: Most modern day cars are limited to about 100 lbs. more or less for
: car topping, that's pushing that limit pretty hard. If the racks
: cause damage your warranty probably won't cover it. If you have
: an old car and don't care, that's different :)

I regularly carry up to six whitewater boats on the roof (that's about 130 kg,
maybe 290 pounds), and I'm talking about journeys of up to 1000 miles on
English and French motorways as well as local trips. I've carried six boats
including a seventeen foot open boat, a double sea kayak, a single sea kayak
and three plastic boats (one of them inside the open boat), which I guess is
more like 170 kg. And in a cross wind. At 90 ... My roof rack says "max 75kg"
on each support, so I've always assumed that was the load per corner, but I
suppose it might be per bar. Mostly nowadays I use home-built bars which are
as wide as I can legally make them and a lot stronger than the manufacturer's
bars.

I've sat on the edge of the sun roof of a three-week old car and cracked it whilst
tying boats on. I often rest grit-covered boats on the side of the car on the way
up to the roof rack leaving scratches. Boats and kids leave dents in every panel.
Drop a boat off the roof carelessly (actually, our double blew off the trailer just
after untying it) and it will take your mirror off. But it goes back with West system
epoxy - boat builders have the stuff to fix minor errors.

Any car becomes an old car soon enough - we want to get out paddling, not spend
the weekend waxing and polishing. The car is for getting places, with gear. Tie it
down well - it must be safe - but otherwise you can't have any fun if you worry
about the car. Abuse it - that's what it's for ! I keep my cars from new until the
book value is a tiny fraction of the cost new, so all the dents and scratches have
very little financial impact. Cars aren't warranted to cope with paddlesport anyway -
I've never found one that had been designed by anyone with any understanding
of what would help a lone paddler get a 6m double sea kayak on the roof on his
own in rain and a force eight... Where do you stand that isn't gleaming, polished
and ridiculously slick ? If I had crampons I'd kick steps in the doors...

Andy