rooftop rack for MX5

ckarcher · Postby **ckarcher** » Mon Jan 24, 2011 8:59 pm

Hi,
i found a photo of a roofrack for the MX5 on a japanese website.

Does anyone of you know the manufacturer of this rack or even a shop where to buy it? Has anyone a similar solution for transporting (wind-) surfgear on the MX5?

Hammer · Postby **Hammer** » Mon Jan 24, 2011 9:51 pm

Would love to see this with the complete car in view. It seems similar to the factory roof racks offered to Porsche Boxters. the only different is the Boxter's roof rack is lower and follows the soft top profile closely, and its in black. However, once fitted, you cannot drop the soft top (in the Boxter). Not enough clearance.

Looking at this photo, it seems the extra height of the roof rack is for that reason - allowing you to drop the soft top even with the roof racks fitted.

ForceMajeure · Postby **ForceMajeure** » Mon Jan 24, 2011 9:56 pm

Ive travelled as far away as Byron Bay and back with two surfboards in the passenger seat without issue, cant say i realy like the roof rack look myself, maybe surfboards are OK but no way would i be stacking windsurfers on there.

Just ditch the passengers for your surfboards. :wink:

Old Dude · Postby **Old Dude** » Mon Jan 24, 2011 10:14 pm

I have seen a lot of stuff carried in or on the 5 but most have the top down, Pamex even carried a double bed on her 5, using the BD roll bar for the back and the windscreen at the front.
I have also seen a towbar with a stand about a mtr tall and a cross piece, to hold the back of the board and single tube roll bar to hold the front. It worked really well but you can't have the top up.

cheers
Dale

ckarcher · Postby **ckarcher** » Mon Jan 24, 2011 10:54 pm

ForceMajeure wrote: cant say i realy like the roof rack look myself, maybe surfboards are OK but no way would i be stacking windsurfers on there.

It would only be for a 12k trip witin the city (max 60kph), one board and a bag with sails and other gear.

Quicksilver · Postby **Quicksilver** » Mon Jan 24, 2011 10:59 pm

In the photo there are snow skis in the background. The Japanese are avid snow skiers and I'm guessing that is what the rack is designed for. Surfboards might be too heavy for the windscreen frame?

Postby **Okibi** » Tue Jan 25, 2011 12:00 am

Look at the flyin miata tow bar, a small trailer might be a better solution.

ckarcher · Postby **ckarcher** » Tue Jan 25, 2011 12:11 am

Okibi wrote:Look at the flyin miata tow bar, a small trailer might be a better solution.

I thought about the trailer solution as well but decided against for a number of reasons:

- cost of the tow bar (?1000AUD)
- cost of a solid trailer (>600 AUD)
- annual registration fee (200-300 AUD)
- lack of a garage
- calmost always needs a second parking spot (fees)

ForceMajeure · Postby **ForceMajeure** » Tue Jan 25, 2011 12:19 am

Quicksilver wrote:In the photo there are snow skis in the background. The Japanese are avid snow skiers and I'm guessing that is what the rack is designed for. Surfboards might be too heavy for the windscreen frame?

Standard Surfboards would be fine IMO, they are extremely light, but when you start talking 9" plus malibu's and windsurfers its a different story, yes i would be worried about the windscreen frame strength and nasty wind gusts. Those racks dont look like they are designed to hold any significant load beyond something light either.

My advice would be to buy a shitbox so you are not going to worry about rust given you will be hanging at the beach with all that lovely salt spray, Ive also seen a few mx5's with rust at the bottom of the windscreen pillar BTW. :idea:

PAU61L · Postby **PAU61L** » Tue Jan 25, 2011 7:01 am

Hello everyone, I have seen a set up that had a raised roof rack attached to the frankestein bolts, and another rack coming off the towbar or tow bar mounting points. So then there is no load on the windscreen
Towbars cost around $400ish, depending on model, it would be easy to do if you have a NA.
Talk to you later, Paul.

ckarcher · Postby **ckarcher** » Tue Jan 25, 2011 10:01 am

ForceMajeure wrote:[quote="Surfboards might be too heavy for the windscreen frame.

Standard Surfboards would be fine IMO, they are extremely light, but when you start talking 9" plus malibu's and windsurfers its a different story, yes i would be worried about the windscreen frame strength and nasty wind gusts. Those racks dont look like they are designed to hold any significant load beyond something light either.

Well the window frame is designed to absorb a significant amount of energy/weight (in the range of a few thousand kgs) in case of a roll-over. I doubt it'll give way under the weight of 20kg or so.

Quicksilver · Postby **Quicksilver** » Tue Jan 25, 2011 10:13 am

ckarcher wrote:
ForceMajeure wrote:[quote="Surfboards might be too heavy for the windscreen frame.

Standard Surfboards would be fine IMO, they are extremely light, but when you start talking 9" plus malibu's and windsurfers its a different story, yes i would be worried about the windscreen frame strength and nasty wind gusts. Those racks dont look like they are designed to hold any significant load beyond something light either.

Well the window frame is designed to absorb a significant amount of energy/weight (in the range of a few thousand kgs) in case of a roll-over. I doubt it'll give way under the weight of 20kg or so.

I'm not suggesting it would give way, but may get minor denting where the mounts are. The weight of the hardtop roof for example is spread across the whole width of the frame, not just on two points. Anyway, if it works, thats great.
It looks ugly too!

ckarcher · Postby **ckarcher** » Tue Jan 25, 2011 10:37 am

Quicksilver wrote:It looks ugly too!

Not as ugly as my 2001 Renault scenic though...

ForceMajeure · Postby **ForceMajeure** » Tue Jan 25, 2011 10:48 am

ckarcher wrote:
ForceMajeure wrote:[quote="Surfboards might be too heavy for the windscreen frame.

Standard Surfboards would be fine IMO, they are extremely light, but when you start talking 9" plus malibu's and windsurfers its a different story, yes i would be worried about the windscreen frame strength and nasty wind gusts. Those racks dont look like they are designed to hold any significant load beyond something light either.

Well the window frame is designed to absorb a significant amount of energy/weight (in the range of a few thousand kgs) in case of a roll-over. I doubt it'll give way under the weight of 20kg or so.

You may well be right, but what about the boot area? It appears the bar sits on the aluminium bonnet for support. At the end of the day im pretrty certain these are "ski racks" and nothing more.

Could you use it for surfboards?, i reckon you could, but im pretty certain you are pushing your luck with anything bigger or heavier.

ckarcher · Postby **ckarcher** » Tue Jan 25, 2011 4:01 pm

ForceMajeure wrote:You may well be right, but what about the boot area? It appears the bar sits on the aluminium bonnet for support. At the end of the day im pretrty certain these are "ski racks" and nothing more.

Could you use it for surfboards?, i reckon you could, but im pretty certain you are pushing your luck with anything bigger or heavier.

I saw a phot from a slightly different angel the other day. It appears as if the rear part was attached to the Frankenstein bolts where you normally attach the hardtop.