Wind Noise Thule / Yakima Racks

[Taylor3633]

I've got racks but can't hear a darn thing over my 7.3 racket...

[James S.]

I just bought a sportsmobile. The wind noise from the roof rack was so crazy loud I actually bought a pair a little foam ear plugs. I read these posts and decided to try the rope lashing on the front cross bars. When I tested it @ 65+mph, I laughed in amazement of how much wind noise was eliminated. Simply Magical!

[JWA]

Originally Posted by James S.

I just bought a sportsmobile. The wind noise from the roof rack was so crazy loud I actually bought a pair a little foam ear plugs. I read these posts and decided to try the rope lashing on the front cross bars. When I tested it @ 65+mph, I laughed in amazement of how much wind noise was eliminated. Simply Magical!

Sometimes the most elegant and useful fixes are the easiest!

When first seeing this thread resurrected I was thinking of the OEM E-Series radio antenna---they have this same sort of treatment too, vertically applied instead of horizontal of course.

[1der]

After linking this thread to axcxnj’s Less is More build thread, I thought it might be a perfect spring time bump.

Post up results if you try it! I am still using this on our current rig.

[mothgils]

I built my own roof rack out of 1.5"x1" tubing. I'm not sure if it was the tubing size, the position on the roof (relation of front of rack to the front of the van) or the spacing of the tubing but I had a very annoying reverb of wind noise. I tried the string (paracord) on the front crossbar and while it did reduce the noise, it didn't completely go away. I ended up making a fairing out of 1/8" ABS plastic and mounted it to the front and the noise is gone. I have some modifying to do to the rack (clearance for roof van and other bits)