Roof Rack Car Protection

Larry Harris wants to know if there is any way to protect the paint work on his car from any damage that the feet of the roof rack may cause. We give him our thoughts and ask if anyone out there has any help for Larry?

Question:
How can I protect my car where the bike rack feet ride? Is there something that works well to place under the rubber padded feet?

Hi Larry,

I guess you are using a roof rack that has feet that sit on the top of the roof of your car, not just the clamp on the guttering or special clamp area. There are some different things you can do, but in the end what ever you use there will be some movement between the feet of the rack and the roof of the car and this will make the paint work dull at that point of contact. Thin pieces of cloth or you can cut pieces of an old inner tube and place them between the roof and the rack feet. This can still cause that dullness of the paint, as it is caused by friction you must make sure that the clamps are tight enough, all the time, this means you need to check the tightness as often as you can, any movement will mark your can. Sorry, but that’s the best we can do on this problem, maybe some of readers can help out with suggestions?