09-04-2019, 03:04 PM
800 miles down now and i'm starting to get more used to driving it. averaging about 18mpg, which was our absolute best highway mpg in the past with the xterra, so that's nice. the engine/trans combo is butter, pretty comfy overall with good ergo, and construction just feels super tight and smooth. hate the brakes...its either nobody's home or monster strong and impossible to modulate. i feel like a 16 year old trying to figure pedal pressure out again. likely crappy OEM pads. the turning circle's not impressive and the shifter gate is mega annoying (jigsaw puzzle maze vs just a normal straight line PRND21).
anyway, first round of stuff coming in. needed a crossbar solution that had more clearance than the factory bars (gotta buy those separately anyway) so our Thule Sonic XL mounting feet could close around the bars without contacting the sheetmetal.
these 2 LFD Off Road steel bars were priced right, built like tanks, have tons of mounting options for accessories (ya'll better know i love to accessorize), came powdercoated with stainless mounting bolts/T-nuts and will allow us to use them as-is on the factory rails or add them into a larger LFD roof rack system later on if we really get super bro send-it overland style.
![[Image: EGZpTmy.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/EGZpTmy.jpg)
its a minor thing but the packaging was really well done. that says a lot.
![[Image: bzy3dMK.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/bzy3dMK.jpg)
tried the car out with them on this morning and unfortunately they have a pretty distinct noise/resonance at 50 and 70mph. i'm not upset - every crossbar will make some degree of noise and given the blunt shape and hollow underside they're bound to have some amount of turbulence, even at the factory recommended mounting positions. you just gotta try it to find out sometimes. i'm going to get 1 more bar to mount at the very front of the rails and add LFD's own fairing to it. that should take care of the noise and allow me to keep 2 bars positioned just right for installing the roofbox at any time. in the future i'd like to add on their mounts for a set of MaxTrax as well as at least one Rotopax fuel container, but that's a ways off and there are other things that take priority first.
we've got eyes on a mid-October camping trip in N. GA which should give us an opportunity to stretch its legs on some trails as well as seeing how it handles pulling a trailer (!)
anyway, first round of stuff coming in. needed a crossbar solution that had more clearance than the factory bars (gotta buy those separately anyway) so our Thule Sonic XL mounting feet could close around the bars without contacting the sheetmetal.
these 2 LFD Off Road steel bars were priced right, built like tanks, have tons of mounting options for accessories (ya'll better know i love to accessorize), came powdercoated with stainless mounting bolts/T-nuts and will allow us to use them as-is on the factory rails or add them into a larger LFD roof rack system later on if we really get super bro send-it overland style.
its a minor thing but the packaging was really well done. that says a lot.
tried the car out with them on this morning and unfortunately they have a pretty distinct noise/resonance at 50 and 70mph. i'm not upset - every crossbar will make some degree of noise and given the blunt shape and hollow underside they're bound to have some amount of turbulence, even at the factory recommended mounting positions. you just gotta try it to find out sometimes. i'm going to get 1 more bar to mount at the very front of the rails and add LFD's own fairing to it. that should take care of the noise and allow me to keep 2 bars positioned just right for installing the roofbox at any time. in the future i'd like to add on their mounts for a set of MaxTrax as well as at least one Rotopax fuel container, but that's a ways off and there are other things that take priority first.
we've got eyes on a mid-October camping trip in N. GA which should give us an opportunity to stretch its legs on some trails as well as seeing how it handles pulling a trailer (!)
2010 Civic Si
2019 4Runner TRD Off-Road
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Past: 03 Xterra SE 4x4 | 05 Impreza 2.5RS | 99.5 A4 Quattro 1.8T | 01 Accord EX | 90 Maxima GXE | 96 Explorer XLT
2019 4Runner TRD Off-Road
--------------------------
Past: 03 Xterra SE 4x4 | 05 Impreza 2.5RS | 99.5 A4 Quattro 1.8T | 01 Accord EX | 90 Maxima GXE | 96 Explorer XLT