Jump to content

Need advice on roof top carriers


Waci

Recommended Posts

Hello, my family is moving across the country. We are driving from Virginia to California with a few stops along the way to visit relatives. We purchased a Hitch Haul soft carrier  https://10carbest.com/best-soft-car-top-carriers for the trip, but unfortunately, it was way too noisy. I taped all the straps down, but the fabric of the carrier rubbed against the wind and created a motorcycle engine like noise while going less than 70 mph. I can't bear to drive all the way to California with that sound. My question is will getting a hard top carrier eliminate the noise? 
Our car is a 2010 Subaru Forester, but has no cross bars, only the factory installed side rails that run front to back. I can invest $200-300 for a hard top carrier and cross bars as long as it is high quality and will not make lots of noise on the highway.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You won't get a flapping noise but since it disrupts the air flow which is factory engineered you will get more noise. Even my bolted down truck side boxes on my less than aerodynamic pickup make noise. Worse, Subaru uses little to no insulation. I'll bet there's literally nothing but a thin dacron upholstery limiting behind the headliner. That's how the 1990s vintage ones were. Anything you can do to solidly attach a hard box would help.

A better alternative noise wise would be a hitch carrier if you have or can get a receiver hitch. If you have a trailet already look at tongue mounted truck boxes. Or look into paying to rent a u-haul trailer, ups to mail the stuff to yourself, or even buying a small trailer from say Harbor Freight. Although I'm sure u-hauls one-way rates out of California have to be pretty steep right now since they have such a huge "trade imbalance". The mailing thing in particular is usually not as obvious or inexpensive as it seems.

I've moved multiple states 5 times plus college was 12 hours drive from my parents and I did that for 8 years. Only suggestion I have is that you keep true valuables like photos, jewelry, and other keepsakes that take up little space with you. It's the bag with nothing you need during the trip in it along with electronics that you unload into the hotel every night and reload back in the vehicle every morning but you never bother to open it because you don't need anything in it. Clothing can be washed along the way and since it's summer you don't need all the bulky winter stuff. Use bags instead of boxes and think in terms of stuffing stuff, not sorting logically for reasons other than packing. I could pack an entire college living experience in one small SUV load back in the 1990s with room to see out the back window and my travelling stuff (music, snacks, overnight bag) in the front seat.

Sent from my SM-T350 using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Member Statistics

    18,154
    Total Members
    6,555
    Most Online
    garikb
    Newest Member
    garikb
    Joined
×
×
  • Create New...