Thule says the roof rack bars must minimally be 23 inches apart to safely hold a long Thule box; I know Honda is selling the shorter box for this reason. Anyone know how far apart the roof rack bars are?

Thanks. Love the site.

I just read in another thread where someone said 28". Don't quote me on that tho. How about just looking at the "punchouts" on the top of your roof and measuring the distance between them? You can see the installation manual at http://www.handa-accessories.com/elementext.html that will show you where the "punchouts" are.

-k

Thanks, but I'm separated for the week by 1,000 miles between myself and my Element, and want to bring a Thule box back.

I checked the Thule book and it says the minimum spread is 23 inches for anyone interested.

I haven't installed my Thule racks yet, waiting for new keys to arrive so I can take my old feet off my load bars (Where oh where did I put those keys?!) But I just went out and measured where the tracker feet go and at minimum the bars will be 26" apart and it looks like they'll be closer to 29" apart. Hope this helps! Which box are you getting? I can't decide what would look better, silver (Evolution) or black. I'm going to keep my eyes open during the summer for a decent deal on one for next snow season.

Good luck,
-k

Thanks for measuring! I got a good deal on an Evolution! I bought an E! for my E!

Mind if I ask which model and how much?

http://www.elementownersclub.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1728

You should have no problem mounting a Thule box. My name is Corey and I work at Sports Rack www.sportsrack.com and we have mounted these boxes before. I personaly own the EX blue. I will have pictures soon of my custom rack on my E. I have bypassed the factory rack and have installed tracks from Yakima. I am able to carry baskets, bikes, boxes, and kayaks. You can contact me with any interier and exterier rack questions for the E any time.

Well, I took the plunge also. Just picked up a Thule Evolution 1600. Looks pretty cool up there, I must admit. Got a decent deal at Eastern Mountain Sports. $400 (including tax) and the guy helped me put it on (took all of 2 minutes - great setup). I have it on Thule racks.

-k

[quote:9d7ebe0a78="raydoug"]Thule says the roof rack bars must minimally be 23 inches apart to safely hold a long Thule box; I know Honda is selling the shorter box for this reason. Anyone know how far apart the roof rack bars are?

Thanks. Love the site.[/quote:9d7ebe0a78]


We also purchased a Thule Evolution... We were a little concerned as the factory roof rack has a weight capacity of 75lbs and our Evolution model was 27lbs which meant only 48lbs of cargo. I think that Honda was conservative on the roof rack capacity though because I loaded that Evolution up with about 100lbs worth of luggage and then drove 1200 miles to Florida and back with no problem! The Thule Evolution fit perfect on my factory Honda roof rack and just happened to match our silver E perfectly!

http://www.wosto.com/elly.jpg