Prius Rack Install
After buying my sweet prius, I needed to modify it to carry bikes and boards and such (along with much much more). I installed my rack a month or so after getting the car in Feb. The first step is to get rid of the whip antenna and replace it with the ubercool sharkfin available thru priuschat.com. Then install the Thule 50" rack tracks (Yakima has an identical track) with Thule TK1 (similar to Yakima Launch Pads), and Thule Tracker Foot Pack 430. Check out the pics below for a timeline. For a more detailed description of why I chose a bolt on system rather than the clips in the doors, see the evnut website. Tip: As the Evnut himself has pointed out, the Yakima system may be a better suited system as it has round crossbars that won't be affected by the changing angle of the roof line.
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. Front to back location was set by measuring 3" forward from the back of the roof to the rear-most hole drilled. 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 was 3" forward of the back of the roof. As it turns out, this interfered with some reinforcement just above the liftback by about 1/4". The problem with moving forward is this is getting close to the windshield in the front, and there may be some hidden structure in that area as well. Perhaps a shorter length track is in order.
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 measuring and remeasuring , then 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!
Photos here: https://www.snapfish.com/library/share?w=snapfish_us&c=snapfish&l=en_US#jSD6GckMoc-k__j4DszN7Q/AUS/27942560254070/SNAPFISH
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. Front to back location was set by measuring 3" forward from the back of the roof to the rear-most hole drilled. 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 was 3" forward of the back of the roof. As it turns out, this interfered with some reinforcement just above the liftback by about 1/4". The problem with moving forward is this is getting close to the windshield in the front, and there may be some hidden structure in that area as well. Perhaps a shorter length track is in order.
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 measuring and remeasuring , then 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!
Photos here: https://www.snapfish.com/library/share?w=snapfish_us&c=snapfish&l=en_US#jSD6GckMoc-k__j4DszN7Q/AUS/27942560254070/SNAPFISH
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LOCATED MARINA DEL REY, CA
THANKS
MIKE
mapkelp@aol.com