Cali Thule roof rack Foot Pack height? 751 or 753?

[HugoFar]

I'm looking to put some Thule Roof racks on our Cali. The Foot Packs the Thule 'Fit My Car' calculator offer for the Cali are the 751 (11.5cm ht) and the 753 (8.5cm ht). On my T5 Multivan the higher ones are required to give clearance for the roof. Has anyone fitted the shorter ones to the California? Is there enough room? Thanks.

 

[AlanC]

The Cali roof is flatter than the standard T5 panel van so the 753 will clear it.

Alan

 

[HugoFar]

Thanks for that Alan. I had been hoping they would work. We'll get the shorter ones. May also get the Wing bars as they claim to be much quieter than the square ones I'm using on the T5 Multivan.

 

[cwriggy]

753 fit fine but because the bottom of the footpack is rubber it is possible to overtighten them. The first time I used them I was in a hurry and did this. If it happens, the rubber foot squashes out and you can't fit the cover. They work fine without the cover, but the simple solution is not to over tighten.

Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk

 

[HugoFar]

Thanks for the confirmation the short ones will work and for the tip. (cwriggy)

 

[Silver5urfer]

 

[Silver5urfer]

Just post some photos of my California with Thule aero bars and shorter 753 foot pack.
Fits fine, if anything I would prefer them even closer to the roof.
Aero bars don't make any noise, I fitted slide bars first, these were quite noisy and added a lot of weight compared to the aero bars.
Hope photos useful

 

[HugoFar]

Photos are great and really helpful. No issues with lack of space there. Thanks for posting them. Silver or Black Wing Bars? That's my next choice.

 

[hejh2o]

Just post some photos of my California with Thule aero bars and shorter 753 foot pack.
Fits fine, if anything I would prefer them even closer to the roof.
Aero bars don't make any noise, I fitted slide bars first, these were quite noisy and added a lot of weight compared to the aero bars.
Hope photos useful

Do you by any chance have pictures of the slidebars on your Cali?

How much more noisy was the Slidebars? - I´m considering the Slidebar sollution allong whith k-guard carriers becourse i have to put a 5,85 m kayak on the roof and allready having problems putting the kayak on the roof of my old stationwagon (whith the old type Thule kayak carrier)

 

[Silver5urfer]

Slide bars did make quite a lot of wind noise, at high speed they produced a whistle sound. Although to be fair, I didn't use the black rubber insert to fill the channel on the bottom of the bars so that may have been part of the problem.
The aerobars are completely silent.
The other consideration is the weight of the slide bars, they are surprisingly heavy.

 

[hejh2o]

Slide bars did make quite a lot of wind noise, at high speed they produced a whistle sound. Although to be fair, I didn't use the black rubber insert to fill the channel on the bottom of the bars so that may have been part of the problem.
The aerobars are completely silent.
The other consideration is the weight of the slide bars, they are surprisingly heavy.

Thank you for your quick answer

The Thule webpage is not revealing any specs obout weights...
But i was looking at the assembly instructions .pdf on the individual sollutions - and you are very right about the surprisingly high weight: the Slidebars are all in all with the two K-guard carriers around 17 kg, this leaves only room for one kayak (or two lightweight ones at no more than 17 kg each).

My choice is with the aerobar - then i hope an can get the kayak up without damaging the roof

 

[HugoFar]

Regarding Thule Aero Bars vs Wing Bars.
Be careful you know what the actual bar is called you want. In NZ the bar in the Silver5urfer photo above is called a 'WingBar' (silver, black is possible too),although it's referred to as an 'Aero Bar'. Thule may name bars different names in different markets, but do check before ordering.
We've fitted the Black Wing Bars and they work very well at holding a Thule Pacific 700 roof box,and make no noticeable noise when travelling. Very light weight too,compared to plastic coated steel square bars I'm used to using.

 

[hejh2o]

Regarding Thule Aero Bars vs Wing Bars.
Be careful you know what the actual bar is called you want. In NZ the bar in the Silver5urfer photo above is called a 'WingBar' (silver, black is possible too),although it's referred to as an 'Aero Bar'. Thule may name bars different names in different markets, but do check before ordering.
We've fitted the Black Wing Bars and they work very well at holding a Thule Pacific 700 roof box,and make no noticeable noise when travelling. Very light weight too,compared to plastic coated steel square bars I'm used to using.

