Camping Gear Cargo Carrier Rack for 2006 Honda Civic - car rack cargo luggage carriers to hold camping gear on 2006 Honda Civic

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Posted: 3/1/2012

Question: I have camping gear that I want to transport on the cartop of my 2006 Honda Civic 4-door sedan. There's nothing on the roof currently, so I would need a car rack crossbars system and then a cargo carrier to attach to the cross bars. What are your suggestions?

Answer: You are correct that you will first need to install a multi-purpose base rack system on the 2006 Honda Civic car top. With the general purpose roof rack in place, you can then attach the camping gear-luggage carrier to the crossbars. From Thule Racks you can use the Thule 480 Traverse roof rack system (includes a set of four Thule 480 Traverse Feet, set of 1425 Traverse Fit Kit clips and a pair of 58 inch load bars with end caps). Additionally, you have the option to also use the Thule 480R Rapid Traverse roof rack system (includes a Thule 480R Rapid Traverse Foot Pack, a set of the same 1425 Traverse Fit Kit clips and a pair of ARB53 53" AeroBlade load bars with end caps). This system works exactly the same way as the regular 480 Traverse roof rack system except that you will be using the premium Thule AeroBlade load bars instead of the classic square load bars included with the regular 480 Traverse roof rack system. Yakima Racks has the Yakima Q Towers roof rack system (includes a set of four Yakima Q Towers, a pair of Q99 clips & pair of Q131 clips and a pair of 58" cross bars with end caps). And, just like Thule Racks offers the premium 480R Rapid Traverse w/ AeroBlade bars system, Yakima Racks also owns the premium Whispbar Racks line that uses aerodynamic, whisper-quiet crossbars with the roof rack systems. You can use the Whispbar S6 Flush Bar system (the crossbars connect to the upright towers for a clean and finished look) and the Whispbar S16 Through Bar system (the crossbars extend beyond the upright towers to allow for more space on the crossbars for carrying gear) Both Whispbar Rack options use the Whispbar K353 Fit Kit clips, which are included. Finally, Inno Racks offers the INSU roof rack base system (includes four Inno INSU Stays, set of Inno K326 Fit Hooks and a pair of B127 50 inch crossbars with end caps; locks are also included with this system).

With any of the base rack systems listed above installed as a 2006 Honda Civic car rack crossbars system, you can then connect any cargo-luggage carriers to the cross bars. Virtually all cargo carriers are universal mounting, allowing you to choose the model that you like best, independent of whether it is the same manufacturer as the base rack system. In general, you have three basic roof mount cargo carrier categories to choose from: 1) cargo boxes, hardshell plastic protects and keeps gear dry; locks included / 2) roof baskets, versatile uses for carrying all kinds of items, accessories available for securing gear and protecting from rain etc. / 3) cargo bags, easy to install and remove, protective from rain and other elements etc. For camping gear, you would do well to go with a compact cargo box such as the Thule 667ES Excursion, Thule 686XT Atlantis 1600, Thule 604 Ascent 1600, Yakima RocketBox Pro 12, Yakima SkyBox Pro 16 or Yakima SkyBox 16.