Excellent and inexpensive solution! Was hearing excessive whistling driving at 60Km/h. After wrapping the bar with a bungee cord, it went away! Thanks again
Interesting fix! I’ve never liked roof racks. I was glad the 2012 R didn’t have them. I removed the rails from my 2014 Jetta Sportwagon to eliminate wind noise and drag, plus added benefit of 1-2 miles per gallon on the highway! Great video! Cool to add actual proof of benefit! Safe driving and have fun doing it!
looking forward to trying this tomorrow. was kicking myself after i drove of after opting for the sware bars. but im not giving near 200 for the other ones! at 30mph its bad. at 60mph would put your head in meltdown. im feeling hopeful now!
reading all the reviews on my gobi rack on my 4runner I just installed had me thinking the wind noise would not be that bad, especially since I don't even have a sun roof. but after installing it and running the car at freeway speeds, boy was I wrong. Noise gets pretty bad. I just ordered myself some paracord. If it helps you will be a life saver.
I’ll be damned….I’m going to give this a shot. I have crossbars on the leer camper shell on my GMC truck. It whistles like your blowing across the top a coke bottle. After looking at a cross section of the bars online I noticed mine doesn’t have the rubber in fill on the bottom and that has got to be where my whistle is coming from. I’m looking for that rubber piece but I’ll try this truck until I can find it.
Its not really about the crossbar material but the Karman Vortex. The rubber is more for load grip. The string wrapping the crossbars is to break the karman vortex. Overtime they minimize it by making an elongated aerodynamic blade style crossbars similar to airplane wings to cut drag and karman vortex. Hope this helps 😅
@@ilimit it did help a little bit. I used to hear the wind noise hitting the roof at like 45mph, now I dont but still get the noise at like 65-70 mph. Wondering if doing the back bar also would help more.
I did the same mod on my bars (Niro with aero bars), with a Yakima skybox, the clamps work fine with the cord in place, just need to adjust the Paracord around where the box clamps makes contact with the rails
I have a new VW electric SUV and the dealer installed roof cross bars on the factory installed roof rails. Wind is setting up a sympathetic vibration between 30 and 40 mph that makes passengers think they are inside a bass fiddle with someone playing long, low notes. It's way beyond what anyone would call a hum or a whistle. I'll try the solutions you suggest. Anyone else have this problem and found a solution?
I've tried moving the bars to the exact positions specified in the manual for the crossbars. That reduced the severity of the vibrations and changed the speed at which they're strongest from 37 mph to 33 mph. I think it's because moving them (especially the front one) changed the profile where it encounters incoming air. It reminds me of the Takoma Narrows Bridge collapse caused by wind creating sympathetic vibrations in the bridge roadway. See video ruclips.net/video/y0xohjV7Avo/видео.html. I'll try the nylon paracord trick next. That breaks up the laminar flow around the bars, creating chaotic eddies behind it rather than harmonic vibrations that get amplified. Has anyone tried the paracord and it DIDN'T work?
"You'll need to disrupt the flow of air [...] by making it more aerodynamic" This doesn't make any sense. What you are doing is making it less aerodynamic, disrupting airflow and increasing drag. Granted; the increase in drag will not be noticeable compared to the roofrack without the rope.
Air flow can get behave counter intuitively sometimes - look up the golf ball effect. Where disrupting the airflow literally does make it more aerodynamic. But I'm kind of with you in this case.... probably. I doubt it's more aerodynamic, but you never know, it at least probably makes very little difference. It's all guesswork though, impossible to say without high tech wind tunnel testing.
Works like a charm. I had terrible wind noise even at 35mph and I barely hear a thing at 60+ mph. Thanks for the tip!
Excellent and inexpensive solution! Was hearing excessive whistling driving at 60Km/h. After wrapping the bar with a bungee cord, it went away! Thanks again
Glad it helped!
I just bought a $4 swimming pool noodle foam and put it below the roof rack. Worked.
Yeah, but now you have a fucking pool noodle on your roof.
@@swingset1969 nobody even notices it because its tucked under the crossbar and matches color. Its been 2 years, no issues and not 1 person even knew.
Interesting fix! I’ve never liked roof racks. I was glad the 2012 R didn’t have them. I removed the rails from my 2014 Jetta Sportwagon to eliminate wind noise and drag, plus added benefit of 1-2 miles per gallon on the highway! Great video! Cool to add actual proof of benefit! Safe driving and have fun doing it!
Thanks Mike! Luckily got a good deal on them and hopefully these bars help me keep the R longer!
👍👍😎
what kind of knot did you use?
looking forward to trying this tomorrow. was kicking myself after i drove of after opting for the sware bars. but im not giving near 200 for the other ones! at 30mph its bad. at 60mph would put your head in meltdown. im feeling hopeful now!
Just taking a look at the R in the thumbnail told me it was a vw (hopefully Golf) video 😁
Nice solution!
White Wolf knows his R!
reading all the reviews on my gobi rack on my 4runner I just installed had me thinking the wind noise would not be that bad, especially since I don't even have a sun roof. but after installing it and running the car at freeway speeds, boy was I wrong. Noise gets pretty bad. I just ordered myself some paracord. If it helps you will be a life saver.
lol pls update when you can, same here except with a Rival 4x4 roof
I just did this for my front and back crossbars. I hope it works
It works ! So simple and effective 🙂👍
Love this. Going to try it on my Yakima round crossbars.
