advice roof bars or roof rack 2023 jimny

I removed my bars as I finally got the tow bar fitted, it's the only real storage solution for the jimny, although I am considering getting bars again, just for carrying traction boards to free up a little interior space so some fishing gear can live in there, the racks would work for fishing rod holders as well.

 

Busta wrote:

Given that we have a 30kg limit, and even the lightest roof basket will be close to half of that, you can't feasibly carry a full jerry can, cool box or suitcase on the roof of a Jimny. Luckily those are all things that will fit inside the car. The roof is only really useful for carrying long things that won't fit inside the car. Anything over 1m long can easily be attached to a pair of roof bars 

If your Jimny is so full that you can't fit a jerry can in it then there's a very good chance you're already over the gross vehicle weight anyway.

Please tell me that you're not serious - fuel in the passenger compartment is a major no no.  Carrying fuel on the roof of a vehicle is not optimal, but I've done it on other vehicles, since I can't do it on a Jimny, and I won't carry fuel in the passenger compartment, my only option is an extended range fuel tank - it's expensive, but it is safer than a jerry can in the passenger compartment.  Long Ranger makes 80 liter tanks for both the three door & five door Gen4s.

Im running the ARB Base Rack. and it is lighter that the frontrunner. 

And it is very silent. No wind noise  

and it looks better that the frontrunner, and better quality. 

The ARB still weighs 15kg and Suzuki's roof limit is 30kg, so you can [safely] carry 15kg load.

I will be the first to admit a decent roof rack could safely carry more, especially if the weight was evenly distributed, but once the manufacturer imposes a limit and you exceed it your insurance becomes void.

I further note that ARB recommend a wind deflector for the Jimny, this is to stop wind loading taking you [massively] over the safe weight limit.

fordem wrote:

Busta wrote:

Given that we have a 30kg limit, and even the lightest roof basket will be close to half of that, you can't feasibly carry a full jerry can, cool box or suitcase on the roof of a Jimny. Luckily those are all things that will fit inside the car. The roof is only really useful for carrying long things that won't fit inside the car. Anything over 1m long can easily be attached to a pair of roof bars 

If your Jimny is so full that you can't fit a jerry can in it then there's a very good chance you're already over the gross vehicle weight anyway.

Please tell me that you're not serious - fuel in the passenger compartment is a major no no.  Carrying fuel on the roof of a vehicle is not optimal, but I've done it on other vehicles, since I can't do it on a Jimny, and I won't carry fuel in the passenger compartment, my only option is an extended range fuel tank - it's expensive, but it is safer than a jerry can in the passenger compartment.  Long Ranger makes 80 liter tanks for both the three door & five door Gen4s.

 

100% serious. It's perfectly safe and legal to carry fuel inside your car as long as it's in an approved container (talking UK here, but the same is true in most European countries). I have a fuel can in my car most of the time. How do you think people in normal cars carry fuel for lawnmowers and such?

There is a huge difference between occasionally carrying a few liters of fuel for a few kilometers on the one hand, and setting out on a 500km (one way) trip with an additional 40 liters of fuel on the other.

It's not unusual here to see vehicles (not Jimnys) with as many as 5 roof mounted 30 liter fuel containers 

probably every roofrack needs a winddefector . Soon i will mount a light bar istead of the wind deflector

I cant feel the roofrack when i have loaded my camping stuff on my roofrack. So what do you meen by "safe" ?

I feel pretty safe with my setup.

The greatest distance between fuel stations in the UK is about 50 miles in the far north of Scotland. Typically it's closer to 10 miles. There's never a need to carry fuel for more range here which is handy because, as you say, it's not really a practical option on a Jimny.

raLLe wrote:

probably every roofrack needs a winddefector . Soon i will mount a light bar istead of the wind deflector

I cant feel the roofrack when i have loaded my camping stuff on my roofrack. So what do you meen by "safe" ?

I feel pretty safe with my setup.

If you put too much weight up there then the car might become unstable in corners but especially under breaking whilst trying to avoid an object, the so called ‘Moose test’.  The Jimny is quite tall, but narrow and all cars like this have an issue with weight on the roof.

It depends on how much weight you have up there, not sure how heavy your camping gear is but if it’s only about 15kg you are still under Suzuki’s recommendation.

Robin

Busta wrote:

The greatest distance between fuel stations in the UK is about 50 miles in the far north of Scotland. Typically it's closer to 10 miles. There's never a need to carry fuel for more range here which is handy because, as you say, it's not really a practical option on a Jimny.


 

That makes me wonder why you feel the need to have a fuel can in your car most of the time.

Not all of us are in the UK, I'm in South America, and fuel stations are few & far between once you leave the populated areas along the coast, two of the three fuel distribution companies (Mobil & Rubis) have no stations once you get beyond roughly 120kms inland - Australian owners would probably be familiar with this scenario.  Range with the Jimny's 40 liter tank is an issue.

Fuel, when available is generally not clean, so you fetch your own, either in jerry cans or an extended range tank, I've gone the jerry can route in the past on vehicles with higher roof load limits, I'm planning on the extended range tank with the Jimny.

I mostly carry extra fuel either for my saws or the generator but I also carry extra on long trips not because of availability in remote areas but because I object to the price gouging that happens on motorway services. An extra 20p per litre, no, sorry I pay enough already. And by the time you have come off the motorway and found somewhere cheaper you have wasted time and fuel to the tune of what you might have saved over the services.

I can tell you down here in Australia, there's plenty of places I go where you take a lot of extra fuel or your stuffed.
a couple of mates farms are a 3rd of a tank from the nearest fuel station, do its take extra fuel or dont drive when you get there.
Do some of our 4x4 tracks and its even worse, one road I want to do is a 1200km trip there and back with no town, no fuel and no people along the way.
that's why I got the tow bar, I couldn't carry enough fuel in the car to get me there and  back. I've had to take a couple of jerry's in the car, one behind both front seats, as there was nowhere else to put them.
much prefer having the trailer now.