Aero vs square roof bars

Isn't that why most things are made newer? Because they look better? Certainly helps sell more.

I have used some very old bars/roof racks that have made no more noise than some of the newer ones. And the newer ones were in a newer car with better soundproofing.

Personally I would be looking for what suits what I want to use it for in particular strengthwise and if it would suit you better for mounting things then factor that in.

Yep - the aerodynamic, lower profile bars are quieter than square jobs - have both types on cars in our family at present.

I just went through this exercise and found that the Aero bars are quieter, have the same load rating and have nearly as many accessory mounting adapters, so I could see no advantage of having the square shape unless you needed flatter load carrying surface for some reason.

Chris

I was thinking the square bars as they are cheaper and I can fabricate mounting adaptors a lot easier. I know you can buy adaptors for aero bars but aren't they all proprietary?

I'm not after load carrying capacity as I only really want them to mount things off - lights, aerials, gps receiver etc.

The aerial mounted on the roof rack is much better then the bull bar/fender locations IMO