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Question on using Cross Bars

martinjlm

martinjlm

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Location
Detroit, Michigan
Cars
2023 Air GT (White)
For those of you who use Cross Bars to transport bikes and other stuff, I have a few questions before I decide whether to buy or not:
  1. On a scale of 1 (meh) to 10 (total pain in the ass) how tedious is the install / uninstall?
  2. Do you put them on and leave them or do you put them on only when you need and then take them off until next use?
  3. For those who put them on and take them off frequently, how frequently? Once a week? Once a month? 5 - 10 times per year?
  4. For those who put them on and take them off frequently do you notice any degradation in the fastening fidelity?
 
They’re a 3 to install/uninstall. The hardest part is getting those plastic covers back in when you remove them. I only install mine when I need them (which is very rare) because the increased noise at even 30mph is pretty annoying
 
Ignore everything I just said. I went to install mine ands the bolts on the rear bar won’t thread all the way. And now I’ve got one stuck and it won’t come back out. It just spins
 

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JGard18 said:
Ignore everything I just said. I went to install mine ands the bolts on the rear bar won’t thread all the way. And now I’ve got one stuck and it won’t come back out. It just spins
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If there is room, maybe use vise grips to squeeze the white plastic around the nut-zerts to stop the spinning so you can recover.

nut-zert.webp
 
JGard18 said:
They’re a 3 to install/uninstall. The hardest part is getting those plastic covers back in when you remove them. I only install mine when I need them (which is very rare) because the increased noise at even 30mph is pretty annoying
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Plastic covers are the worst design feature on the Air.
 
10 out of 10 in difficulty with 10 being hardest and 1 easiest.

Known issue with the receptacles being poorly made. Lucid had to replace mine due to them spinning upon initial install. Highly suggest Lucid Service installing them.

Additionally had to replace three windows due to the poor design of the crossbars and the proximity of bolts to the glass. Ended up just removing the aero bars permanently.
 
drb3333 said:
If there is room, maybe use vise grips to squeeze the white plastic around the nut-zerts to stop the spinning so you can recover.

View attachment 39066
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The bracket you see isn’t the problem, it’s just in the way. The thing that receives the bolts, inside the roof rail, broke free of its weld. I have no way to grip that piece, as I can barely even see it, let alone get a tool on it. I googled it and apparently this is a known problem. Great.
 
JGard18 said:
The bracket you see isn’t the problem, it’s just in the way. The thing that receives the bolts, inside the roof rail, broke free of its weld. I have no way to grip that piece, as I can barely even see it, let alone get a tool on it. I googled it and apparently this is a known problem. Great.
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This strikes to the heart of my concern. I can only imagine that this is due to repeated use. My situation would be repeated use. I do a slow roll every Thursday and random trail rides with a friend group and occasional rides on the Detroit Riverwalk / Dequindre Cut / Belle Isle. Right now I use a Thule hitch mount carrier with my Camaro to get to biking events around town. Thing is we're looking to make a long drive where we want to take our bikes and of course we want to take the AGT. Our Model Y also has a tow package so obviously we could just take that but I'd M-U-C-H rather take the Air.
 
martinjlm said:
This strikes to the heart of my concern. I can only imagine that this is due to repeated use. My situation would be repeated use. I do a slow roll every Thursday and random trail rides with a friend group and occasional rides on the Detroit Riverwalk / Dequindre Cut / Belle Isle. Right now I use a Thule hitch mount carrier with my Camaro to get to biking events around town. Thing is we're looking to make a long drive where we want to take our bikes and of course we want to take the AGT. Our Model Y also has a tow package so obviously we could just take that but I'd M-U-C-H rather take the Air.
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This was only the second time I went to install the crossbars. So it's definitely not a repeated use failure.
 
I should have returned to this thread sooner with an update. I acquired the cross bars and bike carriers from a local Lucid owner (Thanks Mark!). Installation was super super easy....for the 1st three positions. Then I started getting visions of @JGard18 and @Dog poop 's issues. The weatherstripping was preventing me from getting the bolt aligned correctly. I eventually wound up using a knife blade to hold the weatherstripping back while aligning the bolt. A 3-hands required job but since nobody else was home at the time and the dogs don't have thumbs I got really creative and got it done with two. Happy with the result. Car doesn't look bad with them on and I've been riding enough that taking them off hasn't made sense. At least not yet. I think next roadtrip I may take them off. The road trip with the bikes is a couple months out.
 
Did you have pictures?
 
martinjlm said:
This strikes to the heart of my concern. I can only imagine that this is due to repeated use. My situation would be repeated use. I do a slow roll every Thursday and random trail rides with a friend group and occasional rides on the Detroit Riverwalk / Dequindre Cut / Belle Isle. Right now I use a Thule hitch mount carrier with my Camaro to get to biking events around town. Thing is we're looking to make a long drive where we want to take our bikes and of course we want to take the AGT. Our Model Y also has a tow package so obviously we could just take that but I'd M-U-C-H rather take the Air.
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You might want to consider, depending on your type of riding... I sidestepped my own extreme hesitation with roof rack by first squeezing my gravel bike into my trunk+rear seats. Then I obtained a Montague Paratrooper folding full-on mountain bike, and what really made it work for me were quick-release pedals. I don't have to fold the rear seats down, it fits neatly in the trunk. May or may not solve your use case but I've never even once installed my roof crossbars.
 
kurious said:
You might want to consider, depending on your type of riding... I sidestepped my own extreme hesitation with roof rack by first squeezing my gravel bike into my trunk+rear seats. Then I obtained a Montague Paratrooper folding full-on mountain bike, and what really made it work for me were quick-release pedals. I don't have to fold the rear seats down, it fits neatly in the trunk. May or may not solve your use case but I've never even once installed my roof crossbars.
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I did the seats down / tires off through the trunk thing a few times. Thing is, we have a family trip coming up where I will have two bikes to transport and four people in the car. Came down to take the Tesla (with tow hitch) or get the cross bar set up.
 
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