Hi,

First time poster and a recent owner of a '07 CPO GL450. I am very satisfied with the purchase so far and my wife and I enjoy every drive in it.

On to my question... I am looking to buy a roof rack, specifically the MB basic carrier. And I have some questions about it and its compatibility with Thule accessories.

1. Can the MB basic carrier be mounted in any position on the GL (front to back)?

2. Is the MB's center channel/groove attachment fully compatible with Thule w/out having to use a clamping adapter around the load bars?

3. Are more than 2 key locks provided with the MB and are those compatible with other non-MB accessories?

I have seen a comparable pruduct from Thule (450R Rapid crossroad) and a non-GL rails at my MB dealer which I believe to use the same load bars. Here are my observations of the two:

1. The MB aluminum bars may be thicker and appear to have a higher load rating ~220lbs. Thule spec'ed it around 165lbs.

2. The end cap of the load bar on the MB product is actually locked in place whereas it can easily be removed on the Thule.

3. The Thule comes with a rubber strip that covers the center groove and can be cut to fit around any groove mounted accesories for alleged lower noise. I don't see the MB with that feature.

4. The thule mounting feet may be more aerodynamic based on very small pictures I have seen only... the MB ones appear very boxy.

That's all. Any help or insight would be much appreciated!

I can't answer too many of your questions specifically but just did the bars/carrier thing and will give you info from my experience:
1) MB bars that attach to the rails will be narrower than say a 54 bar system from Thule if you are looking to put more up there than just a carrier. The MB bars will hold a carrier alone just fine.
2) MB bars are made by Thule and you can get the lock cylinders changed to have one key fot both. I didn't do this because 2 or 1 doesn't make much difference to me.
3) Cost of MB bars is higher than Thule but they look a lot better, especially in chrome. New price is $500+ but I got mine used for $150 from one of the service guys that had a set. Inquire at parts/service that you are interested in buying a used set.
4) I have the Thule Atlantis 2100 and it is almost impossible to get up there by yourself if you need to put on/take off the carrier more than once per season. A smaller box is more manageble. The claw feet on the Thule box attach very quickly and easily to the bars.
5) There is some fore/aft adjustments in the bars and the carrier has some also.
6) Bars alone don't make much noise, but you definitely get some wind noise with the carrier on above 60 mph. Gas mileage didn't seem to be affected mych b/c adding a small torpedo on top of a brick doesn't seem to affect the brick much...

Suggest you look at UK websites for Thule products, as USA Thule offerings are unacceptably compromised by the marketing department's desire to sell to folks with factory crossbars on their chevies.

Devil Red,

Thanks for sharing this info. It helps! I am curious though, you refer to high price and a chrome option. Are you referring to the fancy (curved) crossbar or the straight basic carrier ? I was not aware the basci carrier come in chrome and it is not too expensive from various online accessories sites... in fact is it about as much as the Thule.

When I spoke to the parts guy at MB, he claimed it was not Thule OEM! It is good to know that they are Thule and hopefully all of the groove mount hardware will match. I will certainly check their UK site (thanks Kent).

Hm, it looks like Oris makes the the basic carrier for MB. Not sure about the more expensive curved one.

Still, not much clarity about compatibility with Thule accessories specifically for utilizing the groove/channel.

The basic carriers are made by Thule. If you need a spare key for it, you are better off getting them from Thule than getting it from MB as it won't cost you as much to get them. Just the fact that you can get them from Thule should tell you something.

The channels are compatible with Thule products also as they are the same measurement. The MB basic carriers are wide fore to aft than the Aerobars that you get from Thule but that will only affect the mounting of a faring. It works but a car wash dryer will blow it right off because the mounting clips don't go all the way around (don't ask, I just know ;-) .

My V2 fork mount bike carriers work with the channel system so that's another testament to the fact that it works. The basic carriers also have the rubber strip that goes into the channel.

Hope all this helps.

Josey92, Thank you. This is the info I needed!

Sorry, I was talking about the curved one. I probably wouldn't have paid full price on it but at $150 it was hard to pass up, since the side rails are chrome. Plus it can stay up there year-round without looking out of place.
Good luck in your search.

$150 IS a great deal for the deluxe carrier. I also like the fact they do no look out of place. I assume that most accessories are at an angle a little when mounted? I imagine this only affects a bike, if you were to mount one on the roof?

I just picked up a basic carrier from my MB dealer. Will try them on tonight and hopefully post some PICs.

BTW, Does anyone have experience with these racks? http://www.whispbar.com/

I like the concept, but don't want to change any of my accessories. It doesn't state any compatibilities on the site so I assume that they're only compatible with their accessories. The Thule fairing does a pretty good job of cutting wind noise when I don't have the box on, and the box pretty much eliminates it. Guess I'm sticking to Thule.

We also bought the MB roof rack cross bars, although I don't recall that they where $500..mid $300 rings a bell but I could be wrong. The length of the bars are adjustable so you can move them fore and aft, which I did to accommodate an old roof top cargo carrier I had. They look quite nice, but I did take them back off after using since they do make some wind noise that isn't there when they are off.

I ended up returning the MB basic carrier because one of the locks did not want to open but also partly because the rear bar is shorter than the front one (see more below).

Becuase I needed a solution that weekend, I ended up getting the Thule 450 aero feet and attached them to my older 50" square bars. It definitely was noisy around 45+MPH but with the cargo box mounted, no problems. At this point, since everyone reports noise at speed, I am tempted to look into the Whispbar.

As far as bar length - I can understand the bars being unequal lengths for the deluxe bars or any sort that mount flush with the rails. But for the bars that mount on the top, it seems odd to make them uneven since you become limited by the length of the shorter bar, no!? I suspect that the universal rail mounts (from Thule or Yakima) are the only ones that have equal bars for their square or rounded models... On the other hand, I prefer the look of the model specific mounting mechanism of the MB products.

Thanks everyone!