roof rack/ Bull guard- weight question.

[mkelias11]

I just purchased brand new 2008 fj cruiser. didnt come with a roof rack. for my first mod, I am going to be adding a roof rack and a bull guard at the same time. will the weight of these two new mods afffect the quality of dirving,, would it make the shocks or etc tighter giving me a little bit more of a rought ride.? how about he gas. any sudjections thanks guys.

[AZ_FJ]

Both mods will decrease your gas mileage. The roof rack will contribute the most to the decrease, particularly on the highway. Likewise, both will cause wind noise, particularly the roof rack. I doubt that you will notice a difference in the ride quality.

[mkelias11]

well the roof rack comes with most of the fj i have seen, but wind noise. can i actually notice the noise. and will the bull guard produce noice as well?

[estysalinas]

mkelias11 previously said:

well the roof rack comes with most of the fj i have seen, but wind noise. can i actually notice the noise. and will the bull guard produce noice as well?

yes and yes.

[J762]

I ran my FJ for almost a month down here before I had the roof rack put on it. I had no difference in gas mileage with the rack on as it was when it was off. That is with the factory roof rack though. I have no idea what a real roof rack like the ARB or Gobi does to Mileage.

Only difference I could tell was a little bit of extra wind noise, but nothing serious or annoying.

If you slide the braces all the way back as far as they go, the wind noise pretty much disappears.

[mkelias11]

well I started thinking about it, the millege shouldent matter that much the compbined weight of the rack and the bull guard shouldent exeed that of a small child, i might understand that the roof rack might produe some wind noice, but why the bull guard if it sits right inf ront of the grille/bumper. and honestly i am paranoid with little sound and things coming from the cargo area, it drives me crazy when the interior plastic in older cars rubs all the time when driving, well what do you guys think. shold i do it, i need to transport soon a chrismas tree.. but dont want to spend so much money and I think it look s cool and im getting a deal on the aries bull bar. what do you guys think.

[tailwaters]

I just had the roof rack added to my 2 week old FJ just a couple days ago. Can't say there's much of a difference with the wind noise to speak of. Not sure on the mileage as of yet but can;t imagine that it will make that much difference. In my case it really doesn't matter as I have a use for the rack. Thus far I've been averaging 17.25 in town. I'm figuring it may improve a bit once I get a few more miles on it. But to be honest I'm very happy at 17 mpg compared to my 06 Titan at mpg.

[mkelias11]

thanks awesome info!!

[speedy]

good choice on the OEM roof rack if you are not planning on loading it up to the gills. What type of Bull Bar are you planning on getting?

Your mileage will also go up to about 19-20 mpg with a mixture of city and highway. I was getting 17 when I bought it but even with my ARB roof rack,3" lift, Skids, and 5k miles I am still getting 18-19 MPG with my 4x4 A/T FJ.

I expect to drop to 17 when I install the larger tires but I agree about moving from the Titan to the FJ but it actually uses less gas when we go camping compared to taking the same gear on the FJ.

Cheers,

[chichid65]

J762 previously said:

I ran my FJ for almost a month down here before I had the roof rack put on it. I had no difference in gas mileage with the rack on as it was when it was off. That is with the factory roof rack though. I have no idea what a real roof rack like the ARB or Gobi does to Mileage.

Only difference I could tell was a little bit of extra wind noise, but nothing serious or annoying.

If you slide the braces all the way back as far as they go, the wind noise pretty much disappears.

Thanks for passing this along, I will give it a try.