DucDude

I just installed a new Thule Pull Top ski rack and tried it out on a quick trip up to Taos the other day.

Pretty slick imho. It slides off to the side of the vehicle so you don't have to rub up against the car in order to get the first pair over on the passenger side. I also remove the "speed link" universal mounting hardware and mounted the rack directly to the cross bars which shaved a little more than 2" off of the overall height of the rack.

Now I just need to find a suitable bike attachment for the summer time.

samps

Do these install right onto the OEM cross bars without the universal mounts without any mods?

DucDude

I used hardware I had in the garage (3 T-Bolts for each cross bar) so I had to enlarge the existing holes in the ski rack a little and I elected to drill one extra hole in the center to make it a bit more secure.

ORS sells this kit: Thule Ski Rack Flush Mount Adapter Kit - Enables Thule Ski-Snowboard Carriers to Sit Flush on AeroBlade, Whispbar, Votex Crossbars etc. and they claim it's a direct swap without requiring any modifications.

It is a bit tricky to reach the bolt on the driver's side even with a wrench so you might need to drill a new mounting hole about 2" further in so you can reach it easier but, that's about all you would have to do.



This is what it looked like before flush mounting it - way too high imho

samps

Ah cool - thanks for the info. I was wondering if the parts that came with the racks could be used - this helps thank you.

normp

Not a lot of snow in that photo, when was it taken, August?

DucDude

Nope, it was taken a little over a week ago in Taos. Naturally, they got 18" the next day.

I was up there on Thursday and it looked like this

JustBlaise

but if you take off the speed link and make is lower to the car you wont be able to load 4 snowboards....correct? looks like after you removed it there isnt much room for the two boards (with bindings) that are strapped under the top ones.

DucDude

I'm pretty sure the bindings would touch the roof if you tried loading them like that. Removing the links removed right at 2" from the overall height of the rack.

I don't board so I'm not sure how thick the bindings are these days though. There is about 6" of clearance between the roof and the bottom surface where the skis lay on the rack, if that helps.

hilld

I can load SB's using the factory ski rack, you just have to make sure the lower boards and tucked together as much as possible. Not sure if I am explaining that correctly, but the height looks about the same as the factory rack.

DucDude

I'm using the factory crossbars - does Audi sell a "factory" ski rack as well?