Nate Nagel wrote:
aemeijers wrote:
Nate Nagel wrote:
subject says all...

exact application is a used Thule roof rack, one of the cross bars
has a little chip in the rubbery coating, would prefer to buy a
bottle of Plasti-dip rather than a new, expen$ive cross bar (bought
rack used/cheap, wouldn't have paid the ~$800 for all new stuff)

just curious if the plasti-dip will bond properly to old rubberized
coating or should I just use paint and forget about trying to make it
look neat. I ASSume it will, and if I don't get a definitive reply
I'll try it anyway and post back

thanks

nate

What do you have to lose? It'll either work or it won't, and if it
doesn't, it won't look any worse than it does now. I'd swab it down
with something sort of solvent to degrease it and to slightly soften
the existing coating so the new stuff will bond. Those Thule racks are
nice, but they sure are expensive, like most yuppie niche products. My
sisters all have them on their little Subaru wagons, which are
apparently mandatory for crunchy granola yuppies like them.

--
aem sends...

I agree that they are somewhat of a yuppie flag, but they *are* well
made and sturdy. I tend to err on the side of bulletproof
overengineering, plus I have memories of my parents and their cheap bike
rack as a kid... on top of a Renault Encore no less I literally
saved my beloved Schwinn from an early death by grabbing it as it fell
off the bike rack while riding in said car (not sure why I was in the
front passenger seat, but I was) if we'd had air conditioning I would
have been mowing grass to get another bike I resolved if I ever got
a bike rack of my own it would be made of something sturdier and would
have proper fork mounts... (the actual failure was a downtube clamp that
was difficult to properly tighten)

Obviously I am not paying list price for this stuff, I am scavenging off
of Craigslist. That's one advantage to living in an urban area.

nate

I was referring to the Subaru Outbacks, not the bike racks on top of
them. I may see 2-3 in this blue collar town, but every college town
seems to have hundreds of them, and they aren't being driven by college
kids.

But, yes, a lot of the outbacks DO seem to have Thule or Yakima racks on
them. I think the Sub factory rails were designed to fit those brands.

--
aem sends....