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Pete, I looked into a problem your going to have since its also a problem I will have. Since the porsche bars are made by thule and the box is a yakima most would give up when they are told the lock cores aren't interchangeable and deal with two keys. However, a bit of research (lacking both products in hand) has helped me discover that both companies use the same lock manufacturer and keyway. Basically, any locksmith can rekey the Yakima box to your porsche bars key for a few bucks. I'm not sure if you were going to put the bars on and off each time (which I intend to do) or just leave them on but one less key is always a help.
Mounted the Roof Cross Bars today and brought the Skybox Pro down to see how things were going to fit. Because the Cayenne Roof Bars are so thick and I couldn't fully capture the bar within the opening of the Skybox Clamp, I decided to flip the rear Skybox mounts around for safety. This means the wind resistance and acceleration fail-safe is handled by the front bar and clamps and the braking force fail-safe is handled by the rear bar and clamps. Since the rear tailgate clearance is a critical dimension, I'll leave those clamps locked in position within the Skypox,just loosening the clamp tensioner. For the fronts, I'll have to loosen the tensioner and actually slide the clamp position each time, then lock it down, but this setup, though a little less convenient, will make it impossible for the Skybox to free itself from the roof bars under any directional force.
For this setup, I had to mount the front crossbar in the furthest forward position and the rear crossbar in the first position moving rearward from the insertion point (so it's most forward option as well).
I think it looks well positioned on the vehicle and the bars themselves are nicely protected by the vinyl I adhered at the clamp contact locations - this also makes it very easy to see when the box is positioned properly as the spacing on each vinyl strip from the clamp to the edge should all be the same.
Here are a few pics so you can see what I've described above. Now I'm going to take it out for a test drive to make sure it and the car are stable at speed, but am not predicting any issue.
One thing to note. The center channel of the transport bars have a rubber strip to help give the roof box some grip so it won't slide off when you are installing it.
I've heard from others that the smooth strip can cause some noise. If the rubber strip is not there at all, it's sure to make a lot more noise.
Thule makes a replacement rubber strip with ridges on it to help break up the air flow to minimize noise. Thule spare parts page has them. Fits the AeroBlade as well so if you're using those bars, it's the same piece. $7 per strip, you need two for a set. Our Transport bars with the Thule strips are quiet and make no noise and they stay on the P!G all year round.
The box we chose was the Inno Shadow 14, sits lower than both the Thule and Yakima and hasn't impacted the mpg by more than 1.5 mpg when we're hauling stuff. The arms of the box capture the bars from both sides and clamp tightly. It's not going anywhere.
I see what you are saying about the clamps not fitting fully. Good idea to reverse them in the back. Does it feel 100% solid? Just wondering if fully loaded with 110lbs it would still be rock solid.
Also, was the Pano Roof able to open with the clamps on?
I bought my crossbars new so they have the rubber strip in place but good to know there are inexpensive replacements available when that time comes. Current plan is to leave them up there, but we'll see how the whistling and air-flow are.
Also, what is the current spacing between your bars?
From the backside of the rear cross-bar (not the channel mount, the bar itself, it's 56" to the break in the room for the tailgate.
From the center of the front bar channel mount, right next to the key cylinder circle, to the center of the rear bar mount, right next to the key cylinder circle, it's 31.5".
YES, that helped alot, I'm also looking at the Thule Sonic XL which has similar dimensions to your 18cu/ft Pro.
Travis, you have the bars I linked above which are for a 955/957 right? I just want to make sure because I hadn't seen the Inno boxes before and the shadow 18 looks like it should fit nicely. Just want to make sure you are clamping to the same bars. Also, do you have the pano roof?....can it still open?
Can either of you measure the exact size of the bars themselves? Both Thule (quick grip) and Inno (memory mounts) supposedly only go to 3.5 inches maximum jaw opening but I've now seen two people confirm using them on the roof transport bars.
I haven't tested the Pano roof yet, but from the looks of things, I'll be able to open and retract the center section, tilt the front or center section, but not retract both the front and center sections where they stack together. The total thickness will likelly fit under the crossbars themselves, but not clear the clamps when the Skybox is installed. I'll confirm that tomorrow once I recharge my battery from having the doors open for a couple hours when doing this fitment and adjust.
Yep, same bars and mounted the same as Petza914's example on my 955, no pano though.
The clamps are plenty wide to fit over the Transport bars which measure 4 inches wide. The width of the bar was definitely a concern when I was researching a couple of years back.
If you have a shop nearby, best to do a test fit before you buy!
The Thule jaw opening is not wide enough to go over the standard cayenne crossbar. Only by a few mm. You can some how force it like I did. But be carful not to break the mounting that attached to the box. No problem in closing the jaw right over the bar once you can slide the jaw over the bar. Mine is Thule Atlantis 1800.
One thing to note. The center channel of the transport bars have a rubber strip to help give the roof box some grip so it won't slide off when you are installing it.
I've heard from others that the smooth strip can cause some noise. If the rubber strip is not there at all, it's sure to make a lot more noise.
Thule makes a replacement rubber strip with ridges on it to help break up the air flow to minimize noise. Thule spare parts page has them. Fits the AeroBlade as well so if you're using those bars, it's the same piece. $7 per strip, you need two for a set. Our Transport bars with the Thule strips are quiet and make no noise and they stay on the P!G all year round.
The box we chose was the Inno Shadow 14, sits lower than both the Thule and Yakima and hasn't impacted the mpg by more than 1.5 mpg when we're hauling stuff. The arms of the box capture the bars from both sides and clamp tightly. It's not going anywhere.
That rubber strip isn't there for grip, it covers the T-channel slot and *prevents* wind noise. You're supposed to mount attachments using the T-channel, not directly over the bars.
Peal back that rubber strip, open the side covers of the bar, slide in your attachments, close cover, cut the rubber channel covers to fill all the open groves (usually 3 sections), and off you go. This is the same process with the Thule aero bars. if you don't have a T-channel slot on your bars (round yakima, Thule square), then you would go over the bars. But, now you have to get an extra set of locks to lock the attachment to the bar. With the T-slot, your attachment is locked to the bar using only 1 lock set.
You can attach things over the bars if you want, but that's a substantially less than ideal way of doing it. Thule boxes come with T-channel attachments for their boxes. I would guess Yakima does, too, since they have they Whisp bar.
I ditched my adjustable load bars simply because I didn't like having only two options for the locations of the bars. I just went with Thule aero bars with the channel attachments (fits in the same channel as the adjustable load bars). Much happier with the setup, though it was a pain to install the first time.
I haven't tested the Pano roof yet, but from the looks of things, I'll be able to open and retract the center section, tilt the front or center section, but not retract both the front and center sections where they stack together. The total thickness will likelly fit under the crossbars themselves, but not clear the clamps when the Skybox is installed. I'll confirm that tomorrow once I recharge my battery from having the doors open for a couple hours when doing this fitment and adjust.
With my Thule Sonic box, I can get the Pano roof fully open. I can tell you I was REALLY nervous the first time I tried to open it! I measured everything carefully and then opened it (with my hand on the ****) with my wife watching very closely. The Yakima clamps appear to be a bit deeper than the Thule ones so I doubt you can get it fully open. Be careful, the panels are really, really expensive!
Everyone in our household is down with stomach flu, but I'll post pics when I can.
05-02-2016, 02:25 AM
