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Roof rails cross bars-OEM vs after market

36K views 33 replies 22 participants last post by  maxpaul 
#1 · (Edited)
Rather than revive an old thread, that still didn't address my question, I am trying to decide whether the OEM is worth twice the price of the after market knockoffs. Don't need for weight, but more for looks. Since the gen 4 has been out a while, surely some of you have experienced the after market variety. Bunches of them on ebay. Comments?

UPDATE. THANKS FOR COMMENTS. I DECIDED ON OEM.
 
#3 ·
Granted I have a 4.3 (my dad has a 4.4), but after market bars are suited for all types of vehicles and can fit anything with rails on it. That being said, the main difference is A, the amount of weight they can bear (Thule square bars for example can bear a lot of weight), B, the width of the bars (after market can go past edge of rails), C, the amount of wind resistance (OEM have less due to their shape), and D, the shape of the bar (Square, round, airfoil/oval). I have Thule square bars on my 2008 and they are great for ski racks, kayaks, canoes, bikes, etc, however, they are a little noisier and create more resistance due to their shape. My dad has the same ones on his 2015 and he loves them. If I had the factory ones, they would flex more when carrying kayaks and I would not be able to fit my 18' long canoe on top because it would be wider then the width of the bars.

It is a matter of how much use you are looking to get out of them. From what you have described, you want them purely for aesthetics and that "I do stuff" look in which case I would just go for the factory roof racks since they are more sleek and integrated looking, as well as affording you less wind resistance (and better gas mileage). If you want a wider set of bars with more carrying ability with less flex to them, then get an aftermarket. I can take pictures of mine if you would like me to upload some later for your reference. You can kind of see them in one of my albums with the ski racks and fairing mounted on them.
 
#4 ·
Yea, weight will not be an issue. I just can't tell from ebay pics how cheap looking or the size of the cross bar. I was hoping someone would have a knockoff set from ebay to evaluate.
 
#5 ·
I have the oem bars and just use them for my thule bike rack. There are way less noise then say my old round yakima bars I had on car.

The down side someone else said i agree, hard to clear snow out of them. They get in the way when washing roof. Since i have fwd i get pretty good mpg on highway, have gotten 33mpg when not going over 65.

I thought about taking them off but like the look too! I have seen people take the whole rails off the rav4 and it looks plain ugly. Look like a beef up matrix.
But you have to do what makes you happy. Not going to rain on anyone for doing that. I dont canoe or kayak but thought about a kayak. i got mine thrown in for free along with the cargo cover and all the rubber matts and mud flaps. So was very happy about that.
 
#6 ·
My XLE came with the OEM crossbars. I liked the look of them also until i decided to drive one day with the sunroof open on the highway. The noise was deafening. I took the crossbars off and no noise with the roof open now. Also as Nodnerb said it makes it much easier to clean and remove snow with them off. Just something to think about!!
 
#8 ·
I bought some knock off cross bars. I wouldn't say they are the highest quality in the world. I actually broke the little plastic lever that is supposed to keep the bars tight on the rail twice. I bought metric bolt and lock washers an now they are very secure to the rails. There is some noise, especially heading downhill. But it is not terrible. I bought these to use a couple times a year and think they will do the trick.
 

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#9 ·
Im currently in the same boat, I want to get a car top carrier for those few times a year when we need to load up the kids and hit the road and space is a premium.

I've considered a small trailer, but the toyota hitch is crazy expensive, but they say its worth it?? (if anyone has info/links on this let me know)


How easy is it to remove/install those cross bars? I wouldn't keep them on all year round probably if the noise is as bad as everyone says.
 
#10 ·
mad monkey, the cross bars are not hard to install or remove. Basically, there is a plastic tab that is attached to a small metric bolt. You twist the tab until its snug and then it snaps down. There is a small tool to turn and lock the tabs down. I have installed and removed mine a couple times already. I am thinking about leaving them up for the rest of the spring/summer/fall as the noise is no worse than the tire/road noise in the Rav4. Plus I don't have to find somewhere to store them as well. Even with the sunroof open, the noise is not bad at all. You can tell there is minimal sound insulation in the Rav4, though. As someone said in another post, you get what you pay for with that. :frown
 
#12 ·
I also bought the knock offs on eBay for $67. I don't plan on using them often so didn't want to spend a bunch of money. Design wise they look like the oem version but I'm guessing the plastic is a little cheaper. Anyway, I bought mine to use with a bed extender to haul a 12' roll of carpet home. It worked perfectly.
 

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#16 ·
I just bought a Curt hitch receiver from autoanything.com. They commonly have 20-22% off discounts plus free shipping. It was about $112 shipped to our house. The install was super easy, too. Only took about 20 minutes. Glad I didn't spend $4-500 on a factory one. Installing an aftermarket hitch that has obviously been properly engineered for the vehicle isn't going to void the warranty, either.
 
#22 ·
I got my crossbars from Amazon for $99.99. They ended up coming from a Toyota dealer in a Toyota box - OEM. Same true for my cargo net, wheel locks, and door sill applique.

I also got a Curtis hitch from Amazon. Installation took all of about 15 minutes. I got the wiring kit from ebay, but there is a YouTube video that walks through every step in easy detail. Hitch and wiring was about $220 if I remember correctly.
 
#24 ·
I bought a pair of after market cross rails on ebay also for $67. The rails look OEM. I installed Thule ski racks to them this past weekend to hold my fishing rods. While driving down the road at 50 MPH the roof vibrates to the point where the interior light rattles. Upon inspection I noticed that the side rails are not tight. Does anybody know how to tighten the side rails?
 
