Originally Posted by
Sly&Shifty
In looking at the pics PAO posted, I see that the mounting strap/brackets have been changed in the model I purchased a couple of weeks ago. The whole rack sits higher and further forward. It easily clears the humps as well as the OnStar/phone antenna on the truck lid.
The current instructions do call for the lip to be at the rear. Proper straps will hold the luggage in place and keep it from coming loose in an accident. I'm talking 1" wide, solid nylon ...around 2500# breaking strength. That's a 50g load for a 50# piece of luggage. I don't think most of us would survive half that load. In this configuration, the lip also takes the strain off the straps caused by wind pressure and keeps the straps from stretching and loosening.
By the way, I watched out the back while my gal was driving and saw that the "tabbed bullets" do flex with the weight each time you hit a bump. Ego the dimples that Aspenrose experienced. With the vertical attachment at the front of the rack, there is no flexing there, just at the rear mounts. The "new" rear mounts have much more clearance in the new configuration.
the rack photos I posted were for the first generation aftermarket rack for the Sol...that was before onstar.....the new racks adjust for the onstar antenna so mounting and attachment instructions as well as the overall design of the rack may be different as well