You are right - they are called WingBar here in Denmark as well

 

[Monkeytree]

Hi, quick question, what length are the bars on your roof in the pictures above? Thanks.

 

[HugoFar]

Not my photos but we put the 1350mm wing bars on our Cali and they are perfect for us. This was the length selected by the Thule 'Fit My Car' online selector. Seems some people use shorter ones,and the VW ones are def shorter. The photo ones do look shorter than ours but it's hard to tell. Maybe Silver5urfer will reply.

 

[DM]

OK - I'm persuaded by the 753 foot pack. Can't decide about bar length though. I will probably get wingbars. Configurators come up with the 135cm bars. Does anyone know whether the 150cm will fit? My thinking is that that little bit of extra length will make them just that little bit easier to load.

 

[Silver5urfer]

Hi, sorry to have taken so long to reply, but my wingbars are 127cm long. I wanted to go for as subtle a look as possible.

 

[DM]

Photos are great and really helpful. No issues with lack of space there. Thanks for posting them. Silver or Black Wing Bars? That's my next choice.

Same dilemma - I'm inclining towards black.

 

[Oliver]

Just post some photos of my California with Thule aero bars and shorter 753 foot pack.
Fits fine, if anything I would prefer them even closer to the roof.
Aero bars don't make any noise, I fitted slide bars first, these were quite noisy and added a lot of weight compared to the aero bars.
Hope photos useful

Hi, thanks for the pics and advise. Looking to buy same set up. What fitting kit did you use, is it the 3057? I've talked to roofracks.co.uk to order but they categorically said that the 753 foot packs are not recommended by Thule for the Cali. They even called Thule to confirm. Where did you get your set up from?
Thanks in advance.

 

[hejh2o]

Hi Oliver

This is my setup:

1. Wing Bar 969 127 cm
2. Rapid system 753 feet
3. Kit 3057 fixpoint
4. K-guard 840 kayakcarrier
5. One key system 452 (12 lockcylllinders with the same keys)

And here are some pics:

 

[hejh2o]

I have correspondet back and forth with Thule in Denmark, and the recommendation from them was to use the 751 foot and not the 753 foot - in Thules opinion the roofbars are mounted to close to the roof if the 753 foot are used...
After i mounted my setup, i send the two first pictures to Thule in Denmark to show that the recommendation is incorrect, but i never recieved any reply...

I´m glad that i went for the 753 foot

 

[Oliver]

Hi Oliver

This is my setup:

1. Wing Bar 969 127 cm
2. Rapid system 753 feet
3. Kit 3057 fixpoint
4. K-guard 840 kayakcarrier
5. One key system 452 (12 lockcylllinders with the same keys)

And here are some pics:
View attachment 13980 View attachment 13981 View attachment 13982 View attachment 13983

Thank you. Nice set up.

 

[Oliver]

Hi Oliver

This is my setup:

1. Wing Bar 969 127 cm
2. Rapid system 753 feet
3. Kit 3057 fixpoint
4. K-guard 840 kayakcarrier
5. One key system 452 (12 lockcylllinders with the same keys)

And here are some pics:
View attachment 13980 View attachment 13981 View attachment 13982 View attachment 13983

Thank you. all the info I needed. Assuming that the t-track didn't change from the T5 to new T6.

 

[Silver5urfer]

I agree that the shorter 753 foot pack looks neater.
Why would you want the bars any higher?
I would have even shorter feet if I could, and considered making my own and fitting the wing bars as close as possible to the roof.

 

[CoboCali]

OK - I'm persuaded by the 753 foot pack. Can't decide about bar length though. I will probably get wingbars. Configurators come up with the 135cm bars. Does anyone know whether the 150cm will fit? My thinking is that that little bit of extra length will make them just that little bit easier to load.

@DM I'm also tempted by the longer option - if anyone tries 150cm bars can they report back here? I have 127cm bars that I use on my 5series and I'm already thinking 135cm/150cm would be easier to fit stuff to the Cali with.