Classic Carriers Trunk Rack

Dear Dave,

Since I live in the Seattle area, I picked up the phone and called Classic Carriers. Here is the information they gave to me:

They are currently out of carriers for the Miata. The old carriers they sold were chromed, but the new type is stainless steel. The price is $376. They will be receiving the new type carriers in about three weeks. The shipping to Canada is $60. They are not permitted to put "Gift" on the customs tag, but they don't know if there is duty on the product.

You can place your order by phone. The Seattle number is: 1-206-527-7058. They accept Master Card and Visa.

Good luck!

On Wed, 12 May 2004 17:06:18 GMT, Dave Teece wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@telus.net:

Any trunk rack will have a low weight rating. The metal is simply not all that thick. The exception would be if the rack has parts inside the trunk to re-inforce the lid substantially.

My trunk has been bent by closing it with too much stuff inside. (previous owner)

Larry,

Thanks for going to this trouble for me. Their website says they ship via UPS in the USA but I have not been able to find out if they would use some other carrier to Canada.

The problem is not the shipping cost ($60 as you found out) but rather the brokerage fee that UPS will charge to handle customs as the parcel arrives in Canada. It could add another $100 to $200 to the bill for just the HANDLING of it (even if there turns out to be no duty.)

Other couriers (Fedex etc.) or even the mail (if the package isn't too bulky or heavy) handle it much better.

It concerns me a lot that Classic Carriers won't even extend the courtesy of returning either of my emails... Makes me wonder how they would handle a problem if there was one.

Dave

Larry Gadbois wrote:

Dave

Yes, I agree that the Miata trunk material is light but while the standard Mazda rack is rated at 22 lbs, the Classic Carrier rack is rated at 75 lbs. (I just want to carry a 37 lb bundle.)

The standard Mazda rack has four metal strips laying on the trunk so each will have to bear only about 5.5 lbs. If you guess at the surface area of each strip as at least 12 square inches (and I'll bet it is more than this) that would be about 8 ounces / square inch. I'll bet a bird dropping hits with more force! :-)

I would feel comfortable putting my 37 lb bundle on the Mazda rack if I was confident in the fasteners holding it ON, but I understand it does not bolt through with big washers inside but rather is drilled into blind cavities with press-in fasteners that don't resist a hard pull well. My dealer claims to have had a new customer test by yanking and it came off in his hand. But I have not examinined one myself to see if this is likely or not. It seems like some sort of expanding fasteners would be possible if there is enough depth in the blind cavities to allow such a fastener to open up inside.

My other reservation with the standard Mazda rack is it is not clear to me how you fasten a package to it. There is the raised rail at the rear, of course, but I am not sure if there is some way to attach to the leading edge of the 4 strips. (My dealer doesn't stock them, they bring them in once you order one, so I can't check and I rarely see on on the road, here.)

Dave

Dave Null Sr. wrote:

I've got the Mazda OEM rack and we have loaded it on numerous occasions with nearly 45 lbs. of luggage and driven 500 miles on the Interstates--I don't know where the 22 lb. rating came from, I suspect it was Mazda's legal department, not the engineers.

This photo:

Gee, don't you get wet, driving all the way to Key West from Great Britain?

Leon

I would suspect it may have to do with safety in an accident, not normal driving on the Interstate.

Leon

Cliff,

Thanks for this added info about the usefulness of the Mazda OEM rack. Can you add a bit of detail about how things are attached to this rack, please? I see from your photo that you appear to have the luggage strapped on but I do not know how you attach to the leading edge of the fore-and-aft rails that appear to be mounted tight to the trunk lid. Are there openings to hook into or are there fittings that attach to these rails? Did you install it yourself or was it dealer installed? (I would like another opinion about how easily it is to rip the rack off the trunk as I can not believe they didn't provide some sort of expanding fasteners rather than "press-in" inserts.)

Dave

Cliff Knight wrote:

That's a bit of an homage to my mother and my heritage--she was a "war bride" from Sweffling, Suffolk...

I use the Frankstein bolts as anchors on the leading edge, specifcially a length of cord with a bowline with it's eye looped into a ring (or cow) hitch about the bolt head. On line goes over the front corner of the luggage, over and under the luggage rack's rear bar and then is tied to another line fastened to the opposite side's FB using a bowline/ring hitch as well.

A sort of srpingline across the top of the suitcase tensions the two sidelines--I'll take a photo of this sometime. I use a piece of that non-skid waffle-like stuff under the load, we've travelled over 450 miles at speeds of 85 to 90 MPH, and in heavy wind and rain, and never had the load so much as twitch.

I installed the rack myself using the fullsize template provided in the kit, it does require 8 holes in the trunklid (3/8"-10mm or so IIRC) and uses a T shaped aluminum compression nut thingy that works a bit like a pop-rivet. It's compressed using a spacer, washer, and socket cap screw included in the kit. The internal thread (M6) on the compression nut is can be stripped if you attempt to compress them "good and tight". I know, 'cause I stripped two before I got the knack (I used a sliver of plastic to give the screw something to bite, and steel filled epoxy on the screws to make 'em stay on these two mounting points). One of these is on the rear outer corner of the driver's side, after the expoxy cured I tugged as hard as I could without deforming the trunklid--it will not/would not pull out without tearing the lid's skin.

The dealer that stated the "fasteners pull out" either stripped all the compression nuts and didn't know how to make them work, or has never installed one of the OEM racks--once installed they do not pull out, you'd have to grind the top flange off the insert and push them through.

Being one who believes a roadster without a luggage rack is akin to an unfinished work of art the permanence of the mounting is not an issue. For some it may be, they should get one of the strap-on things with the suction-cup feet or an SUV...

Here's a link to a photo that show the tie down arrangement, this was in October of 2002 a couple months after I got the car--and before my souvenir and rock collecting wife got the suitcase completely filled up. I offer a free beer to those who can ID the location!

-cliff-

You don't get wet with the top up.

Nor if you stay above 45 mph.