I Built Up and Tested a Front Runner Roof Rack System – Here’s What I Think of It

With a fresh Jimny XL and a desperate need to maximise storage, Tim and Mary explored the Front Runner Slimline II roof rack and its range of over 55 accessories.

Heads up! Gear reviews on We Are Explorers are unsponsored. Everything in the Reviews category is editorially independent – we provide honest thoughts after testing in the real world, with a repeated framework to allow fair comparison. Brands often provide this gear for free, with the understanding that this does not guarentee them a favourable review. Learn more about our gear articles.

If your mate with a 4WD ever turns their nose up at the idea of a visit to IKEA, just ask them about the storage solutions in their rig.

Their eyes will light up, no doubt, as they explain the unique way they load things into their boot and onto their roof. Storage gets incredibly personal, as everyone has different needs, opinions, and cars.

Speaking of, we have a Suzuki Jimny XL. My wife’s been a long-term Jimny driver and we recently bought a new one after the old one spent most of its lap of Tasmania overheating in single digit temperatures.

The XL was a long time coming, so we favoured quality accessories for the build

The XL is a great car as it fits in our tiny apartment garage and nabs parking spots in the city, but once you hit technical tracks you can run with the best of them. Problem is, there’s bugger all space so utilising the roof effectively was going to be key.

Read more: How to 4WD for Beginners

We had a few requirements: we wanted it to be low-profile, to minimise the increase in fuel consumption and to avoid locking us out of low carparks; it had to be light, as Jimnys aren’t supposed to have that much weight on the roof; and it needed a suite of specific accessories to make it as easy as possible to load up and hit the road.

The Slimline II leaves just enough space to sling ropes and ratchets under the slats

Front Runner’s Slimline II Roof Rack rose to the top and luckily enough, the crew were happy to kit me out with one and a range of accessories to give my honest opinion on. I’ve deviated from our regular review format for this one, so that I can run through each of the items instead of writing a bunch of separate reviews – but I was still allowed to say whatever I wanted just like our regular reviews.

Here’s what I thought.

Slimline II Roof Rack

Installation

The hero piece arrived at my door in a few very large and heavy boxes. I appreciated the DIY approach, rather than having to go to some outfitter and pay for something I could do myself. That’s half the fun… right?

After clearing a bit of space, the whole thing fit together like a bunch of Meccano. It was a time-consuming but relatively straightforward affair – I’d just recommend laying down some towels to avoid scratching the rack before it’s even on.

One thing I really liked was the ‘packed by’ cards. Although now part of the Dometic Group, Front Runner is a South African brand and these cards, with their packer’s name and handwriting, were a nice way to show the company’s roots. Anecdotally, I’ve heard that every third car in South Africa has a Front Runner rack bolted on.

Thanks heaps, Prudence!

The rack comes with eight gutter clamps for the Jimny XL, which is definitely more than the competitors. Maybe it’s overkill, but it did fill me with confidence that it wasn’t going anywhere, especially after torquing them up, giving them each two slaps, and saying so out loud.

I needed to enlist my brother-in-law’s help get it onto the roof, but apart from that the build was a one person job. Unlike some other racks, the Slimline II is modular, and can be lengthened or shortened to fit different vehicles and use the maximum roof space.

There was also a wind deflector and riser and a riser chosen to suit the Jimny XL – it’s quite a pleasing fit and I haven’t had any problems with wind noise at the Jimny’s top speed (110km/h if you have a tailwind).

This bug splattered wind deflector minimised road noise pretty well

Build Quality

This thing is sturdy, which you’d expect with its $1999 price tag. If you stand on the individual slats they’ll flex a little, so I made sure to spread my 85kg heft across two of them and as close to the side rails as I could manage, but I never felt like anything was going to break. There’s also a decent five-year warranty in case something goes wrong.

Another option is standing like this, which was doable with my size 10 feet

Construction is a mix of high-strength steel and black epoxy powder-coated T6 aluminium and I haven’t had any issues in the last six months despite daily exposure to the elements. The rounded edges on the rails were a nice touch too, and help to avoid damaging any rope or tie-down straps.

The only part that lets the rack down is the plastic corners, which could fit a little more cleanly, and the stickers on each gutter mount that say ‘Front Runner’. Not only do I not need the brand name so present but some of the stickers weren’t on straight and one fell off. Black embossed letters pressed into the metal would be far more pleasing.

These things were just stickers, which kind of guarantees they’ll fall off at some point

What about the accessories?

Racks are pretty simple, so how’s it all work together?

The Slimline II uses a series of T-slots on the top and bottom of each slat, and will take standard 8mm bolts along the edges of the rack (slight disassembly required for that second one). There are over 55 specific accessories that work with this rack, so you can dial it in perfectly.

After much thought about what we needed, we landed on:

• A bike carrier
• A recovery device mounting kit (for our TREDs)
• Tie-down rings and ‘Stratchits’ to lock down our car camping tent
• A cargo roller, to make it easier to get stuff onto the roof
• And a ladder, which I wasn’t sure about at first

Most of these accessories can be added and removed by loosening the bolts and sliding them toward the larger holes in the slats, however this isn’t a particularly quick process that you’ll want to do before a trip – I focused on building a daily setup that felt unobtrusive and worked well for any camping or off-road journey I could envision.

