How To Tie Things To Your Roof Rack

It s important to use the right tie downs and place the item correctly on the roof rack if you want to avoid damaging your cargo or causing an accident.

How to tie things to your roof rack.

While tying down the equipment hold the straps tightly so you do not need to tie a bunch of knots. This will give you the most stability. To safely tie an item to your car s roof start with all the windows down except the driver s window. Avoid strapping more than 180 pounds 82 kg to your roof rack.

Use ratchet or cam straps to tie the roof rack through the doors not the windows. By using proper methods you can haul your cargo safely to your destination. Roof racks have been known to fail at high speeds with lots of updraft so take the extra precaution of tying the roof rack down to the roof of the vehicle as well. Check the weight of the pipe that you re planning to strap to your roof rack.

If you have side rails and crossbars the straps can be looped around those. Foam blocks and crossbar pads are economical options that protect your canoe. There are multiple styles of carriers available. In the case of a naked roof you should be looping the rope through the car through the doors not the windows and around the object on the roof and a towel or blanket should be used to protect the roof of your car from the object.

Remove your rack when not in use to avoid the added weight drag and noise. Ideally you ll have some kind of roof racks to tie things onto. And be mindful of your sunroof anything too firm or heavy could break the glass. These are great for a lot of reasons but mostly because they give you something solid to anchor to so that your roof mounted load.

Choose your carrier to carry your canoe on a roof rack you ll need a carrier designed for this use. Improper tie down practices are all too common and many accidents and injuries happen because someone didn t take their time loading cargo on the roof of the car. Check your vehicle s manual for how much you can safely carry on your roof rack. Most include the necessary tie downs as well.

To secure items to the roof rack tie down the equipment with four points of contact.