New Stuff from Thule: Thule Aero Blade now available at Rack Attack Coquitlam

23 09 2011

Thule wasn’t the first kid on the Block to come out with the Thule Aeroblade style wingbar but man did they every do it right. The fit and finish is very nice and it’s great that it will work with any of the Thule rapid bar foot packs like 450R, 460R, 480R, 430R and even the older 400XTR. Being the owner of a Nissan Frontier and ended up installing the Thule 450R with the Aeroblade and what an improvement over the reg 450 square bars or the 450R with 47″RB bar. I was also able to go one size bigger from a 47″ to a 53″ as the new AeroBlade has a longer grove on the bottom of the bar for the towers to slide. Yahoo! I can now carry my car topper boat or a couple of kayaks without having to go with the loud regular lb58″ square bar. I found that the Thule AeroBlade was not only a lot stronger than the factory Nissan Frontier rack it’s also less noisy.

Also the new AreoBlade has some of the best technology built into it including:

WindDiffuser™ is a textured surface on the t-slot cover that disturbs the airflow better than a smooth surface, greatly reducing wing noise.
BoxBeam™ – The sophisticated BoxBeam aluminum extrusion creates one of the strongest load bars in the market. Using a vertical load test, the AeroBlade can sustain over 800 lbf of force.
SmartSlide™ – The new SmartSlide™ is a molded measurement system providing a quick, no-hassle, tapemeasure-free foot installation. SmartSlide™ also covers the underbar slot to improve aerodynamics and noise diffusion.
SwingBlade™ – The new SwingBlade™ end cap pivots open to allow full access to the t-slot for easy accessory installs.

Also a nice piece of information even though the AeroBlade come in about $100 or so more than a regular Thule square or RB bar in about 15,000 KM of driving (average person drives that in a year) that rack save that for you in gas. Or even if you went with the Thule square bar with a fairing you would still be about at the same price as the AeroBlade system, so it’s a no brainer spend the little bit now and it will be music to your ears rather that a howl or whistling scream of a Yakima round or Thule Square bar.