Thule bike rack on a ducato door.

[Les woolly]

hi guys. I have purchase a new Thule bike rack for my Ducato rear door. The fitting instructions state to use sika 252 on the fitting brackets which are in contact with the paint work on the door. Should i be concerned about this if ever need to remove the rack. The 252 is supposed to cure for 48hrs before use. Can anyone give advise on this one please.

 

[Mikeco]

Thule must believe that it’s necessary or it could be a precaution against theft, the Fiamma one suggests putting screws through the rack and door as a precaution. Wether it causes a problem if you remove it is an unknown but it won’t be easy to remove completely without showing some signs of where it’s been.
When I fitted my rack to the back doors I did so with no intention of it not coming off either by theft or while bouncing along the road so I bolted mine through the back doors.

 

[mitzimad]

i decided that the racks gave no security and stuck a huge eye bolt through the door to chain to

 

[poppycamper]

Not sure I would rely on "glue" ..regardless of how good it may be to bond a bike carrier on a verticle surface. Bonding to a roof possibly (ie solar panels) as all forces (apart from wind and turbulence) is also in verticle plane but pushing against roof and not trying to slide it down rear door.

 

[Les woolly]

Thanks for the replies you guys. The brackets have side clamps which hold onto the door, but no security for the exposed Allan key bolts. So it looks like sika 252 it is then. Thanks again.

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[poppycamper]

Shame you never gave all info at start... It appeared you were going to totally rely on glue to hold it on door.???

 

[Mikeco]

Shame you never gave all info at start... It appeared you were going to totally rely on glue to hold it on door.???

I believe that the poster assumed that those who have fitted bike racks of this type knew about the clamping system, which I and others did.

 

[poppycamper]

I believe that the poster assumed that those who have fitted bike racks of this type knew about the clamping system, which I and others did.

That is a very fair comment which I accept. However the OP asked for advice and as you say "assumed" that everyone knew what he planned to do.
I do not know this bike rack ( I would never hang bikes off the back of a vehicle) but I do know I would not rely on "glue" or what ever fancy name it may have to dangle my bikes at the back of my Motor home which is what the OP seemed to be asking so thought I was doing the right thing by raising my concernes to him
Too many questions are asked on this forum without all the facts and it is only after a lot of funsters take the time and effort to try to assist that the OP delivers all the facts.

 

[ShaKen]

That is a very fair comment which I accept. However the OP asked for advice and as you say "assumed" that everyone knew what he planned to do.
I do not know this bike rack ( I would never hang bikes off the back of a vehicle) but I do know I would not rely on "glue" or what ever fancy name it may have to dangle my bikes at the back of my Motor home which is what the OP seemed to be asking so thought I was doing the right thing by raising my concernes to him
Too many questions are asked on this forum without all the facts and it is only after a lot of funsters take the time and effort to try to assist that the OP delivers all the facts.

Some Sikaflex “glues”, such as 252, are structural adhesive which are designed to join major components of trucks / boats / ships / buildings together. They have been designed specifically to remove the need for mechanical fixings such as bolts, screws, rivets.

Applied correctly, the bike rack is going absolutely nowhere if you tried to pull it off the van (the door is more likely to come off first).

 

[Les woolly]

Hi guys, thanks again for the hints and tips. The picture of thr fitting instruction shows how the rack brackets fit to door. I have fitted the rack without the Sika 252, i have to say it is a solid fit. I have even sat on the rack and its going nowhere.
I contacted the company who sold me the rack Camperco from Coventry. They say that there is no need to put Sika on the brackets??? In any case i think i will dwell on this one a while longer. It is mainly the security from theft that i am more concerned with. Thanks again guys.....

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[ShaKen]

I hired a PCV a couple of years ago (before buying the current MoHo) and it had a rear door mounted rack.

I have a couple of heavy eBikes and I ended up only putting one on the rack, and the other inside as I was not convinced it would take the weight.

Research I did then showed me a couple of pics where racks had come off along with bikes, where the rack had effectively peeled the edge of the door/frame back. In my view that was due to the rack really only being fixed / hung on the top and edges of the door

Now, if it was also fixed with Sika or similar, then that would distribute the load across the whole door and not just the edges.

And if your does come off, you will have no recourse to the Manufacturer, as you did not follow their fitting instructions.

 

[ShaKen]

I had a quick look for the original posts / pics of rack coming off, but here’s one that discusses the door bending at the edge....

Fiamma panel Van bike rack has slipped!!

Halfway through our holiday and have noticed our 200 DJ has slipped down about an inch. This has caused the top bar to buckle the door frame and is now resting on the rear window. This is the first time we've used our new van with the bikes, so are not pleased. It appears that the rack has only b...

forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk

 

[Minxy]

I hired a PCV a couple of years ago (before buying the current MoHo) and it had a rear door mounted rack.

I have a couple of heavy eBikes and I ended up only putting one on the rack, and the other inside as I was not convinced it would take the weight.

Research I did then showed me a couple of pics where racks had come off along with bikes, where the rack had effectively peeled the edge of the door/frame back. In my view that was due to the rack really only being fixed / hung on the top and edges of the door

Now, if it was also fixed with Sika or similar, then that would distribute the load across the whole door and not just the edges.

And if your does come off, you will have no recourse to the Manufacturer, as you did not follow their fitting instructions.

I had a quick look for the original posts / pics of rack coming off, but here’s one that discusses the door bending at the edge....

Fiamma panel Van bike rack has slipped!!

Halfway through our holiday and have noticed our 200 DJ has slipped down about an inch. This has caused the top bar to buckle the door frame and is now resting on the rear window. This is the first time we've used our new van with the bikes, so are not pleased. It appears that the rack has only b...

forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk

There are different versions of the Fiamma van rack for Fiats etc, the original one hooked over the top of the door (image 1) which took most of the weight, whereas later versions don't hook over at all and instead are held in place via 2 horizontal clamped bars (images 2 and 3), they vary slightly depending on the year of the base vehicle but unfortunately some people still put hook type ones on which are sure to cause trouble as all the weight is being taken by the weak top edge of the door.

As for the 'clamp' ones, sometimes they aren't installed correctly so the horizontal bars sit above the strongest points on the doors and/or aren't tightened up enough so can slip, then of course they just stick heavy bikes on without checking what weight they are supposed to carry which is 35kg max, 10kg less I think than a rack on a coachbuilt etc. I've also seen them with the wrong sized 'arms' securing the bikes so they lean outwards and thus cause even more leverage on the rack than it was intended to bear.

 

[busby]

I have had 3 vans with a Fiamma carrying two bikes over the years..Never had a problem in probably 50000 miles..BUSBY.

 

[Minxy]

I have had 3 vans with a Fiamma carrying two bikes over the years..Never had a problem in probably 50000 miles..BUSBY.

What weight are the bikes?

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[busby]

My old bikes were 20 kg and 24 kg..Just bought 2 new ones which are a bit lighter.BUSBY.

 

[Les woolly]

Thanks for the updates guy's. Today i met a guy who used to fit bike racks etc for Brownhills back in the day. He suggested i used Simmonds IRS from Bostik. He used it for years. But the best part is that it will come off the paint work should you wish to remove it. So im gonna give that a go. Again thanks for the suggestions. It will soon be Holidays time