roof racks for Insight?

[yogaguy]

I hope this isn't heresy, but I'm wondering if there are roof racks that work well on an Insight. I know that carrying things on the roof would reduce mileage, but I don't need a big vehicle for the little bit of hauling I do. Roof racks would suffice. Then the other 98% of the time I could get great mileage. thanks

[Southern Dad]

While I love the slick, smooth appearance of the 1st Generation Insight, there are so many times I've wished I had a bit more space to carry something. One day, I was about an hour from my home when I found a grocery store with huge signs saying it was going out of business. Everything was 50% or more off! Some things were even 75% off. I filled that little Insight up to the brim with bargains.

[Eli]

I'm sure something could be installed, but you would want it to be removable because it would completely destroy your mileage.

[yogaguy]

Most racks I've used have been very light and have created very little drag, so I think that when not in use they wouldn't reduce mileage noticeably.

[Eli]

It's well known that anything on the roof of the Insight significantly reduces MPG.

Has nothing to do with weight, and everything to do with disrupting the laminar airflow over the roof and back of the car.

[daver277]

I took the headliner out and glued large plates with nuts welded to them under the roof skin at the strongest part of the structure and drilled holes (3/8") down to the nuts.
I then fabbed a rack that bolts down into the nuts and when the rack isn't needed, I just fill the holes with gasketed screws.
The screws show all the time but are rounded and painted and don't disrupt the air flow.
The rack base plates are curved to match the compound curve of the roof.
The base rack uses 2 unistrut horizintal channels, front/back direction only and from that, I can build an infinite number of variations of racking.
It's all welded and painted and looks pretty good even though it's only on the I1 about 5% of the time.

[lat.ch.]

If you're talking I2, there's another thread that covers this well (with pics).

[ackattacker]

Search Amazon for "Universal Roof Rack". You can buy a pair for $30 that will fit any car. I've carried two big trunk's full of stuff on top of my old Corolla hundreds of miles with those things. You need to be careful to check the tension every once in a while, is all.

BTW the two trunks on top of my Corolla dropped my mileage from about 35 mpg to around 22.

[Eli]

Originally Posted by daver277

I took the headliner out and glued large plates with nuts welded to them under the roof skin at the strongest part of the structure and drilled holes (3/8") down to the nuts.
I then fabbed a rack that bolts down into the nuts and when the rack isn't needed, I just fill the holes with gasketed screws.
The screws show all the time but are rounded and painted and don't disrupt the air flow.
The rack base plates are curved to match the compound curve of the roof.
The base rack uses 2 unistrut horizintal channels, front/back direction only and from that, I can build an infinite number of variations of racking.
It's all welded and painted and looks pretty good even though it's only on the I1 about 5% of the time.

This sounds like a solid solution that wouldn't affect MPG when the racks are not being used.

[yogaguy]

Wow. That sounds like a DIY work of art. Thanks for the info. daver277