RA030724

iTrader: (1)

Does anyone know what the two hard rubber inserts are used for? These are about 4 inches long and are inserted in each track at the front. I originally assumed they were some sort of shipping bumper to keep the front crossbar from sliding and hitting the stops at the end of the rail during transit or assembly. Of course, the dealer "knew". He said it was to prevent the front crossbar from going too far forward and interfering with the moonroof tilt feature. Yeah, I'm sure the engineers couldn't just make the rail shorter? You know the dealers, if they don't know, they make it up. Anyway, I took them out and did a test, and guess what, you can still tilt the moonroof with the bar fully forward with plenty of clearance - so much for that excuse. Besides with these inserts in, you cannot lock the front crossbar fully forward to get the most distance between front and rear bars for better load distribution. So question for all you out there - why are these inserts in the track? By the way, called the Lexus line and asked and they referred me back to my dealer.
Oliver

dms666

I can't actually answer the question, but I can tell you that when I had a Thule Evolution 1600 roof cargo box installed, they removed they removed those rubber inserts and moved the rails into the appropriate location.

tkrussell

I'm pretty sure I have discovered the answer.
I took the rubber inserts out and moved the front crossbar forward.
Wind noise at highway speeds went WAY up.

My guess is that the airflow coming up and off the windshield will hit the crossbar if it is too far forward, increasing noise levels and reducing gas mileage at highway speeds.

If you look at wind tunnel pictures, the airstream does not hug the roof just back of the windshield because it is carried up and off the roof by the windshield angle. The inserts keeo the cross bar just far enough back so that high velocity airstream goes over the crossbar rather than hitting it.

lexuslover

i took mine off as well when i put Thule ski racks on. i saved them, but don't use them.