Will a bike rack mar paint?

[Bert]

ScottWax may be the best person to address this being he is a cyclist also. My question being, will a bike rack mar my paint? If you ask any bike shop in town, they will say no but while I trust their knowledge of bikes, I don`t know if I trust their knowledge of car paint. If drying a car with a bath towel will mar the paint, I can`t see the padding on bike racks being enough cushion to protect the paint.

[PTRon]

Trunk mount - yes, it will mar the paint. Hitch mount - no, it won`t mar the paint. Just be sure to secure the front wheel so it doesn`t flop around and keep your wheels away from your exhaust. Roof mount - will only mar the paint if you drop the bike.

[Bythehour]

In a word, "yes".



I assume that you`re talking about the temporary trunk or hatch-mount racks?



Even if you clean the surface areas, dirt will eventually accumulate around the mounting points. As your car moves, the contact pads will shift, rubbing with the dirt and abrading your paint.



The good news is that you should be able to polish the marring out.

[bjackson8]

What every one else has mentioned is good advice. The best option is a hitch mounted rack, where nothing is touching your car.



I have two racks, a Saris Bones and a Hunchrack.



The Saris rack has hard rubber footpads, and you will get a little marring with these. The front feet usually sit on the back window, so that is not a problem, but the back feet sit on the bumper. I cut a piece of MF towel to put under the feet to protect the paint.



The Hunchrack has thick closed cell foam footpads, and they are real gentle on the paint. I have had no problems with this one at all.



If you are willing to pay the price of the hitch racks, they are absolutely the best choice. Another benefit is that you can actually use the trunk of you car with these racks.

[imported_jaobrien6]

Roof mount - will only mar the paint if you drop the bike.

If it`s attached to factory rails, then I agree, but if you use a yakima or thule rack that attaches to the door frame and rests on the roof itself (like the yakima Q towers, for instance), then yes, those will mar paint.

[the other pc]

The pads on better quality systems like Yakima, Saris, Tule, etc are soft and stable so they won’t mar as badly as some but anything that touches the paint will mar the paint, at least a little, over the long run.



You could use “clear bra� protective film between the paint and the rack pads.



I have two cars with bike racks but both have factory roof rack systems so I don’t need to touch the paint with anything.





PC.

[Bert]

What every one else has mentioned is good advice. The best option is a hitch mounted rack, where nothing is touching your car.

I would kinda like to avoid putting a hitch on my Eclipse, just wouldn`t look right. Oh well.