I had a pair of "clamp-on"...Thules....
Only used them ONCE for a trip to UK with a small roofbox on.
Left scratch marks on the paint, didn't feel secure at all (OK, I do tend to drive "with the traffic" when going through Germany...so 180kph ...100+ mph was "normal").
As soon as I got to UK, ordered the ones from VeeDub (as in the previous thread) and fitted those....
Gave the "clamp-ons" to Simon at Brickwerks to add to his collection of "junk"....I guess he binned them or gave them away!
There is no "gutter" on the outside of the van to get a secure fix....you rely on simply "pulling the cross-bars tight enough to not move".
Well, they DID move!
Took a while to polish out the marks they left (even though I'm NOT a fanatic of "nice paintwork", they left a dull/scratched patch about 3" square (yeah, still use my old-mans measurements for rough guesses), and I would NOT suggest you use them.
FAR better to spend the time, remove the roof lining (yeah, it's a pain, but not impossible) and do the job right...assuming you want to put any load over 50kg up there, and/or drive at more than 50mph!...
Remember, I did this "replacement job" of the roof bars, at my mum's house, limited tools, in an afternoon.
New ones are FINE with a 100kg load (NOT according to OLD VeeDub specs....but they upgraded them after MY comments...even offered to send me a modification....but they work fine as-is).
Why take a risk for the sake of a few hours work, when, let's face it, you guys in UK have f*ck-all else to do until the pubs open...
