bgsntth

Howdy,

We were fortunate enough to take our demo ride with an ML that had the available roof rack. Needless to say, by 30mph the wind noise was unbelievable. The salesman openly cursed whomever at the dealership demands the demo ML be equiped with the roof rack, and told us flatly he to is appalled at the amount of rukus the racks create.

I noticed that the MB ML racks sit-up high on brackets, which I believe creates the wind noise. Both my WRX wagon and Grand Cherokee have flat cross bars that sit flush with the rails, and make very little wind noise. A quick search of Thule and Yakima revealed the same high cross-bar design as MB. Lovely.

I need a rack to carry a surfboard and cargo carrier. Does a quiet one exist?

Thanks,

Martin

UncAl

Would a roof wind deflector help? Did the demo have one?

missthebus

It's not a miracle pill, but it works rather well. 2 for the price of 1.

bgsntth

Hey thanks for the insightful suggestions. I will meander down to Sportrack and see what they can do for me, though I'm still hoping someone will discover a flush rack with flat crossbars. Dare to dream!

SilverML350

Hi Everyone,

Have a look at the following URL:

http://www.a1-autoracks.com/thulerailing.html

The Mont Blanc Aero Wing crossbars looks like it would be aerodynamic and quieter. Does anybody have experience with the Mont Blanc Aero wing crossbars?

Regards,

-SilverML350

E. J.

is a small rack manufacturer in the US who makes aero bars. These are the bars I am going to get when I get the rack for our ML. I have heard they are much quieter than the other traditional bars in the Audi forums were I also hang out. Plus they are attached from one side so you dont have to run back and forth centering and then cinching each side of the bar.

Saris aero bars

Good luck,

E. J.

Darkmann

I ended up getting the Yakimas. they're loud but you get used to the noise quickly, given that I don't use them that much. Also, the cargo carrier and surfboards will create noise, regardless of rack. As long as there's some stuff up there, there'll be annoying noise.