What'll I mount it to?? No moonroof!

Don

 

Here's what it looks like with the roof rack "off" as much as the US cars allow.

 

I am sorry I can't believe you get that much noise without a moonroof.

 

I can't believe it either....do you use your radio/CD player at all? I mean I have a moonroof....and I have the roofrack...and I have NOT removed it....YES my hearing is good...in fact I have it tested regularly at work as part of my hearing loss prevention program....ANYWAY....I just don't notice the wind noise.....NOW, IF I open the shade, or what ever you want to call it....to let light in and still keep the moonroof closed I do hear it a little...but not enough to matter.....shutting the shade acts as insulation and pretty much deadens it completely for me. And on my wife's P-5, I can't hear any wind noise at all....she doen't have the moonroom on hers. Maybe your hearing is just that much more sensitive than the rest of us.....

 

If you did have a moonroof ( for the benefit of anyone else who is reading this) the best thing to do is turn the crossbars around to the rounded side without the lip and install the wind deflector. Don't do this unless you have a moonroof and can install the deflector because without it the sound would be like a howling monkey on your roof at 50 mph.

 

For me the issue isn't noise... It ain't that bad... I can hear it if I strain my ears, but even the stock radio masks it pretty good.

I just wanted to see what the car would look like without it... you know... more like a car than a grocery getter.

 

I just spoke with mazda parts department at the local Mazda delaer (turnersville, nj). They first told me not to try it. Standard stuff for the dealer, they dont like people working on their own cars...
After a bit of talking, they basically said that you can remove the side rails by unbolting the 3 nuts on each side. This involves removing the inside headliner, though that is really pretty easy. I removed it to get to the antenna recently. Most everything is just snap in except the overhead lighting. Put them off, then you can lower the roof liner enough to unbolt the roof.
Anways, once you remove the rail, you will need to *seal* the 6 holes by putting bolts and nuts through each hole, and using silicon to keep it water tight. Would be wise to use a lock nut or something to hold it over time.
Then you will be left with a deep channel on each side. You could leave it this way and paint the bolts to match the car color, or you can purchase rubber inserts, which are stock on the non-roofrack version of the P5. You might need to modify them a bit to accomodate the nut heads.
Here are the parts numbers:

Right BJ3D50-9H0E
Left BJ3D50-9L0E

They are $62.45 each (may vary per region). Kind of pricey at $124.90 plus tax, but the car looks so much better without the racks. I think it is worth the cost and labor!

I have not done this yet, but I will be ordering the parts above soon from the dealer. I will take pictures of step by step installation, in case anyone else would like to try it... I will post it to my website and put a link here.