Trunk mount bike carrier

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by Schwinn
I have a hitch mount for my Discovery but I would like to find a trunk mount 2-bike carrier for my Passat. Are these bad about scratching up the paint? My wife would kill me if the car got scratched. Any brands to look at or are they all about the same?

Thanks in advance for your help.
Travis Schwinn

Every trunk-mount rack that I've had experience with has stunk. My wife has one that she had before we ever met and I hate the thing. It doesn't seem to scratch her car though. At least not that I can tell. It's a pain to put on and take off of the car and you can't get in the trunk when it's on. They're generally of poor quality and they don't seem to hold the bike as securely as a roof or hitch rack.

My buddy had his Rocky Mountain on a trunk mount rack on his Camero (ugh!), he heard noise coming from the back of his car and puled over to find that his bike was dragging on the road! The rack had given way and the rear wheel was dragging on the pavement. The entire rear wheel except for the hub was destroyed!

I'd recommend a roof rack or if you're that concered about scratching the car put a hitch on it and get a good hitch rack. But c'mon, it's just a car, who cares if it gets scratched! They always do evetually. It's our bikes that we should be concerned about scratching! 😄

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by Schwinn
I have a hitch mount for my Discovery but I would like to find a trunk mount 2-bike carrier for my Passat. Are these bad about scratching up the paint? My wife would kill me if the car got scratched. Any brands to look at or are they all about the same?

Thanks in advance for your help.
Travis Schwinn

I don't think there is a trunk mount made that will not scratch a cars paint or at the VERY least, scuff up the clearcoat... I have many friends that use them (I never will) and I can look at any car with a trunk and identify if a trunk mount bike carrier was used on it for longer than a few months 🙂

The hitch mounts of course are far more secure and less damaging though I hear that its not a good way to transport carbon framed bikes around (the tube clamping method in concert with the side loads is bad)

If you have a Passat, you should look into the factory roof rack offered by Volkswagen. I'm certain they contract out to one of the major rack manufacturers to have it made for Volkswagen, but a friend of mine at work has one on his passat and it is of excellent quality, solid and secure... I'm certain you could get one from an aftermarket source that would work as well, but it just might reduce a bit of hassle to know it is a VW product intended for your car...

Good Luck!

Feanor

Thanks for the replies. As far as the roof mount goes, that is a permenant addition to the car right? I was hoping for a temp alternative. This is my wifes car and I won't be using it much. May just have to make sure to use mine I guess.

You can take roof racks on and off, its more hassle but its not permanent, we have one we take off in the winter and put in the basement ( our ski gear goes inside the car ) but bring out in the summer.

Damiansmith is correct,

The roof rack is far from permanent, but is most definitely more of a hassle to take off and put on than a basic trunk bike carrier.

On the other hand though it is not difficult either. My brother puts his roof rack on his BMW only when he is taking his bikes somewhere and removes it immediately after he's done with it (every now and again he'll have it on for a few days or maybe a week before removing it) He must install and remove the rack during the riding season maybe 30 or 40 times...

You need to be a bit more careful when mounting it too as a slip and having a part of it bang on your roof could cause more paint damage than a months worth of the worst trunk lid rack on your trunk 🙂 But even if your're only moderately careful, you should be fine.

In addition, as my brother is FANATICAL about the condition of his cars, he has these thin black semi-adhesive squares of what seem like metallic material that are stuck on the roof of his car that the rack towers sit on THey remind me of the consistency of license plate registration stickers but not nearly with the same adhesive properties 🙂 They peel off as easy as yellow stickies, leave no residue and completely protect the clear coat from scuffing due to vibration even though the pads on the bottom of the towers do this pretty well... His BMW is dark green and the stickers are black but he says they also come in different colors so that if you match your car paint even halfway and leave them on they're difficult to spot unless you're looking for them...

He's been using his roof rack for years with these methods and I'll be damned if I can spot a single anomaly in his roof pain where the rack sits...

Good luck!

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by Feanor
he has these thin black semi-adhesive squares of what seem like metallic material that are stuck on the roof of his car that the rack towers sit on THey remind me of the consistency of license plate registration stickers but not nearly with the same adhesive properties 🙂 They peel off as easy as yellow stickies, leave no residue and completely protect the clear coat from scuffing due to vibration even though the pads on the bottom of the towers do this pretty well... His BMW is dark green and the stickers are black but he says they also come in different colors so that if you match your car paint even halfway and leave them on they're difficult to spot unless you're looking for them...

He's been using his roof rack for years with these methods and I'll be damned if I can spot a single anomaly in his roof pain where the rack sits...

Good luck!

could you get more information from him about this product?