Saris Bones Bike Rack - Microfiber Protection?

[GolanB]

So I decided after about 20 years to pull out our old Saris Bones Bike Rack, which I used many years ago on our Audi. I mounted it up on the Model 3 after cleaning it. When I owned our Audi, I was never as careful as I am now about our car paint, and I was curious if anyone experienced chaffing between the Rubber soles and the surface of their paint?

I'm going to take it out today as a test, but left Microfiber cloth between the rubber feet and the car surface.

Here are two photos. I'm hoping the rack won't move around too much, but its secured fairly tightly with the six retaining straps & I'll probably reposition and cut the towels down to size next time I use them.

 

[Kilotango74]

So I decided after about 20 years to pull out our old Saris Bones Bike Rack, which I used many years ago on our Audi. I mounted it up on the Model 3 after cleaning it. When I owned our Audi, I was never as careful as I am now about our car paint, and I was curious if anyone experienced chaffing between the Rubber soles and the surface of their paint?

I'm going to take it out today as a test, but left Microfiber cloth between the rubber feet and the car surface.

Here are two photos. I'm hoping the rack won't move around too much, but its secured fairly tightly with the six retaining straps & I'll probably reposition and cut the towels down to size next time I use them.

View attachment 427325 View attachment 427326

Bet you $10 it’s going to mar your paint. Especially once the weight of a bike is on there.

 

[GolanB]

Bet you $10 it’s going to mar your paint. Especially once the weight of a bike is on there.

I drove three bikes about 40 miles, to and from our destination today. I want to say that I wouldn’t recommend this solution for a few reasons. The first is that it simply doesn’t feel safe: I drove carefully at or slightly under the speed limit, avoiding pot holes and imperfections in the road because I felt that the straps would pop off. It happened once en route when we hit a seam between new and old asphalt (it might have been three quarters of an inch in height) and I had to pull over and reattach a weight bearing strap. I don’t recall being worried about this in the past, but I was this time. I even considered aborting our trip, but we continued on.

The second issue is definitely the risk to the paint. The microfiber cloths protected the paint but I don’t like the idea of having to use them.

Finally, placing the bikes behind the car disrupted the sensors, including the rear camera and ultra sonic sensors. It didn’t confuse autopilot, but i was getting constant pop up messages about ELDA being disabled and false proximity detections.

On the positive side, the bikes do not require front wheel disassembly, nor do they require being hoisted to the roof of the car. I will say however that I’d gladly take off the front wheel for greater safety and piece of mind.

The model 3 performance doesn’t have a Tesla supported hitch, and although I can get one installed aftermarket I believe the car may be too low to the ground to use one safely. My only other supported option is to go with a roof rack.

I’d really love to be able to take 5 bikes (two or three on roof, and another two or three on rear) - or alternatively all on a trailer, but it may be asking a bit much unfortunately.

 

[Lanzer]

Another option would be to buy some paint protection film and use that on the contact area. It'll give a much better peace of mind knowing that the paint is not scratched. The cloth won't scratch the paint the way rubber would, but the scratches will be there, just not as apparent until some time has passed.

PPF from 3M should cost $10 on Ebay for the area you need. Any other solution will probably cost more.