Michael T

I have a 1998 E320 Wagon. It came with the Basic Carriers which mount accross the two roof rails. The Basic Carriers are an elipse shape about 1 and one-half inches by three-quarters of an inch thick. They are smooth all the way accross. I ordered a bicycle carrier from Mercedes and it needs to have groves to slide into. They only show one bicycle carrier. The Yakima and Thule bicycle carriers do not work either. Any ideas?

techbike

you need to get the correct brackets to mount the racks on. If you go to a good bike shop that carries thule, they'll have a table to look up the model # bracket for your car. check out Thule.com. maybe they'll have a reference guide.
Good luck.

allezdude

Both Yakima and Thule offer systems that will work with your factory rack. Their web sites are:

http://www.thuleracks.com/thule/default.asp
http://www.yakima.com/choose_my_rack/index.asp

The MB system is an aftermarket unit that's been rebadged and doesn't make use of the "Basic Carriers." A Yakima set-up to carry 2 bikes would cost about $400. Local dealer quoted me about $380 for MB bike kit for 1 bike and they don't offer a fork-mount option for the bike carrier.

I think you're better off going with Thule or Yakima.