Read more:Everything We Love About the New Toyota HiLux After Driving It in the Bush

Pro Bike Carrier

Carrying my gravel bike was a no-brainer, but since it’s carbon fibre I was keen on the pro carrier that safely clamps onto the wheels.

Unfortunately, this comes in at an eye-watering $910, whereas the regular thru-axle carrier that relies on removing the front wheel is only $128.

This burly thing holds your front wheel straight, so only a small ratchet is needed for the back wheel to keep things upright

In its defence, it’s super sturdy once you lock it down, which is important if you’re going to drive anywhere off road (mind the trees!). I did find the tightening mechanism a bit fiddly – it takes a lot of rotations to loosen or get tight, making me less-than-keen to use the rack for shorter, local rides.

You’ll also probably need a stool of some sort to help you reach your roof and fiddle it into the mount – I struggled with an 8kg bike and a lifted Jimny – so with a 17kg mountain bike and a Land Cruiser you’ll want to add overhead press to your gym routine.

I was genuinely impressed by how solidly this thing held the bike

Folded down, the rack disappears from sight, which is a joy as I could leave it on permanently. I get that it’s heavy duty, with metal components designed for off road use – I just don’t quite understand why it costs even more than my much more complicated Yakima FoldClick 2, which sits on a towball, holds two bikes, and has integrated lighting.

Recovery Device Mounting Kit

I was pretty impressed with the Recovery Device Mounting Kit. It kept a low profile when it was empty, and with two bolts I could quickly load two TRED recovery tracks onto the car. Longer bolts were included to allow up to four devices. Being easy to remove is a plus, as leaving them on the car permanently is asking for UV damage that’ll mean they fail when you really need them.

Low profile and quick to deploy

If you’ve got Maxtrax, the attachment is through four bolts that have eyelets on the end. I was a bit jealous of these as a few extra tie down points here make a lot of sense, but TRED users don’t get them. Fewer bolts to undo though!

Read more: What to Pack in Your Hiking First Aid Kit

Tie Down Rings & Stratchits

The tie down rings are golden. You can simply slide them into the slot wherever you need and hand tighten them for any configuration (go tight! I had one come loose when I didn’t give it enough gusto). I’d get more than you think you need and store them in the car.

I loved how tough these were, confidence inspiring

I’d also set them up at the same time as any other accessories, as the bulkier accessories are harder to move around for the optimal use of space.

We have a large car camping tent which we were keen to get on the roof, with four evenly-spaced tie downs between the bike and the recovery tracks, we were able to load the tent every morning on a week-long road trip. Being able to pull the tent off first and load it last is a gamechanger for car camping.

It looks small here but that tent in a canvas bag takes up half the boot

We used Front Runner’s Stratchits to tie it all down. At $54 a pop they’re not cheap, but the unique combo of a carabiner, regular hand adjustment on the strap, and elastic, meant that things stayed in place even after some settling on the road. The elastic conforms to odd shapes and pieces of velcro ensure excess strap doesn’t flap in the wind.

Cargo Roller

This one caught Front Runner off guard – the cargo roller is usually used by tradies or people with a kayak – so why did I want it?

Honestly, it just felt like it’d make loading our tent easier, and it did. It’s definitely a luxury, but as I could rest the frame of the tent on this roller until most of it was over the rack, I never had any issues with straps catching in the slats and could push it on by myself.

If you’re regularly loading anything heavy, long, and solid, this could be a game changer

I’m all about ease of use – any system that relies on a fiddly process gets skipped or puts you off the whole activity. My only criticism is that it made a bit of noise on the highway, some way to lock it when it’s not in use would be ideal.

The Ladder

I wasn’t sold on the Jimny ladder initially, surely I didn’t actually need to get up there and if I did, I’d just scramble, right? Maybe I was also worried about ridicule after Ella from the WAE crew called it a Widdle Wadder. Anyway, the crew at Front Runner recommended I give it a chance.

The ladder’s great as the Jimny’s rear bumper is a no-step zone

Boy I’m glad they did. Having a quick route to the roof meant I didn’t think twice about getting up there and sorting things out properly. Not once in a week of road tripping and 4WDing did anything come loose, because I was able to inspect and tighten it all properly, rather than reaching desperately from the ground. The installation wasn’t too bad either, a few bolts and a borrowed torque wrench, but it was probably the most challenging bit – if you’re not that handy, I’d get some help.

My only criticism, again, is that the little Front Runner logo fell off. For a range of gear that’s been so tough and durable, having the brand’s logo fall off and litter somewhere was pretty disappointing.

Read more: Remember to Leave No Trace

Final Thoughts

If you’re still reading then you’re either considering a rack solution for your own adventure rig, or just in it for the love of the game.

Overall, I was super impressed by Front Runner’s rack system and accessories. It looked great, worked seamlessly together, showed almost no signs of wear in six months, and was mostly intuitive and easy to use – with the exception of the overpriced bike rack.

Can confirm that’s Mary driving, I’d be too scared!