Yakima BaseLine Towers - Set of 4
This product is not available. Good news: we have a newer version.
This set of 4 adjustable Yakima BaseLine towers is designed for modern vehicles without factory roof options. It easily customizes your vehicle when combined with BaseClips and Yakima crossbars.
Shop newer version- Revolutionary tower architecture uses a triaxial DropHook clip adjustment motion to accommodate a wide range of roof shapes
- DropHook design ensures that the rack is secure every time, with no guesswork
- Risk-free torque set installation with the included tool
- Adaptable BarBed material conforms to RoundBar, CoreBar and JetStream bars
- BarBed allows for 12° of pitch adjustment, making the front and rear crossbars as level as possible on vehicles with rounded roof lines
- Toe adjustment optimizes tower position on scalloped roof shapes
- Maximum load rating of 220 lbs. (100kg), depending on vehicle and bar rating
- Lockable to vehicle (SKS locks sold separately)
- Intended for naked roof installations
Imported.
| Best Use | Travel |
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Unreliable junk
If I could give this less stars I would. I purchased the baseline towers for my F150 to carry a Kevlar Canoe I purchased last summer. They worked to get it home, but have not been reliable since. I have only used these 5 times to carry the canoe, and the past 2 times, the base has loosened during travel (1 1/2 hrs) and come unclipped from the truck. Both times I could have lost my canoe. I had to stop several times to tighten the base to the bars and the clips to the truck. One of the times, the cover came off and was run over on the highway. VERY UNRELIABLE. Unfortunately, the return window has passed, even though I have only used these a handful of times.
Damaged my car
I have used Yakima racks for 20 years and have had no problems. But if you follow the torquing instructions with the tool Yakima supplies with this product . You ARE going to do costly damage to your car.. I crushed the door opening to my newly purchased car waiting for the stupid torque tool to click And I am not the only one this has happened to. If you buy these . Tighten the bolts just tight enough for the base tower to not slide on your roof . Otherwise you will be driving your car with a dent in the door opening too. . I will not be removing this rack ever from my vehicle for fear of more damage when reinstalling it. I am very disappointed
Good but.....
The clips have actually made the plastic strip on my car bubble up between the clip on the front door and the back door on both driver and passenger side. Not a huge deal but cosmetically doesn’t look good. I would say I probably installed them wrong but I paid to have REI install them for me.
An excellent roof rack system
I have owned a Yakima roof rack system since the 1990s; buying a new car meant buying new towers and base clips to fit the new car. One small gripe: Yakima's engineering improvements mean that old towers do not fit new vehicles, so you end up buying most of a new rack system to fit a different car. My only real complaint about this product is the installation instructions. In an effort to be language-independent, Yakima produced essentially the entire installation guide as a series of pictures. You have to guess that you need to pull back the grey tab in order to slide in the base clip. Words matter! My hint to any purchaser is to search the Internet for a video showing installation of the system. I found several that were excellent and easy to follow.
Endeavor to persevere!
Difficult to get fitted correctly, but rock solid once done.
Warning - BaseLine Tower/Jetstream Bar Flew Off
One of the Baseline Towers flew off along with the Yakima Jetstream Bar while driving. Fortunately, I didn't have my roof top cargo box attached. Although the pitch bolt which holds the Bar to the Towers via the bar adapter had been tightened as per instructions (tighten until you hear 3 clicks), it came out. I then checked the other three Baseline Towers, and the pitch bolts was all loose. I have had the Jetstream Bars mounted on my car (without the roof top cargo box) for 3 years, however, I didn't expect this as there is no warning in the instructions to recheck them. If you have this Yakima system, be advised to check the pitch bolts in the BaseLine Towers to insure they are tight.
Incomplete
These fit my vehicle and look slick but require careful measurements and adjusting to mount correctly. The settings were a little confusing at first as they aren't labeled on the tower but its easy to tell if it isn't correct once on the vehicle. I took me an hour to mount the rack. However the biggest disappointment is the price. $225 for the towers is steep but it also doesn't come complete. You need clips to mount it, different ones for every vehicle. For my vehicle (2007 Prius) it is two pairs at $63 each, so $126 more. $351 is a lot for just the towers. With the bars, you're going to want to buy some locks to secure your investment. Overall these are fine, but are too expensive for what they are. If our family didn't have lots of Yakima roof accessories (ski rack, bike rack, cargo box, etc.) I could use, I'd probably look at other rack options.
buyer beware
Well built overall, but one of the bolt heads on my unit stripped when I installed one of the tower a second time. I was using the supplied wrench that only applies 3.5 Nm torque, so I know I couldn't have over thightened. I called the manufacturer and they were helpful enough to send me several new bolts, but there bolts do not back out of the tower. REI agreed to an exchange, but this was very awkward in the store, as the clerks don't understand the parts of the rack. I wasn't about to stand at the counter of the store while a line built behind me and the clerk and I tried to sort the parts. I left with my faulty part. Fortunately, the stripped bolt head still holds a regular allen wrench. I don't think my kayak will fly off my car it one of the bolts is overtightened by a few Newtons. Still, a frustrating experience.
Very Difficult to Use
I have been using a Yakima kayak rack for 25 years and had been happy up to now. With a new car I needed new towers. These are very poorly designed. The construction is such that it is impossible to just move the tower 1/4 inch one way or the other to get the right fit - since the screw that loosens it from the bar is underneath the tower and there is not enough space beneath to use the tool provided to loosen/tighten the piece. The measurements they provided for my car were not right - requiring the adjustments. Additionally, one of the clips keeps sliding out. Altogether a very frustrating experience to install - and then frightening when the rack loosened after I had driven 180 miles with it with my kayak in it. Overall be prepared to spend quite a while on the installation.
Disappointing and frustrsting
I've had good experience with other Yakima products, but these have been disappointing. I carefully.followed the installation instructions but found clips slipping after use. Spent 3 hours reinstalling and they still aren't quite right. I would not buy again.