It is a Yakima rack and it is completely removable. It cost me $260 with tax. I took it on the freeway and did 70 mph with no problems. I did a few hard stops and it held firm, when its on you cant budge it. Im going to Vegas this weekend to autocross from Salt Lake City. Ill comment more on it when I get back on Monday.
So far Im impressed and excited about it. Here are some pics.

 

Now that just makes me laugh out loud :D !! That's the coolest thing I've seen in I can't remember how long.. makes me think you're all set whether right-side-up OR up-side-down LOL!!


It just looks so wrong (pic#1 & pic#3), but so right at the same time . Great find.

 

What is the brand and size of those tires you have on those OEM rims? Also can do this if you have a sunroof? That's also over 100 pounds on the roof, that ok?

 

They are hoosier 245-35-18's and yes oem wheels. I figure its about 40 pounds per wheel and tire. The guy at Sports Rack said it could hold up to 250 lbs no problem. I know it looks so funny on, hell it looks funny with just the rack. Thats the beauty of it though is that it comes completely off.

 

If the tires need ot be between the legs/posts, I don't think that 275s will fit.

 

I asked that question to the dealer because I am buying 275's in a month or two and they dont have to be between the posts. The bars are a heavy gauged steel wrapped in some sort of plastic.

 

ummmmmmmmmm :p

 

That looks so freakin' weird... but such a great idea!

 

genius!

 

Hey; you going autocrossing in the snow??

 

That is sure an interesting way to carry your wheels on the '8, but I dread having to lift these wheels so high and carefully positioning them on the rack without touching the sides of the car's roof.

 

Frankly, thats nothing.

THIS is odd:



(edit: oops, used the HUGE image, not the decent sized version)

 

Inverted wheelie bar!!! :D

 

I think with 2 more tires, he would need a wheelie bar.

 

heehehheeh..i'm sorry great idea to move the wheels around but that looks so funnyD hehehe. good luck with the solo II racing. let us know how it goes.

 

I autocrossed for a couple of years in the San Francisco area about 5 years ago. There were a few people who would just drive to the autocrosses on their R tires. Some would do this for only nearby events, others would use autocross tires as their primary tires all summer (granted it doesn't rain in the summer).

The thought was that the tire wear driving to and from an event is minimal compared to the event. And unless you run alot of events, the tires start getting hard before you cord them anyways.

Anybody currently doing this? It sure seems a lot easier than cramming the tires into or onto the car, plus carrying jacks, tools, etc.

 

Some R comps work as street tires, some don't. Toyo RA-1s make great summer tires on street driven cars if you can live with the short life (compared to regular street tires). They don't really lose grip through repeated heat cycles like other R comps. They have a good tread pattern that evacuates enough water to keep them form being downright scary in the wet like some other R comps. They also seem to stand up to potholes and road debris as well as ultra high performance street tires. The tradeoff is that they don't have as much grip as the other R comps that you probably don't want to drive on the street, like, say, Hoosiers, becuase they have no real tread pattern, would be heat cycled into rocks within a week or two for most people, don't do well against potholes and are terribly expensive to begin with (not even counting how long they last).