Home Made Roof Rack Fairing

[DaveW]

I am working on building a fairing for my roof rack. The current fairings on the market are way too small.

I am looking at something like the old Thule (555r) fairing.

Has anyone made their own?
I can find black plexy-glass. Is the are better, not expensive, material for the shield?
The shield would be 19" x 48-50".

For the frame I am thinking of Aluminum 3/4 angle 1/16 thick. It would be a lopsided A shape. 16" side to hold the shield, 6" back side to allow 2 different mount heights and a small cross brace. The bracket to hold the frame to the rack would be electrical conduit clamps. Use a wing nut here to allow for moving the bracket to adjust height.

Any experience or write-ups would be helpful.

 

[DaveW]

Does anyone know where to get the rubber strip like on the front of the old thule racks? That is the only piece I cannot find.

 

[Littlewhitexj]

I made one then took it off, I used just regular 8th inch plexi, scuffed and painted the back side, it looked great, and the paint actually stuck, mine was about the same dimensions as what you are planning on, I will see if I can get a pic for ya...

 

[DaveW]

I made one then took it off, I used just regular 8th inch plexi, scuffed and painted the back side, it looked great, and the paint actually stuck, mine was about the same dimensions as what you are planning on, I will see if I can get a pic for ya...

Thanks, a pic would help.

 

[MATTVW65]

heay dave i have one that you can have..... come and get it

matt
725-0112

 

[Yucca-Man]

Rubber strip on the plexi? What about slicing open some rubber tubing and then using black RTV to hold it in place?

Definitely post pics though.

Jim

 

[TheManch]

yucca man is that how they are attached? they're just 'glued' to the roof?


Mike

 

[rokclimbertx]

what about the cushion strip that goes between truck bed and camper shell or something similar? maybe something like the padding used for kayaks & canoes... it's a little denser foam than the camper shell strip and can be cut to fit perfectly...

http://www.nrsweb.com/shop/product.asp?pfid=2049.7&deptid=1091

 

[Yucca-Man]

Manch - I was answering Post #2 and wasn't too clear about it. I understood the question to mean the plastic strip I seem to remember seeing around the Thule fairings.

I haven't seen one around town recently or I would have looked at the mounting method too; I've been thinking of making a homebuilt fairing for quite awhile.

Jim

 

[TheManch]

ohh i get it now, sorry....defenitely let me know if yuo figure out how they are stuck on there.



Mike

 

[Ralph]

I built one a while back. I didn't see any benefit from it so I removed it. I just used some sheet metal and made brackets I bought at Home Depot. I painted it with spray on bed liner I got at Autozone.

This is the only decent picture I have of it.

 

[Ben H]

I am using 1/4" thick plexi glass after I originally used 1/8". The 1/8" started to crack after a while because of wind, sun, and what not. Just cut little pieces of sticky foam and put them under the fairing, so it wont hit your cab, its not noticable.

 

[fordtech]

try jcwhitney or a boat store.....they have rolls of all kinds of seals. the one you need would be commonly used....basically an automotive door seal.