car top carriers

[whatsup]

Looking for information on car top carriers BRANDS and MODELS. Your experience with water leakage (rain) and how the vehicle handles on the highway (wind) and easy access. Note: This will be placed on a SUV.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Curious about the answers you get, we could use one too

 

[midas]

We've had the Sears X-Cargo Sport 20 for about 7 years. Works great on our Chrysler Town and Country. Easy to put on and take off. Went through heavy storms and never got water in it. Van has always handled pretty good with it too.

You need to have an adjustable roof rack for it to work. If it's not adjustable, you will need to measure to make sure it fits.

On a SUV, height may be an issue. I have to stand on the rear tires of the van to open it and get things out. If you SUV is higher, it may be a little harder to get to.

 

[Darcy03231]

We have a Thule roof top carrier and never had any issues with it. We also have a Thule adjustable rack system on the SUV.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I reasearched them last year. From what I found, there are (in the interest of simplicity here, but you get my drift) "hard" ones and "soft" ones. Some user reviews I read reported that with the soft ones, they had to use garbage or other plastic bags as a first layer in order to keep things dry when it rained.

We wound up not getting one but on the drive home from Niagara Falls we had our luggage on the roof in duffel type suitcases and hit heavy rain so despite having washed all of our laundry before we left for home, everything in the suitcases got soaked and water stained.

After that, we decided to resume our search for a roof carrier, but decided the hard type would work best for us given that experience. Fortunately, soon after we got home I found a Sears hard type at a yard sale for $25 but we haven't used it yet.

Keep an eye out on Craigslist unless you want a new one. I think the hard ones run around $250-300 new. http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_...21x00003a&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=02872016000P

PS if you need it to lock, that could influence your decision as well.

 

[Anne MN]

we have and still use the non hard shell ones. we have suburbans, adjustable roof racks are a must. i think we got ours at walmart? they look like large duffle bag/stroller bag. they kept things dry. we put jogger stroller and other stuff in there. it does not "lock" like a hard sided one would, but it did the trick. we put it on the back so we could stand in the cargo area and load it up.

 

[Inigo]

Love my Sears X-cargo carrier, although Thule are supposed to be the best.

We've driven cross-country several times, through major storms, and nothing has gotten wet. It's very easy to put on and off, and DS and I could do it easily ourselves when he was 12 and 13.

Just a warning: The carrier will not withstand a 10 year old girl standing on top of it! DD was trying to reach something when the carrier was in the shed, and decided to use it as a ladder. Craaaccccckkkkk! We used silicon caulk to fix the crack, and it's held up since, and that's been several years now.

 

[ndelaware]

I bought one from Chrysler to fit on our Town & Country. It is a hard shell style and it is strong enough to stand on. The car handles the same with or without it on. I bought it for the trip to and from Disney and on the very first trip we used it for, it rained from Delaware to the Georgia/Florida line and everything in it stayed nice and dry. I also like it can be locked so you don't have to worry about your things if you stop at a motel. I am very happy with it.

 

[mjkacmom]

I reasearched them last year. From what I found, there are (in the interest of simplicity here, but you get my drift) "hard" ones and "soft" ones. Some user reviews I read reported that with the soft ones, they had to use garbage or other plastic bags as a first layer in order to keep things dry when it rained.

We wound up not getting one but on the drive home from Niagara Falls we had our luggage on the roof in duffel type suitcases and hit heavy rain so despite having washed all of our laundry before we left for home, everything in the suitcases got soaked and water stained.

After that, we decided to resume our search for a roof carrier, but decided the hard type would work best for us given that experience. Fortunately, soon after we got home I found a Sears hard type at a yard sale for $25 but we haven't used it yet.

Keep an eye out on Craigslist unless you want a new one. I think the hard ones run around $250-300 new. http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_...21x00003a&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=02872016000P

PS if you need it to lock, that could influence your decision as well.

We have an OLD one of these that we bought at a garage sale about 10 years ago for $25. Not very aerodynamic, but it does the job.

 

[budmonster]

We travel often from Florida to Maryland one year we used a soft roof top carrier and it was a disaster, it was at Christmas time and we loaded it up with wrapped presents. Well it rained about 10 of the 12 hours it took us to get there by the time we got to my Mom's house every single present was soaked and runied. We also found the it cut down on the MPG that we got to a tank of gas by a large amount.

The next time we went back home we looked in to the tow hitch mounted cargo carrier and bought it along with the cargo bag to place all of our item in. It worked like a charm. After using this one and I never use a roof top carrier again.

Here is a link to a picture of what I am talking about.

http://www.amazon.com/Valley-90590-Deluxe-Hitch-Basket/dp/B0002ZY23E

 

[whatsup]

We've had the Sears X-Cargo Sport 20 for about 7 years. Works great on our Chrysler Town and Country. Easy to put on and take off. Went through heavy storms and never got water in it. Van has always handled pretty good with it too.

You need to have an adjustable roof rack for it to work. If it's not adjustable, you will need to measure to make sure it fits.

On a SUV, height may be an issue. I have to stand on the rear tires of the van to open it and get things out. If you SUV is higher, it may be a little harder to get to.

thank you, very helpful!

 

[whatsup]

We travel often from Florida to Maryland one year we used a soft roof top carrier and it was a disaster, it was at Christmas time and we loaded it up with wrapped presents. Well it rained about 10 of the 12 hours it took us to get there by the time we got to my Mom's house every single present was soaked and runied. We also found the it cut down on the MPG that we got to a tank of gas by a large amount.

The next time we went back home we looked in to the tow hitch mounted cargo carrier and bought it along with the cargo bag to place all of our item in. It worked like a charm. After using this one and I never use a roof top carrier again.

Here is a link to a picture of what I am talking about.

http://www.amazon.com/Valley-90590-Deluxe-Hitch-Basket/dp/B0002ZY23E

Hmmm..will look into this for sure! Thanks!

 

[endy]

I have an older model hard shell one. We used it this summer and no leaking at all.
I have an SUV and it was a side opening one. Not sure if there's ones that open back to front. My son had to stand on the seat to get the stuff from the back of it. My back door opens up so if yours opens to the side it will be easier to get into. Next year I'll mount it more to one side for easier access.
Mine held our tent, sleeping bags and air mattresses so pretty much all the camping gear.
Wish I had got one years ago whwn we started toing the long driving vacations.