Noiseless roof rack

Looking for a roof rack that has little to no added cabin noise and doesnt impact gas mileage.

This will mainly be for aesthetic purposes, but it will get used for light loads (ski rack, kayak, travel bag, etc.), no RRT or anything excessively heavy.

Im aware of the factory mount and maybe this is my best option, but was wondering if any others exist before I got with the factory one.

Budget is not too much of a concern, but would like to be under $1000.

 

Light loads and not much change in MPG would be OEM.

 

OEM

 

After owning a prinsu and being in tacomas with both the OEM rails and a frontrunner there is no rack other than the OEM that has "very little" road noise.

 

Ok, thats probably all the confirmation i need. Thanks.

 

I found this one on flea bay. Pretty sure it’s a knock off but the price is right. https://www.ebay.com/itm/2x-For-200...Factory-Roof-Rack-Cross-Bars-Set/264229517803

 

Thanks. I bought knock-off OEM bars on ebay and factory ones from Toyota. They are essentially the same, fitment was slightly better on the toyota ones, but neither are perfect.

I will likely go knock-off unless i can find a good deal on factory bars.

 

I was kind of wondering if the knock offs were any good, kinda like the faux grills.

 

They are nearly identical. Id guess they are made from the same molds, with a little kore attention to detail put into the factory ones.

Only reason i bought both previously was because it wasnt until after i took off all the molding on the truck and removed the tape covering the factory holes that the ebay rails had a slight damage. At that point i was pretty much committed to putting on rails and hd to make a run to toyota to pick up a set. Ebay seller gave me a full refund and i managed to fix what was damaged on the ebay ones and gave them to a buddy to put on his tacoma. Hes had no issues with them.

 

The OEM rack looks horrible though.
It's way too tall.
The Prinsu rack is very nice, and not loud like a front runner. I've used both.

 

if your going to get the knockoff bars ( which I did) make sure the cross bars are aluminum not abs plastic. some of the ones on ebay are abs so the load rating goes from like 100 lbs per bar to something like 30.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/uptop-overland-racks-and-accessories.599113/

 

Lot of the noise is the cross bars; keep them off unless needed.

 

On a strong windy day, the OEM bars will make a crap ton of noise going 70 MPH.

 

Yeah i hear ya. More concerned with the daily commute. I know complete wind noise is unavoidable.

I have factory rails on my 2016 and was fine with the sound in the closed position. If they are open its because im using them and any noise generated from the bars is mitigated by the load being carried.

On a side note, whats the specs on the tires? Any suspension upgrades?

 

I have a 2 inch lift on the front with a stock rear. And 265/75/16 BFGoodrich KO2’s.

 

Would they fit without the lift?

 

I've got Yakima crossbars, no noise and higher load rating than OEM. Plus I think they happen to look way better. my $.02.

 

OEM is your best bet for light loads and minimal wind noise. Only wind noise from them is when you deploy the cross bars and are running at high freeway speeds. When the bars are stowed away they are silent.

 

The only thing that I don't like about the OEM rack is the height, and almost pulled the trigger on them. Instead, I have the Rhino Rack Vortex 2500 bars that I throw on when I need them, and they are virtually silent.