Flush Roof Rails 2025 Sportage and Yakima Cross Bars

Dec 22, 2025

I am installing Yakima FX towers and crossbars on my flush roof rails (2025 Sportage). Yakima instructions say to place the front crossbar just 17" back from the windshield. When I place my 16 cu ft SkyBox (6'3" long) on the crossbars it sticks out over the windshield. I am told is a poor aerodynamic position for noise, wind buffeting etc. My understanding is that the entire length of the flush bars is supportive and there is a lot of room to move the cross bars back 6" or 12" without interfering with the hatch. Also, the cargo box and crossbars are limited to 60 lbs which is well below the roof limit of the sportage.

Does anyone have any information to share concerning crossbar placement on the flush rails.

Thanks,
Hawk

Legacy Mode

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Hawkman

@Hawkman

Wednesday at 8:09 PM

steveo said:
I know on mine, I raised the hatch and slid the crossbars and roof box as far back as I could w/o touching the open hatch when installing. And yes, you want the front of the roof box catching as little air as possible, so slide it as far back as you can w/o interfering w/hatch.

Thanks for the reply Stevo,

Was it a Yakima, and if so which model? I called Yakima, and they said I should follow the engineer's instruction that says the front crossbar should only be 17" back from the windshield but could give me no reason.

Do you know how much weight you had in the box and how far you traveled?

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