and easily!
Then click back here and then visit Yakima.com
to find out all about their product lines and their charts for planning and determining which car rack set-up will fit your car... Again both these websites have excellent info about what car rack will fit which type of cars trucks and SUVs...
THE PROS AND THE CONS
THE CONS...I do have one criticism...and that is all their rack and cargo boxes are sold as components and it is difficult to get a price for a whole system as you have to pick and choose between all the parts to come up with a price for everything you need...It seems overly complicated and has too many choices and decisions about what will work and what doesn't work together...OK So here is a good tip...
Make sure to check either of their compatibility charts with your cars exact make, model, and year and find the component set up you need...Take notes...Now add up the cost of each component you need... Whoa $5@#&!
By the time you add up the costs of each component ...it adds up to a
$$$ BIG pile of cash $$$...
That being said, it is important to make sure you have double checked your order and listed everything necessary for your desired set-up and then get everything purchased and shipped...If you forget something that you need or order something that is not compatible for your vehicle and or set-up, I think you can expect delays and will have extra hassle and difficulty in the logistics...
I said I would let you in on a little secret...So here it is...
Most people never consider how much higher a cargo box or car rack will make your car and with the clearances very tight for SUVS in particular at many of the parking garages it is a good idea to have a fold down solution if you frequent the mall alot and like to park in these structures...
I had a friend who was in a real BIG hurry one day who caught the ceiling of the parking garage and ripped off his racks and cargo box and royally screwed up the roof of his car, although the box and car rack were relatively undamaged... So you need to think about this carefully if you spend lots of time at the malls and parking garages...The fold down Yakima car rack is a good bet for SUVs...
THE PRO'S ...THE PRO'S ...HMMM THE PRO'S
On the other hand... Buying and setting up a cargo box and or rack system yourself will save you a SUBSTANTIAL amount of cash in the long run...Its really not that difficult if you plan properly and double check your order, installing them is usually really easy...Once you buy the right components...
OK the Prime benefit of a car rack or cargo box is convenience...You can keep your snowboard out of the car on the rack or locked in the box...It stays cool which is good because a warm snowboard taken directly from inside the car onto the snow will many times have tons of snow sticking to the bottom of your board...Then you have a scrape job too do...It also means a cleaner, dryer car with more room for friends...
WHO HAS THULE AND YAKIMA
BOXES AND CAR RACKS ???
A good place to start to comparison shop for rack and cargo boxes is at USOUTDOOR.com where you can find many different types of Thule and Yakima racks for lots of different activities in their car racks section...They also have the same links directly to Thule and Yakima , so you can toggle back and forth between them and find out what you want and need to know for your situation and then check out what USOutdoor.com has available...
AS ALWAYS I encourage you to comparison shop and then go back to buy the best cargo box or car rack set-up at the best price...
SummitOnline.com also carries alot of Thule cargo boxes and car racks and a full line of Thule accessories which you can find starting here at
Summit Sports - Free Shipping over $99! under the Thule Ski Racks and boxes section in their Snowboard shop or by clicking the THULE Logo ... Summit online.com has exclusively Thule products and all of them on one page , making it easy to see what they have available and fairly easy to use the links from here to Thule.com to select and size your car rack or cargo box set-up...
Another good place to jump over to is
REI.comand check out their full line up of Thule and Yakima racks and cargo boxes...You can find them in the Car racks gear shop. Then look in the Hard shell boxes section for rooftop cargo boxes or in the ski snowboard solutions section for the Thule and Yakima car rack set ups for skis and snowboards... REI also has direct links to both Thule and Yakima websites for selection and sizing... My TOP PICK goes to Yakima's Big Powderhound SE car rack, as a straight forward and economical rack system...It has some features which make it a good buy for the price , such as the way the rack can fold on its side if used with Yakima bars ...PLUS it is fairly easy to install with just a few sets of parts and the option to raise it a bit higher for high profile bindings...
Ok it is time to cruise over to Backcountry.com and check out the Travel section and there you will find the car racks section and that is subdivided up into different sections...You can find cargo boxes in the roof rack cargo mount section and ski and snowboard racks in the roofrack snow mount section...Im gonna show ya most of what they have in stock by Thule and Yakima, then once you are in the shop you can check out all the accessories...
Here's a few other places to score snowboard racks...
Try BIZ RATE.com comparison shopping OK so now you know WHO makes the best, WHO has the goods and Where to buy them plus WHAT it's gonna cost you...I sure hope you can find someone to hint to that this would make a great b-day or x-mas present and save you some cash for that new snowboard or expensive pair of snowboard boots you want...
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