Introducition

Every car roof is unique, and the way roof racks attach varies from vehicle to vehicle. To ensure a secure and proper fit, the necessary attachments—such as clamps, towers, or brackets—must be purchased separately from a manufacturer that has specifically designed them for your car’s roof geometry. Some well known brands that deliver such high quality products are; Thule, Yakima and Rhino Rack.

Dropracks offers versatility with its standard C-section interface at the bottom, measuring 1" x 0.6" (25 x 19 mm). This interface allows for compatibility with a wide range of fittings. Additionally, Dropracks can be hard-bolted onto various surfaces by using T-nuts or similar hardware, providing even more flexibility for different setups.

With the right attachments and proper installation, you can confidently equip your car with a Dropracks system that meets your needs.

The 7 Main Car Roof Types

1 - Raised Side Rails

These are two rails running parallel to the car's doors. They are raised above the roof, creating a gap to the roof, where you can slide your hand underneath.

Popular Raised Siderails Fittings for Dropracks are:

#1.1 - Thule Evo Raised Rail

Article THU 710405 in the US
Article THU 710410 in Europe
No Thule are needed as base, since Dropracks are crossbars in itself

We love the 710405 because it is user friendly, robust and high quality. It's only 4 HEX bolts to tighten during installation, with the included HEX Torque key.

Did we mention that it's also quite good looking?

You can watch the Thule Evo Raised Rail in action in this video where we move Dropracks from one car to another.

#1.2 - Thule Rapid Crossroads

Article THU 450R in the US.
Article THU 775 in Europe
Notes: This product is no longer manufactured, but still around. This article allows for installation on thicker siderails or tubes than the Thule Evo Raised Rail. Ford Bronco is one example of a car with thick raised siderails.

#1.3 Yakima Timberline with Dropracks Top Adapter

Article 8000164
Top Dropracks Adapter
Notes: Various top interfaces are available for the Yakima Timberline. The more common "Yakima HD SL Adapter" is slightly too wide to fit into the Dropracks C-Channel interface, but you can shim off some metal and make them fit as well, if you are up for that.

Photo: Thule Evo Raised Rail with Dropracks Regular on a Toyota Land Cruiser 2018 with raised siderails.

You can watch Dropracks XL being installed with with Yakima Timberline and Dropracks Top Adapter in this video:

2 - Flush Side Rails / Low Roof Rails

Flush siderails are common on many modern vehicles, these rails also run parallel to the doors but sit flush against the roof without a gap. Often you require a foot pack + a fitting kit geometry that includes rubber pieces and metal brackets that ensures a 100 % fit to the existing geometry.

Please pay attention, as some cars with flush side rails have fixed mounting holes within the rails. If this is the case, Dropracks must be adapted to match the specific distance between the front and rear attachment points.

Popular Flush Siderails Fittings for Dropracks:

#2.1 - Dropracks Tower 2

Article DR224
Universal; Fits more than 100 different car models(!)
Notes: Have a look in the fit guide to see if your vehicle is listed. Only 4 HEX bolts to tighten with the included HEX torque key. Nice!

The Tower 2 is a robust and user friendly, high quality foot pack. It's only 4 HEX bolts to tighten during installation, with the included HEX Torque key.

#2.2 - Thule Evo Flush Rail and Fitting Kit Geometry

Article THU 710601 in the US
Article THU 710600 in Europe.
Corresponding fitting geometry kit for your vehicle. (starts with number 18XXXX).
Note: You can look up your car in the Thule Fit Guide. Simply "replacing" the Thule crossbar with the Dropracks crossbars. The Thule Foot pack and kit that is compatible with the Thule crossbars with an overhang to the sides also fits straight into Dropracks. The Thule 7206XX is not compatible with Dropracks.

3 - Fixed Mounting Points

This is attachment points, normally threaded holes for attaching roof racks, that are usually hidden by plastic covers or plastic plugs. This is most common on vans, but there are also some vehicles that has these integrated in what appears to be flush siderails. One common example is the Toyota Rav4 from 2019 and newer. The siderails have some hatches that hides four mounting points.

Vehicles with fixed distance between the front and rear attachment must also ensure to get customized lengths on the spacer bars, connecting the front and rear Dropracks units.

Spacer bars ? Please explain

Sure. The front and rear Dropracks units are connected with four aluminium bars. They are allways included in the box. They are pre made for a Center-Center distance of 850 mm (33.5") between the attachments.

When the car has predetermined location for the attachments, the standard bars must either be cut to correct length, or swapped out with a longer kit.

We stock a few popular lengths for a few popular Dropracks vehicles, such as Toyoa Rav4 2019+, Toyota Highlander, Volkswagen Transporter, Rivian R1, Jeep Grand Cherokee '22+, and more. We can also arrange custom lengths, and the only measurement we need is the distance front to back of the attachments.

3.1 - Thule Evo Fixpoint plus Thule Fitting Kit Geometry

Article THU 710701 in the US.
Article THU 710700 in Europe.
Corresponding fitting kit, article number starting with THU 18 XXXX

3.2 - Thule Rapid Podium plus Thule Fitting Kit Geometry

Article THU 460R in the US
Article THU 751 and 753 in Europe.
Corresponding fitting kit Geometry.

3.3 - Yakima SkyLine Towers plus Yakima Landing Pad Geometry and Dropracks top Adapter

Article 8000163
Landing Pad #XXX
Yakima Dropracks top Adapter (Available at dropracks.com)

3.4 - Dropracks Tower 1

The Dropracks Tower 1 is designed to be bolted to longitudinal tracks or channels. It is a very DIY-friendly foot pack, and several customers also use this to bolt Dropracks to their fixed mounting point roofs. A Big advantage of the Tower 1 is the low build height.

Please note that the Tower 1 does not come with any rubber geometry on the underside, and we therefore advise DIYers to ensure a tight, solid fit by adding silicone, adhesive rubber strips or the like to avoid damage to the car paint, when using them directly on the car roof.

Tracks / Channels

Metal Channels or slots normally C-Shaped that run parallel to the doors. Tracks can be Original or installed aftermarket. Cars with naked roofs can get aftermarket channels installed to fit Dropracks.

Gutters

Metal ridges running along the top of the doors on either side. The Ridge slightly sticks out from the side of the vehicle.

Gutters are not very common on modern vehicles, but you can find them on some classics like the older G Wagons and Landrover Defenders.

Factory Crossbar

Crossbars and side rails that came pre installed with the vehicle or dealer. Normally theese can be removed, and Dropracks installed to side rails.

In some cases you can bolt Dropracks onto existing crossbars. Please note the C-Channel bottom interface of Dropracks..

Naked Roof

A bare roof with no attachment for roof racks. To install Dropracks on such vehicles, we recommend using a rack outfitter and install a pair of universal Tracks / Channels or similar, and use fittings as mentioned above.