This is probably like asking Coke or Pepsi. But i'm a noob when it comes to racks (YES!). I've done a bit of research but not completely sold on either brand.

Any pros/cons to either brand? I'm looking for Snowboard/ski rack for my 05 wagon, possibly the Yakima freshsesh. I'm about to get the OEM crossbars soon. Does anyone know if the yakima/thule fairings attach easily to these bars?

 

No problems with either of my Yakima racks. I had one for my old wagon and one for my STi - both worked great. Never used Thule. Check the classifieds, I may have seen one recently.

 

i've been running thule on my car cuz i got a good deal on it. can't go wrong w/ either or. personal picks.

 

I've used Thule forever it seems. Always been happy with them. I like the brushed aluminum. Yakima's are fine too. 6 in one hand half a dozen in the other.

 

yeah they are about the same... the only difference are the bars. the Yakima's have round bars and Thule's have squared bars. Can't go wrong with either...

 

Yakima makes more of their units in the US than thule, also, round bars are easier to work with in many cases.

One major advantage of the round bars is the ability to rotate the ski attachments 90° to increase aerodynamics and decrease whistling. A lot of people will leave the ski attachment on all winter and it's SO nice to be able to cut down on the wind noise during the week.

Having made countless calls to both companies' customer service lines to hunt down misc. parts, I can confidently say that Yakima's support is easier to work with. Both companies were nearly even in terms of success rate.

I also feel that the yakima styling is more up to date and sleek, but that's just my opinion.

 

Side note: If you don't already have crossbars, I would suggest going with aftermarket ones. Any time you want to add an attachment you're going to have to worry about adaptors if you go with factory, plus you can't use the rack-rotation technique on bladed aero bars.

 

Either one you can't go wrong with. I went with Thule primarily because of the look. My parents have a Yakima rack on their Suburban. They both do what they are suppose to do. LOL

 

Round bars are stronger than square bars, and like someone said, Yaki makes more of their units in the good old USA which should be enough to sway you over to Yakima.

 

Thule stuff is made in the USA as well.

 

To say that round bars are stronger than square, I gotta call you on that. It's going to depend on the application. Round tubing would perform better under a tortional load. A flagpole... A square tube simply by design is designed to support more load across it's length when suspended between points. Take a frame rail for instance. The biggest factor is the tubing thickness. Square is generally thicker and heavier.

 

I've always been a Yakima guy. Go with real crossbars, not OEM ones. Not only are they more functional, they're designed to go on and off repeatedly. I can't count how many stripped fasteners I've seen on the OEM crossbars after repeated use..

 

dammit, i was just about to buy some oem cross bars from someone on here to for $50! So aside from the cross bars, i would need the rail mounts too right?

 

yakima is the way to go for me.. maybe thats just because i got a very good deal on the complete set.. and also it sounds cooler saying you have yakima instead of a thule ;p.. wouldnt mind trying the thule set up though just to compare

 

Yakima here.