RubeRad

No, even with a minivan I was always scraping the hitch on driveways. But mostly, this car has prominent, good-looking built-in racks, and I want to make use of them

RubeRad

When you say 'bare topped', are you talking no bike racks? even no cross-bars? Or are you saying cross-bars/closed bike racks just no bikes?

FBinNY 

The particulars for bars but no rack barely matter because they vary so much between cars. A key factor is the placement of the forward crossbar, with respect to the flow sliding up and off the windshield. If the bar is back a bit, so that flow passes above, you'll do better.

Andrew R Stewart 

Yes, as in no cross bars even. I have my roof rack installed from about April to November and the car has its alloys and good in wet weather tires (I hate hydroplaning and no longer seek tenths of a second off some entrance ramp). When the rack comes off the snow tires on steel wheels go on. Hense my gas mileage listing with the specifics as my pattern might not be yours.

For those of you out here who are into roof racks and have some retro in them here's a shot of my car with the rack mounted.



The feet and cross bars and feet are Thule current "square" model with the first generation ATOC tandem mount, which is shown weathered and with a frozen axle rotating pivot (I just loosely tighten the QR during the heave up and tighten the skewer after the tandem is settled). This bike mount is my go to when I am solo and the axle tower above the wheel tray is enough to clear most front fenders or low rider racks. This bike mount is not too unique being sold under the Thule brand too. But the two other bike mounts are relics from a past when brown touring bikes were the jizz. Yakama Low Rider Mounts from 1984. I recently cleaned them up and had the steel axle towers powder coated. Up close they are all rough from the rust pitting but should last another 40 years.

I've had Barrcrafters, Graber, Yakama, Thule and ATOC roof racks and mounts over the years. Andy (who also shows some of the peppers he grows at the end of the driveway)

Troul 

FWIW, roof racks that contain the keyed locking setup, I convert that over to security hardware.
If those locks don't freeze up beyond a lubricant fix, they are easily picked... That's if the pot metal key doesnt twist off in the slot first.
Plus keeping track of keys I'd rarely use isnt something I do well, hand tools/sockets I can justify.

Camilo

I will add to this, lifting even a lightweight bike and getting it clamped onto a roof rack can be unwieldy.

And the possible danger of driving into a garage. This is no help to the OP's actual question, but I use my hitch mount tray type carrier (Yakima Holdup) whenever possible and only use the roof racks when I have to because I'm getting too old and weak (and I'm short) to lift even our 20 pound gravel bikes onto the roof easily.

But to the OP's actual question: I have three roof bike carriers: a Yakima fork mount type, and two that leave the wheels on, Yakima Front Loader and a Raptor (no longer offered?). They both work fine, although for me, the raptor is a bit easier to use, maybe because I've had it longer. I stick with Yakima because for the keyed-alike system to match the stuff I've had since the 90s, roof top box, locking rail towers, etc. Plus they work fine and are available through the local REI which eliminates a real bad shipping issue I have to where I live. I also recommend Etrailer as they have a lot of options and great how-to videos. I buy keys and cores on Ebay because I can always find someone getting rid of the key code I need.

Having existing bars, even good looking ones, is not a reason to use a roof top rack. Cost vs. a hitch rack and/or other considerations, yes. But not that.

Practice lifting - steadily and in total control - your heaviest bike over your head and away from your body onto the roof, placing the rear tire precisely into a wheel tray. Then hold it steady with one hand and mimic placing the wheel holder bars and clamping it down with the other. That's what it will take to get it up on the rack and clamped down. Maybe do all of this on a step stool. It's not a big deal for me with the Impreza, so your Toyota will probably be easy enough. My wife's Outback is just taller enough to make it quite a bit more difficult for diminutive me.

I'm sure this is all trivial to many or most of us. But worth thinking about.

RubeRad

thx for tips; my wife and I are tall(ish 6' and 5'10) and the corolla is quite short, so I don't anticipate the general plan of rooftop being a difficulty.

I had looked into the Raptor, because there was a pair available on my local craigslist. I would have bought them if somebody else hadn't beaten me to them, but now when I look at the Yakima page, it says 'does not fit your corolla' -- it looks like the attachments are specifically for round crossbars, not bladed/aero crossbars like we have. But I do like that it grabs the frame rather than the wheel so I wouldn't have to worry about 3"

oldbobcat

Under sub-hurricane conditions, no. As for side G's, most cars and SUVs lose traction at 0.70-0.85, and most drivers rarely exceed 0.6.

oldbobcat

The attachment clamps of roof-mount trays are pretty independent of the shape of the crossbars nowadays. I've always been partial to Thule, but I've never heard any complaints about Yakima. And don't forget to check out Rockymounts. You'll have to rummage through the online catalogs to see what will work for your bike.

FBinNY 

Roof rack owners should buy themselves as plastic milk crate.

Used as a step it makes loading a roof rack much easier, especially on tall cars. Then it can be used to hold helmets, shoes, etc.

DeadGrandpa

Our RAV4 came with the roof bars, but we came up with a solution prioritizing mpg and ease of loading. A Saris platform rack mounts into the hitch receiver for two bikes and the interior has room for my trike plus some luggage and a cooler. Excess luggage goes into the Yakima roof box that mounts on the roof bars, and that is much more aero than bikes on the roof. Think about traveling when gas prices have doubled. A platform hitch receiver rack that allows a 29x3 tire (our Saris will) is much better mpg and loading wise than a roof bike rack. We can still open the rear hatch with the bikes loaded, and they're the first to come off the car when we get there.

Camilo

I use the Raptor on my wife's Outback with stock bladed/aero/non-round bars, as well as when I put round crossbars on my Impreza. These are "universal clamps" which I also have on my Rocket Box, fork mount, Front Loader as well as the former ski carriers I had. They all work on round as well as flat bars.




FWIW, the first Raptor I had I got off Craigslist years ago. It had round-bar only clamps. But IIRC, I could have replaced the clamps with universal type. As it was, I took them off the Rocket Box and put them on the Raptor. I went a different route and got a new one during an REI sale, with the benefit that the old one didn't have the same version of key cores that I wanted, and I didn't have to move the clamps back and forth between the Raptor and Rocket Box.

Hope you find some that work. For the extra large tires, I agree with you that the Raptor might be better than the Front Loader. But maybe the other rack manufacturers make something that will easily work. As I said, I'm into Yakima but only for the keys, not necessarily because I think they're "best". They're fine and probably not notably better or worse than any other major brand. But like I said, I greatly prefer the hitch mount platform carrier, much easier, and I don't worry about the bikes hitting something.