Thule roof bars

[eldudino]

I'm looking at a set of 2nd hand Thule roof bars for my car. The foot pack is the same (for cars with roof rails) but the bars are 135cm, where as my car needs 120cm bars. I wondered if I could just cut them and extend the slot if need be.

Can I do this or is there anything in the slotted part of the bar (captive bolt etc.) that would be lost, or too far to the outside, if I cut the bars down.

Thule roof bar owners advice would be appreciated!

 

[400bhp]

Why do you need to cut them down?

I have the square shaped Thule bars and there is nothing to stop them being cut. They aren't sophisticated & are simply box tubing.

 

[Globalti]

Keep the extra, you might need it for tying Granny's coffin down.

 

[veloman]

I have the Aero version, can easily be cut if you really need to BUT.. what IF you change your car in the future??

 

[eldudino]

Why do you need to cut them down?

The reason I ask is that the ones I've seen with the roof-rail foot-pack don't have a groove all the way through them, it's only at the ends like in this link. So I'm wondering if there will be enough adjustment to get them on my roof rails.

 

[eldudino]

BUT.. what IF you change your car in the future??

No chance of that, I'm not a big fan of changing cars regularly and we've only just got this one.

 

[Nebulous]

I've had my thule bars on several cars - ranging from a people carrier to a Fiesta and have never cut them. I really like them - we currently have a fairly chunky roofbox and a single bike carrier on them.

Get the appropriate footpack and try them first, before you even think about cutting. I'm not sure how long mine are as the car isn't here, but the bars are relatively cheap and can be had pretty readily secondhand. If you really need shorter ones then you would be better to get the right length to start with.

Looking at those ones you linked to - there is usually a plastic cap on the end of them - that appears to be missing on these.

 

[eldudino]

Cheers, the foot-pack is correct according to Thule website. The bars linked to aren't the ones I'm bidding on, they just show that the groove only goes so far. The seller's added a reserve price now so I might not get the 99p bargain I was hoping for!