Which is why we spoke with jonny wood one of yakima s four road warriors who travel around the us educating the masses on how to properly rack up their vehicles and asked for some advice on how to properly secure a load to a car s roof.
Strapping lumber to roof rack.
Start by loading dimensional lumber onto the rack with the narrow edges resting on the crossbars.
My car with 4 x8 mdf board on the roof rack.
Wrap the strap around the load and under and around each rack.
Thread the strap end through the buckle and pull.
Next secure the load to the rack using ratchet straps photo 2.
Wood recommends a webbing strap with a fastening buckle that.
Second trip 16 2 x4 x6 boards on my roof rack.
A pair of 20 web ratchets used as a fail safe in case the board slides to the rear of the vehicle.
Use a tie down that wraps around the item and the rails.
That prevents the bundle from sliding forward backward or side to side.
The second option is the side racks.
Then secure the front and back ends of each lumber bundle with ratchet straps to prevent movement photo 1.
With the third option crossbars with side rails you can secure an item to the side rails and run tie downs from front to back securing them to the crossbars.
Acquire ropes and straps.
My car with roof rack with cross bars installed.