zymphad

Hello,

Sorry if this is wrong sub-forum, but didn't see one for transporting bikes.

Wondering if anyone has used suction bike rack on cars with either full glass on roof or like mine solar panel with glass over it? Long term review? I ask cause on instruction it says not to use it on rear window. But the glass on my roof is way more reinforced, so figured shouldn't be a problem.

Have you had issues with the roof being damaged? I imagine a lot of the new cars are full glass roofs?

pdlamb

It just might work. And if you stop and buy a lottery ticket, you just might win and be able to replace the roof, the rack, and your bike.

By my estimation, the former is twice as likely as the latter. Still not good odds.

squirtdad

suggest look at sea sucker racks this one for 2 bikes notes top or back of SUV https://www.seasucker.com/collection.../mini-bomber-1

https://www.seasucker.com/pages/educate-fit-guide

https://www.seasucker.com/pages/faqs

also look at your car warranty

me personally i am too conservative to use these, but my neighor has used the ski racks on his audi rs5

Iride01 

One of my son's has one of those suction cups that glass people use when they replace auto windshields. I needed to move a old 400 pound refrigerator from the garage to a truck and just one of those suction cups was able to drag it across the bare concrete floor. And we both even tried to yank it off in every direction as we were so surprised how strong the bond was with just the one cup attached.

If the Sea Sucker or any other is like those suction cups, then I wouldn't worry. Especially if they have the little indicator on them that lets you know when the seal is being lost. As for your auto glass and how your glass is attached to the car it should be strong enough. But check with the manufacturer of the rack as to whether they say what cars you should or shouldn't attach such racks too. If you ask your car's maker, dealer or service tech, they probably will say no. But is that no a specific exclusion in their warranty? If not then it's just that persons opinion. IMO! <grin>

Pratt

If you have to ask...

veganbikes

I wouldn't really want to use any of them but especially knockoffs. SeaSucker would be the brand that I know started this trend and generally gets decent reviews. Remember any car rack is a safety device first and foremost so if it fails it could really be a bad day for someone behind you. Yes the do hold bikes but if it cannot hold onto the car or is installed improperly or just fail or something like that it could hit someone else and cause a lot of damage or death.

CrimsonEclipse

I'm curious what your car is (it's ok if you don't want to answer)

I've seen Teslas use suction cup bike racks. I have seen a few reports of cracked glass but it was usually due to abuse or improper installation.
That said, I'm not willing to use one due to the consequences of failure, the roof glass is likely expensive.

rsbob 

I would say it is not worth the risk. Get a hitch installed and a hitch rack and you will never have to wonder or worry. You might want to call your insurance agent and see if they would cover replacement because of an issue with the rack.

Trakhak

I did a generic image search ("car glass window bike rack failure") and saw plenty of examples. Maybe try doing a search worded similarly but with your car's model name.

Iride01 

Of course then you'd need to just search for (bike rack failures) that aren't the suction cup type. There are plenty of them too.

kap 7

I was thinking contact the car manufacturer they'll probably tell you a big hell no and void the warranty,...

Iride01 

Auto glass generally isn't a warranty item for cars.

13ollocks

IIRC there was an issue with seasuckers and Teslas because Tesla roof glass is thinner to reduce weight. I suspect the glass on yours may also be thinner to maximize solar panel efficiency. I wouldn’t use a sucker on it

kap 7

Yeah I get that I'm not familiar with glass roofs though

zymphad

I'll look into it, thanks.

Hmm... It seems they are popular among full glass Model 3 and Model S owners, and promoted.

The issue some had was because they were stupid and didn't tie down the crank causing the pedal to smash the glass.

phughes

They are popular among them because there are not a lot of choices for them. It is not necessarily because attaching a rack to glass is a stellar idea. If you are able to install a receiver and use a hitch rack instead, I would recommend that option.

chaadster

I’ve been using a SeaSucker Talon on glass-roofed Alfa Romeo Giulias for 7 years, and have had excellent experiences. For my needs, SeaSucker is peerless.




I run mine aft of the opening portion of the roof, putting rear wheel holder on the trunk lid, so that I can retain tilt function and to keep the bike a little lower and a bit more out of the wind.

As for the notion a rack could break the glass, that strikes me as impossible; I can’t imagine how pulling on the surface could do that. It is conceivable that the bond between the glass and the roof could be pulled loose, but if suction cups were stronger than adhesives, wouldn’t we see them in a lot more applications? Windshield adhesive has tensile strength in the area of 1200psi, while the Seasucker cups are only rated to 300lbs of pull. Of course, your bike would have to generate 300lbs of pull from being in the wind in the first place, which frankly is apparently impossible even at triple-digit car speeds, which is both beyond the official use limit and something I can personally attest to (based on my on driving on private test tracks, of course). Then, with the Talon having three cups at the front, you’d have to have all three cups see in excess of 300lbs simultaneously before the rack would detach. After that, the rear wheel mount would need to fail before the bike flew off the car. It’s an extremely unlikely combination of events; I’m not a stats guy, but in reality, what are the number unsuccessful trip miles compared to successful trip miles? I’ve never even heard a credible story of cups failing and bike flying free.