ARB Base Rack - Destroying my Sunroof

[gayashanbc]

It's been a few months since I installed the ARB Base rack, and I will say that while the design of the mounting rails and the rack itself is EXCELLENT their weird inverted air deflector is an awful bit of design.

When the rack has nothing on it the air deflector drives air straight into the front/top of the sunroof glass. I can take some photos if you want to see exactly how it sits and where the wind is directed. The problem with this is at higher speeds (And we're talking 45MPH+ not Autobahn speeds) it creates enough pressure on the sunroof that it starts to compress it downward into its seals. Then once you hit 55MPH or so the buffeting starts. And this buffeting is interesting in that it does not create much audible noise... but your sunroof glass begins to vibrate so you now have a ceiling mounted subwoofer directly over your noggin. It can create some impressive SPL! As you can imagine this vibration is less than good for the longevity of your sunroof mechanism and seals.

When I have stuff loaded onto the rack this problem goes away. In the summer the rack is generally empty 90% of the time as keep it clear to strap a 12ft raft with frame, oars, the whole kit to my roof and drive it all over Idaho. Now this looks like it would be awful but its actually incredibly quiet and smooth, more so than my Yakima cargo box I keep up there all winter for skis and gear. When I have the cargo box up there the buffeting and "Sub-roof" phenomenon cease. Just normal wind noise.

Anyone else with this rack experiencing the same issue with the inverted deflector? I have the cargo box on for the winter now so its not bothering me at the moment, but I will be working on a new wind deflector for next summer.

I'm facing the same issue on a Prado.
Couldn't get any updates from ARB yet.
What's your status now mate?

 

[Friens3]

I had terrible wind noise at 50-60mph hitting my roof when first installed my full base rack with deflector on my FJ cruiser.
After reading this thread and thanks to this forum, I see that some people recommended the wind noise can be solved with installing a light bar or strapping some firewood or boxes. Though I believe strapping some blocks at the front end breaking the air flow would definitely work but it is not a solution for me as i don't want ro raise any more heights.

I was also skeptical about installing the light bar as it is aligning with the base rack but it is a good excuse for me to purchase the light bar.

What I want to say is "it works" ! The wind resonance is gone after installing the light bar !
I did tilt the light bar slightly facing downward to make it more or less disrupt the original air flow.

BTW: I also tested without the deflector or lightbar, it is even worse, the noise came out around 30mph

 

[residualboulders]

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I had terrible wind noise at 50-60mph hitting my roof when first installed my full base rack with deflector on my FJ cruiser.
After reading this thread and thanks to this forum, I see that some people recommended the wind noise can be solved with installing a light bar or strapping some firewood or boxes. Though I believe strapping some blocks at the front end breaking the air flow would definitely work but it is not a solution for me as i don't want ro raise any more heights.

I was also skeptical about installing the light bar as it is aligning with the base rack but it is a good excuse for me to purchase the light bar.

What I want to say is "it works" ! The wind resonance is gone after installing the light bar !
I did tilt the light bar slightly facing downward to make it more or less disrupt the original air flow.

BTW: I also tested without the deflector or lightbar, it is even worse, the noise came out around 30mph

Good to know! I just bought the lightbar, but I plan to move my rack to my 80 - just too noisy on the 200. My 80 is noisy anyway.