#25 ·
Huge price differance!

I asked myself the same thing when i was looking for a set of crossbars oem or aftermarket? Oem were about 200 for the set where as aftermarket Thule i spent around $400 so if your only asking for the look id go with the oem and find some type of universal fairing for he front. If your going to use it then go with aftermarket due to the endless amount of accessories available.
 
#27 ·
mad monkey, I haven't a picture yet, but looks pretty good, they seem to be on every Rav4 up here. The dealer is sending people to get them as they told us the $1200 plus was crazy.

We didn't get the electrical done yet...no real need just using it to cart bikes on a swagman carrier
 
#29 ·
Recently bought my 4th RAV (4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4) and got the OEM x-bars for my 13 and 16 ft canoes. Installed the bars today.....on the first try, I could slide them along the rails, so put one more rotation on the levers and held my breath as I closed them.....no bolt snapped and they're quite tight. But they don't inspire much confidence like the cross bars on all my previous RAVs. Has anyone put any weight and wind resistance like a canoe on these OEM things at highway speeds....??? I intend to use the under-hood straps with hoses to hold the nose of the canoe in place. I'd hate to mark up my XLE with anything going airborne, not to mention the risk to any vehicles around me.....
 
#31 ·
Just got the OEM bars for $110 and set them up with the same measurements as the one's on the wife's Rav. Hers are just like the instructions, about 2.5 inch from the back and 3.5 inch from the front. No noise with either of ours. My only complaint would be that I'm doubtful the latch "wont break" with very much use... Looks good though and holds very tightly.
 
#33 ·
New member here, first post.

I have the OEM rails & cross-bars on a 2015 RAV4 down in Mexico. The rack is used primary for hauling around kayaks, paddleboards, and surfboards - at highway speeds, but for fairly short runs of roughly 25km each way. The heaviest load it sees is when I stack two kayaks on top of each other, with a combined weight of about 125 lb. Although that's above the 100 lb. nameplate capacity, it doesn't seem to be a problem.

I have several concerns with the rack:

1) Cross-bar Placement: as pointed out in previous posts on this thread, it's not possible to mount the front bar all the way forward because the cross-piece isn't long enough to allow it; although this isn't a significant problem, I would prefer to place the bars as far apart as possible, particularly when hauling longer loads such as the 13' tandem kayak

2) Cross-bar Mount: the cross-bars rely solely on a friction fit with the rails to remain in place; this is a woefully inadequate design because a) the rails are slick, so a great deal of pressure / friction is required to ensure a snug fit; and b) the plastic / nylon pieces that you rotate to tighten the mounting bolts aren't strong enough to confidently generate enough pressure; even when the mounts are tightened about as much as you can get away with (for fear of breaking them), it doesn't take much to slide the cross-bars around - e.g., while washing the roof I'll occasionally grab onto a cross-bar to maintain my balance, and it often slides back and forth when I do that; I've seen much better designs that would have been easy & cheap for Toyota to incorporate - e.g. dimples on the inside surface of the rails, with a corresponding protrusion on the mount that would mate with the dimple, allowing for a secure fit without needing to apply excessive pressure

3) Cross-bar Fastening Mechanism: relying on a plastic / nylon piece to tighten the mounting bolts is a pitiful piece of engineering; although slick, quick, and user friendly, it is far from robust; the contact area between the steel 'T' of the mounting hardware, and the plastic tightener, is very small, which places a lot of stress on the plastic when tightening (or loosening) the mount; neither the design nor the plastic itself are up to the task - e.g., if you want to tighten the mount, you need to go one complete 360-degree revolution with the plastic piece so it will snap into place and close (i.e., you can't fine-tune it by doing, say, a 1/4 turn, the way you can with a regular bolt, screw, etc.); any time I want to further tighten the mount, I hold my breath & cross my fingers in the hope that the plastic piece doesn't break

4) Metallurgy: the bolts used to mount the cross-bars and adjust their length should be made of a decent grade of stainless steel, but are not; the bolts on my mounting hardware are corroding, and seizing to the female receiver end with rust; the cross-bar length adjustment bolts are also corroding, to the point that I now need to pound the allen key into the head with a hammer in order to gain enough purchase to loosen them; although I appreciate that not everyone uses their rack in hot/humid/salty environments, I suspect corrosion will eventually be an issue pretty much anywhere (except on the Moon, and to a lesser extent in desert environments); I can't imagine that it would have cost more than a buck or two to use decent stainless steel hardware, but they decided to cheap out instead; I'm planning to replace all of the metal bolts with stainless

5) Locking mechanism: the lock is a complete joke - a 10-yr-old with a screwdriver, or a pair of pliers, or a Swiss army knife could have all four of the mounts unlocked in about two minutes; why did they even bother?

In summary: The rack is easy to install, and looks good. It is best suited to running around town looking 'sporty' (whatever that means), or light duty such as short runs with sports equipment, the occasional load of 2x4s, etc. The rack is not very confidence inspiring in more demanding applications, particularly in harsher environments. If you're planning to use it in such applications, it would be wise to inspect the mounts on a regular basis, and ensure you're using best practices to secure your loads (e.g. tieing down to the rails, not just the cross-bars; running a back-up line over the entire load and looping it through the interior via the rear doors; using bow & stern lines for long items such as canoes). These are good things to do regardless of the rack you may have, but even more important with the OEM rack.
 
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