I did go a little blue tape crazy. I wasn't sure where across the roof the tracks would sit the straightest so I just taped the whole thing off. Better safe than scratched. Turns out that the roofline tapers about 2" total from the front of the tracks to the back, so they're 5.5" from the black 'raingutter' in the front and only 4.5" in the back. That also puts them at about 35" apart the whole way. The twine is to make sure the bolt lines will be straight on the car and parallel to each other. Mine ended up drifting closer to 35.5 or 36 in the very center of the track, but it's impossible to see, and the adjustments on the cross bars and foot packs can compensate.
As far as the bending of the tracks went, they were actually way more flexible than I thought, even after flexing them over my thigh to see how they bend. Once the front hole is secured, it flexes down over the tight radius in the front and easily follows the curvature from then on. I used the first 2 holes in the tracks, then skipped every other to the back (I also didn't feel like drilling 20 holes in my roof, 12 is bad enough!)
If I could do it again, I'd push the tracks forward an inch or so; as it was, the furthest rear hole interfered about 1/4" with some reinforcement just above the liftback. Also, I would have taken better care in getting them exactly 35" the whole way, avoiding the widening in the center of the track. Even after the front and rear bolts are attached, the tracks are still loose enough to be able to be slid side to side by almost 1/2"; I didn't fully see that until I did the second track.
Just follow the instructions in the track package and it's super easy. The whole process took about 6 hours; although the first 2 hrs were spent remeasuring and getting up the nerve to drill the first hole. From then on, it went pretty smooth; other than burning myself on my car's roof. Do it in the shade.
Time to head for the beach!
