locating hired roofbox

[Huxsta]

I'm about to collect my hired box and bars for my e70 m sport. I believe it's a thurle 700 model but stand corrected. My question is where should the box end up when attached to the bars in relation to overhanging front/ rear etc when viewed from the side. Or put another way, is there an ideal measurement to go by, as the way I see it, when all loosely fitted there is nothing on the roof rails to prevent me putting say the front bar right forward or 12" back......as long as the rear bar still attached lol. Any tips??

[X5Sport]

If it's anything like mine, THULE Excellence XT, it may have recesses in the base for the bars about 12" wide.  I set the bars somewhere so the front one towards the front of the recess and rear for the rear bar.  It seems to work for me.

The rear of the roof box is always far enough forward such that the tailgate fully opens.

[Huxsta]

Thanks, but how do you know where to locate the bars on the roof rails? I mean does the front of the box hang over the windscreen so you can see it if you look up while driving, or do I open the tailgate and slide the whole backwards and leave some clearance, tighten the clamps, and that's where it will end up?

[mogsyman]

I haven't got the same box but just bought and mounted a larg box on my wife's X3

With the bars (I bought Whisbar for both the X3 and my soon to be delivered X5) and the bars have to be a certain distance from the glass join between the drivers and rear doors.

On the X3 for example the distance for the front bar was 450mm and to the rear was about 600 (from memory). I then simply placed the box as far to the rear of the bars as I could given it has variable mountings by about 200mm

I was told when I bought the box that it could sit anywhere on the bars and as far forward as it will go but just be careful when mounting to the rear so it doesn't hit the boot etc.



There are measurement for the X5 but I would suggest it may differ from bars to bars.

As a point of interest the setup I have is almost silent (I went no faster than 80mph) and the mpg over the 600 miles since last Thursday was 37 which I'm quite happy with.

[Huxsta]

Thanks for that. I've looked at the Thule fitting page and it would seem if it's set towards the rear but obviously not touching the boot when open, it would imply it's less noisy than if it is set forwards. I guess I will have to wait till I collect it in my van and spend a while on the drive deciding where looks best.