I had purchased a Thule roof rack and several bicycle rack components for my vehicle, a 2006 Honda Accord EX-L V6, in November & December 2008. The rack system consisted of the Thule #400XT Aero Foot Pack ($159.99), Thule Fit Kit #2131 ($69.99), Thule #588 locking cylinders ($85.99), Thule #LB50 load bars ($69.99), the load bar end caps ($4.99), and 3rd party bike trays that were locked to the Thule base rack system.
The entire Thule bike rack was installed and locked securely to the vehicle, and regularly maintained and adjusted as needed, for about 15 months. On 2/3/2010 in Houston, TX, the entire rack system was stolen from the roof of my parked car, despite being locked to the roof of the vehicle by the 4 locking #400XT Thule Aero Foot Pack towers. There were not even any bicycles or other items mount to the rack, other than the 2 bike trays. The thieves appeared to have little to no trouble prying the towers off of the car, and it appeared to take a matter of 60-90 seconds to remove the entire rack. On top of losing the rack system, the thieves caused about $600 worth of damage to my vehicle. It appears that the entire Thule rack system was removed with a simple flathead screwdriver.
When I first bought the Thule roof rack system, I thought that the locking towers would prevent just about any theft of the rack from the vehicle. In retrospect, I wish I had not even purchased the locking towers since the thieves would have just removed the rack system without scratching or denting the vehicle, or possibly I should have purchased from a different manufacturer.
This is a portion of the Thule system. You need load bars, a fit kit, and a foot pack. This foot pack includes the lock cap (not the locks) and the load bar end caps.
Read more about Thule 400XT Aero Roof Rack Foot Pack (Set of 4) Review...
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