OEM Roof Rack on 2017 STI

What are you looking to carry on the roof?

Mountain bikes.

I use the Seasucker bike rack for my bikes.

https://www.seasucker.com/collections/racks

thanks for the link!

Forgot photo

View attachment 283482

hmmmm... no picture.

I'll have to look into those. Have you been using them for a while? They don't stress the mounting spots on the roof at all?

madmaxxed said:

I'll have to look into those. Have you been using them for a while? They don't stress the mounting spots on the roof at all?

Click to expand...

For a few months now. It is recommends you clean the mounting area before putting the mounts on.

In my opinion it's a shame they didn't keep the roof rack mount scheme from the previous model. It annoys me when car manufacturers make it difficult for their cars to be versatile. Kind of defeats the image of the WRX as a go-anywhere, do anything performance car.

There's a Rhino Rack that will work and has gotten favorable reviews on this site. However, it doesn't have the OEM look of the prior version, and it costs about 3 times as much. Pooh.

Fit My Car | Rhino-Rack

Has anyone seen an installed Torklift hitch mounted bike rack in action? Or anything similar?

I like the idea of the InvisaHitch but the MSRP is still expensive compared to the OEM roof rack of the previous version. You're not supposed to haul anything with the WRX (yeah, I know previous threads and all that), so it's not as versatile as it would be on another vehicle. Plus I have a kayak I would like to carry from time to time and already have a Yakima roof system, so for me roof bars is the way to go.

Doctor Jeff said:

I like the idea of the InvisaHitch but the MSRP is still expensive compared to the OEM roof rack of the previous version. .

Click to expand...

Hmmm I actually liked the hitch because I thought it was cheaper. The oem rack for the 15-17 I thought was around $300.

I just wanted the hitch because I have a hitch bike mount already but you make a good point about the kayak and I will eventually be buying one. It'd be nice if there was a WRX "I like to play outside" trim hahaha.

I've been looking around the interwebs for pics of said hitch with bike rack on a 2015+ STI. If anyone has a pic of one to post that would be much appreciated.

Germd said:

I've been looking around the interwebs for pics of said hitch with bike rack on a 2015+ STI. If anyone has a pic of one to post that would be much appreciated.

Click to expand...

Same here. All I can find is the pics on the torklift website. But I want to see the actually connection. I think I may be leaning more towards the roof rack now however. Anyone know if I can get a basket/tray with an adapter to put the bike on it? That'd be sliiiick. Probably pricey too. Maybe I'll just stick with roof rack. I don't see many talk about the oem rack however. It's always been the more expensive $300-$400+ racks that I see.

Doctor Jeff said:

You're not supposed to haul anything with the WRX (yeah, I know previous threads and all that),

Click to expand...

I think it's hilarious that on the torklift website there is an sti with a jet ski being towed. I do not believe that someone would truly do that. But I guess many have that whole "it didn't break my friends car" mentality.

The point is that there isn't an OEM roof rack or rails for the 2015-17--Subaru more or less "outsourced" it to RhinoRacks, similar to what Fiat did--500L dealer-installed rack is a Thule with clamps.

BTW, in Googling 2017 roof rack I came across this funny piece:

Roof Racks Waste 100 Million Gallons of Gas Nationwide - Motor Trend

I think a WRX or STI could easily pull a Jet Ski trailer weighing 1000 lbs give or take a couple of hundred. But frequent towing is stressful on brakes, chassis and engine cooling, none of which were designed for the WRX/STI with towing in mind. (Of course a bike rack would be negligible.)

Take a peak under the black strips on the roof. On my 2017 STI it appears the have oem mounts underneath but no small access caps to remove. There could be a possibility that an oem rack could work with a little fineness.

post #29

Subaru Impreza WRX STI Forums: IWSTI.com - The Largest Subaru STi Specific Forum in the World!