Roof bars and bike racks

[Graeme4130]

The B8 RS can't accommodate a tow bar.

I imagine that is the 'official' line but same was said about the B7 - !!!!

I'd guess you'd need to do a lot of plastic panel chopping to get at the bits you need too ?

[smudge]

The B8 RS can't accommodate a tow bar.

I imagine that is the 'official' line but same was said about the B7 - !!!!

I'd guess you'd need to do a lot of plastic panel chopping to get at the bits you need too ?

Exactly. Having been under my car whilst 7ft up in the air, I'd love to see how & to be honest why you would want to chop the end up so much for a bike. Do what I did & buy a old Ford transit connect & chuck the bikes in there. Show the RS some respect.

[Ozzifutura]

You could well be right smudge, and to be honest I was not 100% happy with the butcher job on the last car. Would be nice, in my opinion, if Audi had a tow hitch option for these. Handy for bike rack and towing small trailer to the tip !!

[matthew.lewis2]

B8 RS4 tow bar shown in this thread viewtopic.php?f=61&t=104986&hilit=towbar&start=15

[Ozzifutura]

Thanks Matt... This is New Zealand but shows it can be done ... Good news indeed

[TGJR]

I have just fitted Audi roof bars and bicycle holders to my RS4 and have a query....

As I was fitting 2 holders it meant that to make one of them accessible from the other side of the car (locks etc. pointing outwards) you had to take the pieces of the rack and spin them around 180 degrees.

The only thing is that having done this the holder sits further forward on one side - is this correct or am I missing something?

Thanks.

[Graeme4130]

I have just fitted Audi roof bars and bicycle holders to my RS4 and have a query....

As I was fitting 2 holders it meant that to make one of them accessible from the other side of the car (locks etc. pointing outwards) you had to take the pieces of the rack and spin them around 180 degrees.

The only thing is that having done this the holder sits further forward on one side - is this correct or am I missing something?

Thanks.

That's correct. They're thule 596 holders with Audi branding. It's a crap design IMHO as they constantly annoy me with not being aligned

[TGJR]

I have just fitted Audi roof bars and bicycle holders to my RS4 and have a query....

As I was fitting 2 holders it meant that to make one of them accessible from the other side of the car (locks etc. pointing outwards) you had to take the pieces of the rack and spin them around 180 degrees.

The only thing is that having done this the holder sits further forward on one side - is this correct or am I missing something?

Thanks.

That's correct. They're thule 596 holders with Audi branding. It's a crap design IMHO as they constantly annoy me with not being aligned

Thank you - its nice to know that I am not the only person bugged by these little details!

[L10LPT]

Hi Iain,

I have used the Mont Blanc carriers for years now and they work well, got them set up with Audi roof bars and im very happy with them.

[TGJR]

Had our two bikes on the roof for the first time today - easy to put on/off but a bit more flex than I had anticipated! They can be moved side to side an inch or two at the seat when pushed.

Regardless they stayed on for a 40 mile round trip but went quite gingerly. What sort of speed on a motorway or shall we say an autobahn would it be safe to travel at with bikes on the roof?

[Graeme4130]

Had our two bikes on the roof for the first time today - easy to put on/off but a bit more flex than I had anticipated! They can be moved side to side an inch or two at the seat when pushed.

Regardless they stayed on for a 40 mile round trip but went quite gingerly. What sort of speed on a motorway or shall we say an autobahn would it be safe to travel at with bikes on the roof?

I've done 150

[TGJR]

Thanks, that gives me a bit more confidence to venture above 75!

[kofsw4]

Thule finally released the Wingbar Edge 9592 in black (been waiting for them since late last year) which I think looks pretty good on the car with black optics. I also fitted a 591 bike carrier which I used on top of my B7 for a couple of years.

On my first trip with the bike last weekend, I was getting a really annoying whistling above about 40mph which nobody else has mentioned so I guess I don't have the bars fitted in quite the right place. Would somebody else who has these fitted mind confirming how far back they have each bar fitted? I tried to align them over the small dimples in the roof rails which put the bars around 70cm apart from each other. Thanks very much, Karim

[Graeme4130]

The bars should fit in the dimples as you say, so their position is fixed
You can reduce the whistle by playing around with the position of the 591's on the bars
Also, try and keep the clock ties right down when the bikes are not on there, as I found that reduced the whistle too
You know the real answer is that if you go fast enough, you won't hear the whistle

Bars look good in black though. I'm envious with my silver ones now

[kofsw4]

Thanks, I positioned the bars over the dimples but they seemed to be more of an indication than anything else as the feet are much wider than the dimples and don't really fit inside them as much as over. I've only driven the car with a bike on top, so I don't think it's the wheel straps. Will have a play with the positioning of the 591 and see if that helps. I've got a 12 hour drive to the alps with the bikes next weekend and don't want whistling all the way down there!