Official Audi Roofbars £300, worth it?

[dannyindevon]

Hi,

Silly question really as I don't know the alternative really, also I doubt many people have tried both. Just hopeful someone has enough experience to know. Wife bought some third party ones, fairly expensive, £120 I think, and the make was recomended by a cyclist ('cos he takes bikes on his racks which is what we want to do) colleague. BUT... they didn't come with any kind of locating lugs/pins. The A4 Avant B9 I have, it has little holes/dimples, which look for all the world like they receive a male bump on a roof rack. I presume the official OEM racks come with these. I presume 3rd party roof racks aren't falling off cars every day despite the millions in use, so I guess their design forgoes the need for locating pins, but all the pics in the instructions for the rack she bought showed the profile of the bars on the car (i.e. the bars permantly attached, whatever they are called) which was concave on both sides, so the cambered metalwork could make a very positive connection - my car is only concave on one side, its very flat the other, which didn't make for a very positive connection. I need to be able to belt down the motorway at at 60, or at 40 across potholes and not fear that the bikes are about to ping off, hit the car behind, get sued, find out I'm not insured because I ate a tuna sandwich 3 years ago and tuna is disallowed in the small print, lose my house and end up living in a ditch (this will definitely happen). 

The 3rd party ones are 80-150 it seems. maybe someone has one they can recomend and have used it for years.

Or maybe you all know that Audi deliberately made the bar's profile prohibitively not-concave to force people to buy the OEM parts to use the matching locating pins, or risk the hole thing coming off when I drive through Devon (Devon is entirely made of potholes at the moment, literally no tarmac left in the entire county).

Any advise very welcome, either way, and feel free to tell me not to be so cheap. If the £300 originals are the only sane choice I'll do it, just would rather find out for sure if really needed.

Thanks!

[axelz]

I've some Thule aero bars from my previous A4 2010 B8 and two Thule bike rack things and did look into getting mounting kit thing for my A4 Avant B9, one company I contacted suggested this for my situation https://www.roofracks.co.uk/kit/p/5998 and https://www.roofracks.co.uk/evo-flush-rail-4-pack/p/5981 I've not gone ahead and bought yet though so can't comment on the fit but there is a video here showing the fitting which might help you

 

[Magnet]

Hello Danny,

Sorry your enquiry went without response. 
To offer any meaningful replies to your valid question of ‘adequate fit ability’ were your 3rd party ones Thule? 
If so, this would have been the aftermarket make I would have suggested. If they were, then I fear you may struggle to find better, and genuine VAG might have to be the answer. 
If your aftermarket weren’t Thule, then it’s well worth investigating whether you discontents with what you now have, do/don’t apply to Thule. 
Apologies again for the forum’s lack of an earlier response. 
Kind regards,

Gareth. 
p.s. If you have to go the genuine Audi route, try Phil at Audi Parts Direct at Cardiff ( part of Mon Motors - originally Cardiff Audi). Phil might do you a bit of discount and mail order. 

[dannyindevon]

Hi!

Thanks for getting back to me. I still haven't bought anything, so your responses are still very welcome.

The 3rd party ones we had originally bought (and sent back) weren't Thule, they were only about £100 and seemed fine, but I wasn't convinced and am just terrified of them letting go and the bikes flying back and killing someone in the car behind.

The Thule ones look good, and I presume are very reliable, but they cost the same as the Audi ones as far as I can see - about £300 for a pair of bars and feet. The Audi ones, I'm guessing, have locating pins as the car itself has some little dimples on the inner side of the bars on the roof. The Thule ones do not have any pins, they just rely on the geometry of the bars and compressive forces to keep them attached. So the Audi ones, at the same price are perhaps better....

But, firstly, at the price of the Audi ones, and considering they are engineered in Sweden where quality standards are as high as anywhere in the world, and given the cost and the reputation, I suspect the lack of any locating pins can't possibly be a problem. The Thule ones must surely be absolutely rock solid.

So I think, given all that, that the question only comes down to compatibility with the actual bike-holding apparatus that attaches to those bars. Most of the best ones seem to be Thule, so I would guess I'm going to have the most options if I get Thule bars.

But really all of these are guesses. I've given up trying to save any money. I think I'm gonna have to accept that any solution is going to be at least £600 once I include the cost of two bike-holding thingamies.

Anyway! Thanks for your replies. I did watch that video Axelz posted as well and they do look incredibly solid, so I'm guessing they'll work very well!

Danny.

[axelz]

No worries, if you have the thule system you can at least use on other cars (with suitable mounting kits/feet) rather than having something bespoke in terms of the bars - do the audi ones have to have specific bike carriers as part of that setup then? I am a bit concerned about any might scratch my bars (as they are black) but think they have rubber bits on them, probably similar with the Audi ones.

[dannyindevon]

When I asked a shop who specialize in Thule bike carriers, if that part, the 'last part of the puzzle', would fit the Audi bars - were I to get those ones - they were very confident that many do and that there were lots options, but then they entirely failed to give me any of those options and were very vague about guarantees about fitment and cost of returning things that didn't fit. I'm sure that Thule must make the bike carriers fit other people's bars, I strongly suspect there must be some standard t-slots or clamping geometries in play in the industry, but I don't know how complicated it is to get the right ones and to be sure I'm not entering a returning-stuff cycle.

Regarding the rubber protective bits that go between the feet and the bars, that actually a question I had. I don't know the answer. At some point I'll need to sell the car (interest rates stay this high any longer then my next mortgage payment is gonna require selling the car) so I really don't want the bars scratched. A lot of people buy Audis (whether they admit to it or not) because they want something that makes them look successful at work, so the resale price does depend a lot on making sure there are no scratches!

[Shells]

I’ve just installed Thule wing bar evo to my 2020 avant, with the fitting kit for the flush fit roof rails, they’re perfect. I also wondered about the 4 depressions on each rail but just used them as a helpful aid at where to place my Thule ones. 
I got the 118cm wingbar evo, the flush rail fitting kit (6019) and flush rail foot pack (7106) 

I carried a paddle board down the motorway with no problem at all 

Edited June 3 by Shells

[axelz]

Ah thats good to hear, so the same items as I was suggested then.  Do they have rubber/soft fittings on the feet to attach to the bars out of interest as I'm worried about scratching my black bars? I found the manual here https://www.roofracks.co.uk/pdfs_products/5998_61d98495fcdc61f7c5a8061d6a37c7a3.pdf which shows the mechanism/clips.

Edited June 3 by axelz

[Shells]

Yes. Rubber inserts that clamp over the rails and they include a torque key to prevent over tightening. I guess you could also tape your rails 

Edited June 3 by Shells

[axelz]

Great, sounds similar to the one I had on my B8 A4, which helped prevent over-tightening.  Cheers for the info, I'll get a pair of those bits in the future so can use the roof bars and carriers again...