Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I researched this product all over the internet for days before my purchase, because the reviews on Amazon scared me. I thought it was too good to be true at the price. However, I've had the rig on my car for about two weeks, and used it (with an additional purchase of 4 j-bars) to haul two kayaks, and I am completely impressed. I have a 2010 4-door, bare roof, Ford Focus. Since I have some mechanical ability and decent working knowledge of geared mechanisms, I felt confident that I could attach this without the instructions. The reviews that I read on Amazon stating that the directions are mostly useless are true except for one thing-- the distance to set the towers BEFORE tightening down the bars with the end screws. You can throw the bars on the roof and tighten away, and it will probably work if the contour of the roof lip is at or near a 45 degree angle, but if you have more curvature then a "wing it" attempt will end in miserable door gaps and regrets. Use the directions to find out where to set that initial number. For instance, the directions said to set the front bar for my model of car at 9. That means that both towers should be slid to where the window shows the number 9 and the screws should both then be tightened as though that will be the permanent number BEFORE doing anything else. I started with the tower measurement at 9 and loosened the end screws, that actually attach the crossbars to the roof, almost the whole way. We're only working with two sets of screws total. If your initial setting is correct, when you put the bar over your car, then it will almost be in a natural-looking, working position as you begin to tighten the towers into place. The adjustment at 9 seemed a little too loose just by observing the angle, so I took the rails off, and adjusted both numbers to 8. and it seems ideal. The doors shut and opened without issue. Now for my car, I have an outer sound proofing seal in addition to an inner water seal that lines the car door (maybe most cars do?). I read about and watched videos that show people tightening the towers over their sound proofing seal then complained about road noise and leaking. I didn't do that. I pulled the sound proofing foam down and put the tower feet directly against the medal lip of my roof. The seal is not glued or fixed in those areas, so it was no big deal to do that instead of potentially ruining the foam seal. Plus, tightening something on foam seems unsafe, and I could see that causing an issue with closing the door on a model like mine. Back to those terrible directions... when I set the measurement bar for the back rail, the instructions said to set the bar to 19 3/4 which was a far departure from the 8 that I ended up at with the front bar. Using some common sense, I set the back bar to 8, and it worked just as well as the front bar. Perhaps the 19 3/4 was meant to be the distance between both bars? I didn't understand it, so I didn't follow that. I set all my squaring up measurements from the tops of the windshields, and kind of eyed the middle width to where I though would be a good resting point for kayaks. I also opened and closed the doors a bunch to test for door stress, and decided to keep the rails as close to the door opening side as realistically as possible that way there was more flex. I gave a 4 instead of a 5 for two reason. Reason number one is that the locks are garbage. I could probably pry them off with my bare hands. Reason number two is that even though the settings seem optimal my doors do pop ever so slightly when I open them sometimes. I think it's because the metal is so thick on the tower feet hooks-- which might actually be good since thinner metal would mostly likely denote poorer quality. Oh, and the rubber feet that actually sit on the roof have to be muscled into the right resting angle. Don't let the feet fool you into believing that they are at a fixed angle, because they are totally adjustable on a single plane. Get this if you want to save money and are a weekend warrior like me. Get the initial adjustments right, and you probably won't be disappointed. I know I was delighted as I was paddling down the creek on my first adventure that didn't involve me wrestling with makeshift pool noodles rigs on my car roof or relying on my friends' trucks for kayak transport.