Factory roof rack
 

New Protege5 owner. Have some questions about factory roof rack options.

I've already got Yakima rack attachments for my kayak and bicycle as well as a luggage box. They are all set up for the round bar, but I've used MightyMount attachments for another factory rack on a Subaru.

I'd like to use the factory rack and not buy Qtowers/clips and bars, since the factory rack is already in place and will work for my limited weight needs.

Problem is that Yakima does not make a MightyMount attachment to fit the Protege5 factory rack. :mad:

So....my options appear to include:
- Buying the Yakima Loadwarrior @$280, which does attach to the rack, and then attaching the kayak saddles and bike mount to the Loadwarrior using the existing round brackets I currently have.
- Buying the Mazda OE bike attachment brackets. I'd have to buy three sets @ a total of $90-$100 for the kayak saddles, since I think you only get three brackets for the bike and the kayak saddles take 8 brackets. I'm not even sure the OE brakets would work for more than the bike attachment.

So....has anybody found an elegant solution to this problem? I'm thinking that one of the MightyMounts from another factory rack might be close enough to work. I really wonder if Yakima didn't make the bracket for Mazda since the OE Bike attachment appears to be a Yakima design.

Eric

The factory rack is just a wing shaped cross bar right? I'm sure there must be a mighty mount that fits the P5.

Have you gone into a Rackattack store or something and checked?

I went to REI and looked at the Yakima fit book. No Mighty Mount for the P5.

Went directly to the source and emailed Yakima....Haven't heard anything back yet.

What I meant was, that the factory cross bar is a wing shape thing.

You have a might mount for a Subaru? Have you tried it on the P5?

The might mount is a clip that wraps around the wing shape bar. There must be a might mount that fits the wing shape of the P5. Or pretty close.

That's what I was thinking. My Subaru one doesn't. I tried. The Mazda crossbar is less aerodynamic. It seems like one of the types that Yakima makes would work. I just don't know which one. I'll see what Yakima says in their response to my email inquiry.

Response from Yakima. Looks like P5 owners are out of luck using the factory rack. :-(

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Hi Eric. Thanks for your inquiry about Yakima Products!

We have not made a MightyMount for the Protégé 5 because we have not heard enough demand for the product. I have logged your request for the MightyMount for your car, but it may be a while before it does get made.

Mazda produces the brackets that hold our bike and ski mounts down on their factory roof rack.

If you have any other questions, please contact Customer Service at 888-925-0703 7am to 5pm Pacific Time, Monday through Friday. If you reply to this email, please include all previous correspondence.

Thank you,
Yakima Support
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Either you need to go with new towers, or sell what you have, and start over again using the factory cross bars.

Look at http://www.protegeclub.com/forum/sho...ma+mightymount

and also mazdastuff.com sells the yakima and mounts for the P5 under the 2002 accessories

Thanks for the info. I knew about mazdastuff. I'm going to check out Trussville Mazda too. I've gotten good deals from them in the past. Interesting info. from the other Mightymount thread. I need to find the closest Horizontal MightyMount that would fit. The 12V is the vertical one. All this for a little piece of plastic!