 | Home > Maintenance & Modifications > low profile roof bars: Flatdog vs FrontRunner cheapest? |
 
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| Gasket Member Since: 30 May 2020 Location: Manchester Posts: 629  |
Hi everyone.
The time has come to invest in some roof bars. I don't think I need a full rack - I'd rather have a lighter set of bars that I can remove easier. The sorts of things I'm carrying are: -8x4 sheets of ply -skis -a roof tent (periodically and not yet bought). In terms of tie downs I would prefer T-track and I also need the setup to be exceptionally low profile to fit in the garage. I have searched the forum and the setup that jumps out at me is the setup by forumer "dantastic" which is a non-standard combination of Front Runner bars with the No. 5 foot. Here's the link, scroll down for pictures: https://www.defender2.net/forum/topic50506...+roof+bars I did look at the Manbo bars as well as the factory Thule, Rhino Rack, FirstFour and Safari Equip. But its the Front Runner style that I'd like. In terms of purchase can anyone advise the cheapest way to buy: Straight from Front Runner? Through a dealer? Any discount Codes? I would also consider the FlatDog Rax bars (https://flatdoguk.com/flatdog-rax-roof-bar---defender~1003) which seem eerily similar to the Front Runner ones but at half the price and I'd need to ask them about supplying a lower profile foot - but I have no experience with the company and don't know whether to expect Front Runner levels of quality. Finally: 2-bars vs 3? Its a 90. I'm leaning towards 3 but would welcome any advice. |
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11th Aug 2022 2:41pm |
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| Mdm Member Since: 11 Sep 2013 Location: Sunny Lancashire Posts: 1630 
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2 bar are fine for normal use
3 for a roof tent is what i did and most folk selling tents seem to recomend |
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11th Aug 2022 3:11pm |
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| kmac Member Since: 07 Oct 2009 Location: Middlesex Posts: 1309 
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I have the Flatdog bars. Seem well made to me - no issues.
Front Runner may be a "cut above" though The issue is if the value of the transaction is over a threshold - think it is around £110, there are duties/taxes to pay and a courier admin charge to collect the monies. If buying Front Runner, best to send to a friend in the EU and then pick up when you visit. |
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11th Aug 2022 3:21pm |
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| Bluest Member Since: 23 Apr 2016 Location: Lancashire Posts: 4219 
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I have 4x Flatdog ones on a 110. From a quality point of view I'm happy with them and would buy again. The powder coat has proved robust so far. The gutter mounting clamps are a little fiddly to me, and I'm never 100% confident they are set right, but the bars have never moved so could be just me. You have to set them horizontally with a grub screw and clamp them vertically with the nut on top, but it's not obvious what order do them or how tight they should be. I'd like it if they extended under the gutter a few mm more too. It's good that they just take a standard 8mm (I think) bolt in the t-track so affixing just about anything is very easy. I had some Rhino bars before that used a specific t-slot fixings which was really limiting.
Flatdog themselves are a decent firm, but it's best to deal with them over the phone or specific question by email rather than just buy via the web shop. I ordered my bars in a hurry and the website didn't say the feet were on back-order. I nearly didn't have them in time for my trip. That aside, being UK it's good that they carry a big stock of accessories, and waiting times for out of stock bits shouldn't be long. They've been to Morocco and traversed the Pyrenees with an Oztent, awning, hi-lift, etc on them there doesn't seem to be much in the way of extra wind noise.  Click image to enlarge 2007 110 TDCi Station Wagon XS |
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11th Aug 2022 3:45pm |
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