Hi all-
We traded our '02 WRX for an '05 Outback wagon (that whole kids thing...) and are planning our first big trip for the week of Thanksgiving. As such, we are *not* light packers (well, the kids aren't :) ) and thus won't have enough space in the car for a week.
So we're thinking of getting a Thule roof basket for the extra stuff. My family had a Thule bike rack on our '86 Taurus Wagon, and I remember the Ford crossbars had to come off because the Thule bike rack would only mount to the Thule crossbars, and the Ford crossbars were pretty much for decoration anyway.
What I'd like to know is, is the situation pretty much the same for the Outback? The crossbars are curved at the ends and that seems like anything mounted to them would have to take that into consideration. Then there's also the weight aspect..we're not talking hundreds of pounds here, but am I correct in thinking taht we shouldn't even try to subject the factory crossbars to any kind of weight? I've seen people use the top for carrying stuff with a lot of bungie cords, but we're talking about something that needs to be secure for highway driving.
Any info would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Ron