etrailer | Mount: Thule SquareBar Evo Roof Rack for Flush Rails on a 2023 GMC Yukon XL

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Hey, it's Ethan here at etrailer. Today, we're gonna be taking a look at and showing you how to install the Thule Wingbar Evo roof rack system on our 2023 GMC Yukon XL. This kit is really nice, because it works with the flush rails on our Yukon here. Just holds on to these lips on the rails by the clamps on the feet of the system. If you're looking to transport some larger items, like maybe some ski and snowboard carriers, maybe some roof boxes, baskets, or up to kayaks, and you want a way to get those to where you need them to go, a roof rack system like this is a really good option. The crossbars themselves are 60 inches a piece, technically capable of supporting up to 220 pounds, but the feet that we're using today are actually only able to support 165 pounds.
So you must note that you have to factor in what the lowest rated component is and go from there. Additionally, you can see here on the end, the caps swivel back and forth to give us access to this T slot. There's also a rubberized molding that fits into the slot, so you can keep all your accessories safe and secure. It'll probably be a little bit longer than your crossbars and you might need to trim it up at the end, that's not too bad. The T-track slot is really useful for carrying a lot of accessories that have that as an option, because if you have accessories with pretty large clamps on the bottom, then you get into clearance issues and things like that.
With the flush rails and the raised towers, it probably won't come into that issue a ton, but it's nice to know that that option is available. If you're curious to know how much clearance you'll have from your roof to the crossbar system, from the center of the car to the top of the system here is four inches, to the bottom, it's about 3 3/4. If you use one of these raised parts, you get about 3 3/4 to the top, and closer to 3 1/4 to the bottom. The crossbar is well-effective at transporting some larger items, also look pretty nice on the roof. They have a black powder coat finish, which gives you a nice feel and a good look in general, as well as the aerodynamic shape that helps you cut down on some of that wind noise.
Granted, when you put anything on your roof, especially once you start adding accessories to it, you're probably gonna feel that, but the rubberized strip on top, as well as the adjustable slide on the bottom help cut some of that down. The feet for the system are pretty nice and straightforward. They have these plastic lock cores on the end. You can upgrade the metal if you want to keep things more secure. If you just pop the end caps off, you can see that everything is held in place just by one bolt, which is nice compared to some other systems that use at least a couple.
And down here, you can see that the clamps that are holding onto our rails do have a rubberized padding on the inside to protect your rails, as well. As far as the insulation goes for the system, it was pretty straightforward, and you can check out how we did that now. To start the install process, we just lay everything out to make sure we have everything that we need. We have our 60 inch crossbar here, we already took the end caps off, we have both of our towers, we have the pads for the bottom of them, we have this one already installed here. We have both of the front and the back of the clamps, as well as these bolts for the clamps, and these plastic lock cores, or if you have the metal ones, the metal ones in your case. We have the tool to tension everything, and you're gonna need a tape measure to get your crossbar spread. Start by fitting this plastic lock core into the end cap, just like that, just to get it secured and out of the way. Then, we'll grab one of our towers, fit the back clamp into it, just putting those prongs into the opening, and making sure that there's enough room for the bolt there. And then, we'll put the plastic feet or the rubber feet on, just to secure that a little bit, just slides into place, just like that. Now we can grab the front of our clamps, slide it over that ridge there. Should leave us enough room to get one of these bolts into here, just like that. You don't wanna tighten it down too much, 'cause we're still gonna have to fit these clamps on the rim of the rails. Now that we have these assembled, we can fit them into the slot underneath the crossbars. Just slide them in there, pretty straightforward. There's no exact place to put them just yet. We'll adjust it once we get both of them on. So, we'll do the same thing on the other side. Just slide them in there, just like that, and now we