i see a lot of people asking which rack is better between thule and yakima. i've had both and they are pretty much the same. same build quality, same basic design, shape, etc. the difference is in their customer service. my a4 came with an old thule rack on it. it was beat up pretty bad, probably put on back when the car was new. i tried to call their customer service to get a key for them (the previous owner couldn't remove the rack because he had no keys), and was redirected to three different numbers before i gave up. i ended up picking the locks. i already had a yakima rack from my old honda, so i bought some q-clips for 40 bucks and put it on my audi. a few days ago, i went to put my rack back on for the new season , but i had somehow lost one of the trim sections for one rack . i called yakima cs, and was transfered down to their repair dept. the guy told me he "probably had an extra lying around somewhere" and took down my address. within 3 days i had 4 new sets of trim for each tower of my rack, for free.

i thought that was pretty cool so i figured i'd share my experience with the awesome customer service of yakima.

 

Nice. I have to get a rack for winter. The ski shop down the street from my house sells Thule, and it isn't very expensive, but when I asked them about an Audi A4 fitmen they gave me the retarded alien look, like "If your car isn't in the book, then you are stupid and your car doesn't exist."

Fvckin salespeople.

 

Sometimes I wish I had the cold weather package on my car, that way I'd get that cool sock thing that goes over the back seat fold down armrest. Haha. I've found that Yakima makes excellent racks, even though Thule is just about the same. I think Thule has made a market for their huge roof "missiles" than they have with the smaller racks. I know that Thule bike racks are a little better than Yakima's, but as far as ski racks go I think they're both about the same.

 

well I kinda like the look of the more squared load cross (i think thats what its called).. of the Thule..

If you are to buy a used rack setup how would you know if it fits the Audi? would you look up the part number? or would you just have to go get an adapter?

 

i don't know what thule calls them, but yakima calls them "q-clips". for both brands, the towers, load bars, and attachments are pretty much universal (except the load bars are available in a few different lengths), and the clips are the piece that is specific to the car. a new set usually costs 40-50 bucks. if you get a yakima you'll need a Q72 clips.

 

I have no idea what the rack is on my car but it looks like some german brand. The Audi dealer put it on for the previous owner, any ideas on what it might be? I need to get some keys for it.

 

it's probably the factory rack system, which i believe is made by thule.

 

anyone know how to look up the clips for Thule and see what I need? im wondering if this is a good deal.. link

 

Just go to a wrecker, and buy the half of the rear seat that you need!

And I prefer Saris racks over all 3. I've dealt with all of them... they all work very well, but Saris has self-centering load bars, and looks super slick with the aero ovalized load bars.

 

Yukio, you ride? I used to/still am big into freestyle sking (salomon 1080s). Where are u located?