roof rack help

[Ted Fisher]

I have a 91 200 Avant and have used Yakima racks for years. The latest 
mounting system is one of their systems designed for a triangular roof 
rack. To make a secure mount I wrap the roof rack with a piece of 
plastic tubing. Dimensions are 5" long, large enough to almost 
completely wrap all the way around the tube and is about 3/32 thick. 
Clamping the Yakima rack on over the tubing gives a very secure mount. 
We have carried two 17' sea kayaks for hundreds of miles on California's 
twisty roads (both coastal and mountain). We have also carried 5 
bicycles on the roof. With the bikes I have seen 120+, with the kayaks I 
am a bit more conservative and have only seen 110+ though there was a 
trip coming back from Mono Lake over Sonora Pass where we caught up with 
an outing with the BMW club. Wife let me go Bimmer hunting. The surprise 
on these guys faces when I pressured them into pulling over with a wagon 
with two kayaks on the roof was priceless. Bottom line, the plastic 
tubing (available at Tap Plastic) allows me to drive the car the same 
whether it is loaded or not.

And for you guys with a BMW bent, don't get upset about me embarrassing 
your friends. As a senior driving instructor with both Audi and the SCCA 
I see up to 12 days a year. And my wagon is set up as both a daily 
driver and as a track vehicle. So, take a good driver with a great 
vehicle and most people don't stand a chance.

Having fun here so lets add to the fire. At the latest Audi Nationals I 
had a student who was pretty good. He was driving a box stock A6 2.7 
Tip. After working with his tire pressures we got the vehicle set up so 
that he could trottle steer the vehicle anytime he wanted. i.e. go from 
understeer to oversteer. This allowed him to drive the corners at Sears 
much faster than most of the others in his run group, including a couple 
of RS 6. In the corners he would let these guys know he was there. At 
the passing zones, instead of putting the pedal to the medal and 
disappearing, the RS 6's would just pull over and let us by. Certainly 
made my student's day. Of course I must complement the other instructors 
who encouraged their students to be gentlemen (or ladies) and let us by.

Ted

BTW, anybody coming to Thunderhill in Jan.?

Chuck Pierce wrote:

> I believe what you are looking for is the Low Rider rack adapter. You 
> may have to use some plastic pipe and bicycle inner tubes to increase 
> the dia. of the rack rails. A friend has it on his Avant, I will see 
> if he has a picture. I will Cc this to Ted and maybe he can fill in 
> the blanks. He hauls kayaks and bikes on his Avant
>
> Chuck Pierce
> 91 200tq 20V Avanat
>
> feelstranger wrote:
>
>> Can someone here please fill me in on the model numbers of the yakima or
>> thule clamps that they use to clamp to the round roof rack tubes on the
>> wagaons?
>> I know there are no perfect fits but what works?
>> Thanks
>> Nat
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