Stephen Charles Rea

So obviously since I don't need them on all the time I never put my roof racks on, but in a few weeks I will be going to a friends house to help him with some household fixing up...and need to take my extension ladder..

I don't really need to go to the dealer right? I mean I'm not even going to carry more than about 20 pounds up there..I don't really need to have them do the suspension crap right?

Steppenaudi

There are good instructions with the racks and the wrench provided.

Note that the racks are different - one has three little nubs on the piece that attached to the roof and the other has two. Look at the inside of the rails on the car - I believe the three nub rack goes in front. The nubs engage with holes in the rails.

The wrench has a torque setting feature. Look for two lines on the handle that don't line up. As you tighten the bolts on the racks, watch the two lines. They will line up when the right torque (tightness) is reached.

Stephen Charles Rea

Thanks for the tip...

Redd

In practical terms, forget all about the "torque" aspects of the wrench. Unlike every real torque wrench of any type you may have used, this is just a piece of 1/4" hex rod and if you were an invisible man with transparent hands and eight feet tall, you could conveniently look at the two marks on the handle to watch them align as the hex stock twisted while you tightened it.

It is SO poorly designed and explained, that my dealer's shop said "Oh, that's a torx (brand) wrench" which of course it isn't.

Just tighten it like the lid of a jelly car if you're not familiar with torque settings, the factory setting is very low, gorillas need not apply.

Supposedly the three pins (front crossbar, driver's side only) will tell the car's stability control system to be more conservative because you MIGHT have a load on the roof.

The wrenches have various different patterns on them, like the different wheel locks that are sold for cars. So find a good place to stash yours, and don't mislay it.

Audi really overthought their approach to roof racks.

rez

No doubt and then missed an obvious one like the rear bar being about 3/4" lower than the front bar - kind of weird for a company with their apparent attention to detail ("Vorsprung durch Technik", "Truth in Engineering", depending which country you're in). They're already determining which bar needs to go in front (the one with the 3 pins on drivers side) so why wouldn't they make the towers for the rear bar 3/4 inch taller - might make putting that cargo box up top a little more fuel efficient, maybe a tad quieter?