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Subject Topic: Fitting a roofbox Post Reply Post New Topic
01/8/2010 at 1:45pm
 Location: Southampton
 Outfit: Coleman TriSpace Vango DD300
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Just dusted down my roofbox for next week - can anyone tell me how far back on the car I need to mount it to minimise air resistance? I have a Skoda Octavia Estate if it makes any difference.

Thanks

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Johnny Hamster


01/8/2010 at 1:58pm
 Location: Cheshire
 Outfit: De Waard Lepelaar & Kleine Burgemeeste
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I really shouldn't cross the top of the windscreen. Ideally it should be set back a little way.

If you follow the line of the windscreen up and back over the top of the car it should sit behind that imaginary line. That will give you least wind resistance as the screen naturally deflects wind upwards.

It'll still knock off a few mpg though.

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Your mileage may vary


01/8/2010 at 2:14pm
 Location: Hayle Cornwall
 Outfit: Honda CRV Bailey Bordeaux + tents
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Surely you are governed by where the cross roof rails go. On all the cars I have had with fixed rails the manufacturer marks where to fit the cross rails. The box then goes wherever they are.

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Nigel

March 2012 - Dove Meadows
6th July Moving to Hayle


01/8/2010 at 2:26pm
 Location: Cheshire
 Outfit: De Waard Lepelaar & Kleine Burgemeeste
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True, but most roof-boxes allow you to place the brackets in a number of different places, so for a fixed cross bar the box can be positioned a few notches forwards or backwards.

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Your mileage may vary


01/8/2010 at 2:44pm
 Location: Canol Cymru
 Outfit: chinos and a polo shirt
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also the thule boxes with the quick grip fixings have a slot in the box which allows about four inches of movement

 

I tend to try and fit mine so that the wind flow up the slope of the screen hits the front slope of the box to minimize the aerodynamic disruption, you do see with some of the long narrow boxes that the front of the box is out over the top of the screen so the wind flow up the screen will hit the bottom of the box creating lift and drag

 



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01/8/2010 at 11:26pm
 Location: Near the end of the wall
 Outfit: Vangos
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I fit our box, so that the back is just forward of my roof arial. I have a Skoda Octavia saloon.

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Fortitudine Vinclmus


02/8/2010 at 7:33am
 Location: Cambs
 Outfit: Ford Duetto Autosleeper
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We used a roof box for the first time this year, we have a Volvo V70 estate, we set our box so it started about 3ins from where the sun roof ended. OH took all petrol brought and used etc, and he reckons that we did 1 mile less per mile per gallon than with out the box!

I couldn't possibly comment though well outside of my area of authority!


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Duffs54      



02/8/2010 at 6:52pm
 Location: Southampton
 Outfit: Coleman TriSpace Vango DD300
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Thanks everyone, I guess following the line of the windscreen makes sense. There's nothing in the Skoda user manual about location of cross bars, although a Renault I had a long time ago was very specific regarding their location.

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Johnny Hamster


03/8/2010 at 8:16pm
 Location: suffolk
 Outfit: Starcamper 5
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I also have an Octavia Estate and, last weekend, placed my Farad roofbox so that the rear clamp was just in front of the upright above the rear passenger door. This meant that the front of the box was about halfway over the sun-roof.

Importantly, this places the box in about the middle of the roof for handling and balance.

In a near 400 mile run I averaged about 52mpg, a little less than my normal commuting average of about 60mpg but, with a fully loaded car, I am not going to complain - especially as I wasn't hanging about on the motorways, either.

A little extra wind-noise (turn up the radio) but no particular problems.

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Ecowoody


05/8/2010 at 4:01am
 Location: Midlands
 Outfit: Mondeo Avondale Gram
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Put mine as far forward as possible to get the weight over the front of the car.

Easy the load off the rear suspension a bit.




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