Finding cross bars, and kayak mounts for an obscure JDM car

Hey guys,

  We've been wanting to get a few kayaks over the years, and finally pick up a couple over the weekend. We're looking forward to getting out on some local ponds and such, but first we need to get a set of racks to transport the kayaks. I've decided that the Delica is the wrong vehicle for racks even though it would be cool. The Delica is just too tall, and barely fits in the garage anyway, plus I might be selling it. The REPU would probably work, but the bed is short, and it doesn't want to start right now anyway. I think it needs some long neglected ignition maintenance. This leaves either the Sienna(which has a roof rack, and cross bars, but is tall. My wife's leased Rav4 which has some sort of rails, but they're weird, and have no cross bars. Or the newly arrived Chariot that has roof rails, but no cross bars. The Chariot seems the most logical choice because it sits pretty low, and has rails. However it also has a strange roof line in the front due to the bubble style Japanese market only sunroof.  The roof rack on the rear portion of the roof is still pretty long, and I feel it will support the mounting of kayaks, but they will hang off the rear a bit. Probably not a huge problem. 

The problem I am having is when I go online to look for racks I can't look up the Chariot. I can look up it's American market cousin the Expo LRV. I feel they probably have a similar roof rail system, but the USA model doesn't have the bubble sunroof, and might have much longer roof rails. Should I just go the route of ordering the cross bars recommended for the Expo, or should I go to a bike shop or place that sells rack systems, and have them look it over? It seems the Thule cross bars I looked up for the Expo clamp onto the roof rails, but I don't see how exactly they do this, and also wonder if somehow the roof rails on the Chariot while shorter, might also be a different design than the Expo. I've never owned any sort of roof rack system, so I am really not sure what I am doing. I'm probably overthinking things too which is what I'm best at. Thanks for reading my dumb questions over the years.

You figured it out. Go talk to a place that sells racks. I used to be the rack guy at a sports store, stuff like this is a lot more fun than the usual.

maybe a local bike shop that deals with yakima, or other rack companies?   I have a good one by me that i went to for suggestions of a small rack on my rx7.

Have you done a search for Chariot Roof Racks? there appears to be something on E Bay.

The car in question:  

I think you're gonna want some sort of universal roof rack cross bar that clamps onto the existing rails.  

Sample found on ebay.

Another sample on Amazon for $65.  I would lean toward something Amazon Prime because free and easy returns if the "universal" is not universal enough.  

To those Amazon cross bars then add on some universal Amazon Kayak holders

All this keeps you way high over "the bubble"  

I just installed some of those universal cross bars on a Forester this weekend for the same purpose. They seem sturdy. 

Like others have said, try a local Thule dealer for ideas. I think both Billington Sea and Gone Bananas are dealers. Take your black AMEX card and some smelling salts with you for when you hear the price. They are pricey, but great quality.  I have a set of cross bars that you can try out if you want. They are adjustable width, fairly quick and easy to install and remove if needed and the cradles attach to the bars. If you had done this a week ago the cross bars would still have the cradles on them, but I just transferred the cradles over to the trailer this weekend.

SportRack SR1099 crossbar would work and and are half the cost of Yakima.  I have some on the jdm racks on my Impreza that look very much like your rails.  They are very adjustable and plenty secure.

Aspen said:

SportRack SR1099 crossbar would work and and are half the cost of Yakima.  I have some on the jdm racks on my Impreza that look very much like your rails.  They are very adjustable and plenty secure.

Looking these up on amazon shows that they attach to the body of the car, and not the rails or so it appears. Is that correct?

There are a few models that mount to rails, body or crossbars.  I was on the sport rack site for that model number. Best confirm before ordering.  The version I have was called "Frontier " but that was several years back, but the clamp looks similar.  Fits really well to triangular rails.

Sorry, looks like 1098 is the correct one.

I have these Thule foot pads that mount to factory roof rails using the rubber strap that wraps around the rail...  used these on a 01 Odessey carrying a full roof box without any issues... 

Bought the cross bars that John Welsh linked. Put them on a few minutes ago after the USPS delivered them this morning. 

How's the quality? 

Does this now make me an internet influencer? If yes, where do I pick up the paycheck? 

On some aftermarket rails I had on our Mazda5, I found that gorilla tape strategically applied to the underside of the rails, to block off openings, did a great job of reducing wind noise. 

John Welsh said:

How's the quality? 

Does this now make me an internet influencer? If yes, where do I pick up the paycheck? 

On some aftermarket rails I had on our Mazda5, I found that gorilla tape strategically applied to the underside of the rails, to block off openings, did a great job of reducing wind noise. 

Typical Chinese quality. Not great, but they should do the trick although I neglected to notice the 66 lb weight limit. I don't know what 2 kayaks weigh. 

Keep the box! 

For an easy return to Amazon

How'd I do? I don't like the straps I have to hold it to the j hooks, but I'm going to fix that tomorrow.