Greetings Protege Club,

What an awesome forum!

In early September I became the proud owner of a vivid yellow 2002 MP5. I love my new car. I miss my old Isuzu car (I still run a 450-member enthusiasts club), but I'm enjoying the ammenities of power-everything and holy cow, cabin space to actually put stuff!

I come from a car geek family, and I'm a long-time autocrosser, so I'm very interested in learning everything I can about this car and what I can do to it.

That's my Readers' Digest versioned-intro, but I've also got a question about roof racks. My MP5 came with the roof rack, which will come in handy for summer biking, but at highway speeds, there is an ungodly whistle from the rack. I hear tale of an insert to reduce/eliminate this problem, is this true? Or is there something else that can be done? I've removed the bars and bolts but now leave the exposed tracks.

Many thanks,
Jenda

 

the noise bothered me too much. I removed the rack all together and problem was solved. Maybe it would be better to only have the rack installed when you need it.

 

Yeah, it's pretty easy to take on and off. Another option is a moonroof wind deflector. I'm not sure whether you have a moonroof or not, but the racks get really annoying with the sunroof open on the freeway. The wind deflector muffles the noise, but it's still not exactly quiet.

 

Yep, I've removed the rack, and that has helped, but I will want to put it back on again soon enough for snowboarding.

I've got the moonroof too, but no deflector. Is it better to buy one from the dealer or seek an alternative vendor?

Thank you!

 

dealers tend to up the price depending on how social you are with them. if you know them well a lowerer price is in hand. especially if you have looked around and found a legit price (cheap) ask a few dealers (at different dealerships) you never know what they got for you

 

yeah... you just have to deal with the noise...or remove it