That a big difference, science is amazing 😮
except when it comes down to pharmaceutical , vaccines , climate , econony , and many other :D
@@slottygw2wvw842 i know this much is true.
Is it safe to use such paracord and the roof box at the same time? Is such combination going to reduce noise? Thanks!
This worked for me. Used black paracord. It looks like it came with the cross bars.
Nice and discreet 👍
Worked a treat
I’ll be damned….I’m going to give this a shot. I have crossbars on the leer camper shell on my GMC truck. It whistles like your blowing across the top a coke bottle. After looking at a cross section of the bars online I noticed mine doesn’t have the rubber in fill on the bottom and that has got to be where my whistle is coming from. I’m looking for that rubber piece but I’ll try this truck until I can find it.
Thanks for watching and let us know how it goes!
Its not really about the crossbar material but the Karman Vortex. The rubber is more for load grip. The string wrapping the crossbars is to break the karman vortex. Overtime they minimize it by making an elongated aerodynamic blade style crossbars similar to airplane wings to cut drag and karman vortex. Hope this helps 😅
Awesome video and awesome noise solution!!!
great tip worth a try
Nice. Gonna have to try it
My aero bars whistle over 66mph, hopefully this'll cure that!
Breaks Karman vortex! Correct!
diameter of cord is 5mm
it works like a champ ^_^ ty
What’s the thickness of the rope? The link in the description looks much thicker than the one used on your SUV.
I’m assuming it doesn’t completely get rid of the whistle but brings the noise down considerably? Am I right?
Wow noticable difference, Thanks for sharing! :)
I was amazed as well. Glad it helped!
What type of knot is he tying in the first and last part to keep it tight?
Great tip, what thickness cord did you use?
Did u put then only on front one?
Yep
What’s the diameter of the bungee cord?
2:47 What kind of knot did he use to tie the end?
Do you also need to put one on the rear crossbar?
I've got 3 and only did the front one I get no noise now
I’m trying this
My one at 70 mph the noise disappear.
my GlK350 has the same issues after installing aftermarket crossbars. wonder if the OEM ones would make the same noise
I think it really depends on the height and design on the oem bars.
I imagine if you had a place to put hooks, just buy similar diameter bungee and dispense with knot tying.
Did you end up doing both cross bars or just the front one?
Front
Thanks@@ilimit
thanks it works for me too.
Glad it worked!
Just wondering, the thicker the rope does it mean the quieter it gets?
I would guess not so much?
Bro how thick is the rope?
I’m not certain but the link to it is in the description.
I was wondering the same because the link in the description looks much thicker.
Does this help with mpg’s?
Not as much as decreasing wind noise
did you just have whistling? i dont have whistling but just hear wind hitting the roof at around 40+ mph. wonder if this will work.
Oh yeah, I have a feeling it'll def make a difference for you
@@ilimit it did help a little bit. I used to hear the wind noise hitting the roof at like 45mph, now I dont but still get the noise at like 65-70 mph. Wondering if doing the back bar also would help more.
Worked!
NIce!
Off topic, but what kind of watch are you wearing?
Hey Scott, just an apple watch with a casio looking watch band.
i'm assuming you'd have to take the the cord off when carrying items?
I use a cargo box and still have the nylon strings on
Mini vortex generator
Is there an option when using a roof carrier?
I did the same mod on my bars (Niro with aero bars), with a Yakima skybox, the clamps work fine with the cord in place, just need to adjust the Paracord around where the box clamps makes contact with the rails
I have a new VW electric SUV and the dealer installed roof cross bars on the factory installed roof rails. Wind is setting up a sympathetic vibration between 30 and 40 mph that makes passengers think they are inside a bass fiddle with someone playing long, low notes. It's way beyond what anyone would call a hum or a whistle. I'll try the solutions you suggest. Anyone else have this problem and found a solution?
I've tried moving the bars to the exact positions specified in the manual for the crossbars. That reduced the severity of the vibrations and changed the speed at which they're strongest from 37 mph to 33 mph. I think it's because moving them (especially the front one) changed the profile where it encounters incoming air. It reminds me of the Takoma Narrows Bridge collapse caused by wind creating sympathetic vibrations in the bridge roadway. See video ruclips.net/video/y0xohjV7Avo/видео.html.
I'll try the nylon paracord trick next. That breaks up the laminar flow around the bars, creating chaotic eddies behind it rather than harmonic vibrations that get amplified.
Has anyone tried the paracord and it DIDN'T work?
It doesn't work for me
Bummer
"You'll need to disrupt the flow of air [...] by making it more aerodynamic"
This doesn't make any sense. What you are doing is making it less aerodynamic, disrupting airflow and increasing drag.
Granted; the increase in drag will not be noticeable compared to the roofrack without the rope.
Air flow can get behave counter intuitively sometimes - look up the golf ball effect. Where disrupting the airflow literally does make it more aerodynamic.
But I'm kind of with you in this case.... probably. I doubt it's more aerodynamic, but you never know, it at least probably makes very little difference. It's all guesswork though, impossible to say without high tech wind tunnel testing.
Just remove them because 90% of the time your not using them anyways.
Not everybody has quick-realease cross bars... 😢
Looks funny. Remove!
Can't see it from the drivier's seat!
@@ZombieDawg what a great comment!
Function > Form
Good point, Z-Dawg!!
I got to try this,