Yakima 42" Rail Roof Rack Permanent install for Honda Fit '08

This is a revamp of one of my posts at the Honda Fit Forums at FitFreak.net. I just got a new '08 Honda Fit in May and wanted a roof rack. I wasn't too keen on the clip-ons, not that they wouldn't work and I'm sure they do. I just didn't want to have an ordeal putting them on and off, making sure the landing is clean and accidentally dinging the car or not securing it. But I found very little info on installing a permanent rack on this model car and I didn't want risk with a cheap universal one-fits-all. As the Honda fit has a pretty significant curve across the top and is flared from rear to front. So this is to help anyone looking for another option for a roof rack on a Honda Fit '07-'08 (or earlier if you have a foreign model)... the following is slightly changed from the original post as I was in a discussion with someone installing a Thule system.

I actually had my local body shop install the system as I chickened out in drilling holes into my new car. I got a fair deal and for the piece of mind over a leaky roof was worth it to me. But having seen it done and talking with my installer I would feel comfortable drilling/doing my own when I need to add the next set of landing pads in or if I need to do it to another car. I turned over my minimum specs to him and let him run with it. I stated I wanted the rails as far forward as possible safely, but would understand if they needed to be closer to the rear and for the rails to be as far apart as possible.

He did not remove the headliner for this, he just was careful not to punch through! Also measuring was a little tricky as the roof has the flare to the front and very curved. This picture is a diagram I did up for the installer, original I just had a range of values to fall within, this one I changed to reflect what he actually ended up doing for positioning. We didn't go as far forward as I would have liked since he didn't want to be bending the rail to match that front curve down to the windshield. Which is okay because I can install the stand alone landing pads later.

Note the span between rails is inside edge to inside edge. The front and rear width dimensions of the roof do not include the rain gutter, but the rain gutter is 1" so I think you can handle the math there. And lastly the measurements of the gutters from front to back edges do not include the plastic track cap at the ends. I measured up to the aluminum rail itself.

With the rails as they are placed there is only a little bending of the rail. If you move them forward you would have to bend the rails and probably drill a few more holes to ensure a good secure fit. That and you have to contend with your towers tightening over a curve. It was decided against this since the roof doesn't have that high of a load capacity (125lbs) and didn't want it be pulling up on the roof trying to be straight, especially when this works and I can add another part to make span longer later.

I did look up the Thule rail/instructions to compare and physically it looks like the same thing as Yakima's, the locking bolt is a little different and the Yakima had 2 different washers per hole where Thule has 1, but nothing that looks like it would be significantly different. Noticed the Thule instructions didn't say to paint the exposed metal from drilling (Yakima's did). My installer used a primer/sealer for metal, even though there is silicon seal small amount of moisture could still get in there and steel loves to rust...prime it or paint it.

Getting them straight was tricky.. measure off the first hole at the rear of the car both sides. I didn't include mine since I don't know if the Thule holes are the exact same. Just place the rails/measure/mark where the rear is going to be.. put those holes and retaining bolts in. The instructions have you do one side completely then the other, but this was in mind for parallel roof lines of vehicles. On the nonparallel Fit roof, it works to do the first hole at the rear on both rails and loosely attach them. Now you can line them up straight and measure at diagonals to get close to square/parallel and mark the additional holes. Just move the rails out of the way and finish. ... The fellow posting with the Thule install mentioned assembling the unit and tightening it all in off the vehicle, then setting it up on top to mark the holes. This would probably work too, I'd be a little concern out it moving out of place while marking the holes. Especially since the rail does need to bend somewhat to match the roof profile. Probably a 2-3 man operation, if you can do it solo my hats off to you.

I have seen elsewhere that you don't want to drill into that cross beams for roof support...which was another reason I was leery to do this myself. But there is at least one bolt in either rail at every hole location from front to rear. Each rail has the first and last hole, then they are staggered opposite of each other in between.

I really do like the fast on/off with this setup, I can cruise around with just the little nubs capped and to put the crossbars/towers on takes literally seconds. There is zero wind noise with just the rails and caps. With the Towers/Crossbars on there is a humming starting at 40-45, but never gets louder at higher speeds (tested @65mph). Once I put my cargo carrier on top, wind noise went back down to almost zero even at 65 mph. Only done couple short trips around town here to test it out. I have my first big trip next weekend, so if it rips off and goes flying in northern MN I'll let ya know.

The parts list:
Yakima Rail Set 42" #8001126
Yakima Landing Pad #1 (2 sets)
Yakima Control Towers #8000214 (not the Q-Towers)
Yakima 48" Crossbars #8000408 (but you could use any width you want)
---was charged 3.5 hours shop labor, took him longer but they kept it at quote. Got it all at REI 20% off except the landing pads, cause the rep told me wrong that they were included with the rails and I had to buy them later.

Seriously, I lamented over how to do this for a couple weeks in terms of parts and labor. Changed my mind more often that I care to admit, but in the end it worked out very well.

Installed, but crossbars/towers are off the car.

Crossbars/Towers locked on...