Installing roof rack?

so dang easy... there's two little guide holes already present in the car. you just have to remove a cover and insert the guide plug (a fitted hole). The roof racks then simply hook into the hole.

i'd pay maybe $5 to have someone do it for me if I was feeling particularly lazy, otherwise...

 

I just installed one today on my 2019 Prius Prime. Took about 25 minutes. No problem.

 

it's super easy to do. if you have a friend available for the very first time that would help. I've gotten used to it now, but I was pretty worried the first time I had to extend the crossbar across the roof that I was going to scratch the roof on the metal portion that holds the guide pin.

the crossbars are labeled front and side so make sure you look closely at which way they go. I can put mine on in only a few minutes.

one thing to be aware of... they are noisy as all heck. I keep mine off unless needed or the wind noise would drive me nuts. there's another thread where someone did some testing and a thule deflector apparently makes it much more manageable. I don't use them enough to warrant getting one myself (I've used it three times now, twice for Christmas trees and another time for a mattress).

I actually like the way they make the car look, to bad they're so noisy though

 

Would anyone who has the crossbars installed mind measuring the usable length of the crossbars (i.e., the length of the part of the bar where an accessory could be clamped onto)? I'd like to see if I could fit one bike next to my cargo box on my 2018 Prime.

Thanks!

 

any dealer will have a few Prius with factory racks in the lot.

if you got a too wide box, consider after market such as Thule with rectangle bars. You can get the bars wide enough for full size V8 heavy duty van such as E-250. It will be awkward and maybe even dangerous (used extra long bars on Saab 900, kept banging into them), but you can have the bars sticking out past the car, and able to carry lite oversized stuff.