Roof Rack Showdown - Prinsu vs Southern Style Offroad

Great post.

 

I thought of Prinsu and LFD roof rack but now SSO is in the front line. A little bit more $$$ and I hope it’s worth it.

 

Anyone selling their Prinsu Full (Drill or no Drill)? I'll buy it...

Located in: SF Bay Area

 

So you have has the SSO for over a year now right, how is it holding up?

 

I'm curious as well.

I was thinking about swapping out my Jurassic Park rack for a Prinsu next year. But, after reading this thread, I'm thinking I'll skip the Prinsu and look elsewhere.

Thanks for the informative reviews!

 

So following up on this a year later, I still love it. No fading in the powder coat, no rattling, no leaks, no screws have loosed up, the sunroof opens with it on (which is awesome in the summers, with the tent on I basically just leave the sunroof vented). I’m still 100% satisfied with my purchase and I’d absolutely buy it again.

 

Thank you. It is always nice to see an unbiased "true use" review.

 

Thanks for your review. I appreciate the write up. Im sure this helped a lot of people make their decisions. Made me open my eyes to other options.

I think the only thing that hurts, is the price you pay. However quality comes with a price.

 

I know people who work for both companies, both are passionate about Toyota. I've spoken to Kevin a few times in person (and once helped pull his rig off a rock when he busted an axle), bought both some bumpers and some sliders from him, and I'll say that even thought they aren't the cheapest items, they are built extremely well. Good quality welds, fitment has been accurate, and have held up well to the real world use of banging the bumpers and sliders on things.

As mentioned, lead times are long, in fact in all but 1 instance the 8 weeks was like 10 weeks, but if you're not in a hurry, it's worth the wait.

 

REFHFQBYVRVP6 will save you $100 at SSO so that helps with the price a little but really as the saying goes... buy once, cry once. Top notch stuff that in the grand scheme of things, is well worth the weight. I opted to go with Trailgator rear bumper as well.

 

I can kinda see in the shark fin antenna pic, but curious if you could comment on distance between roof and bottom of the crossbars. I use a Yakima Skybox 16 in winter to haul skis around, I read at least one review on the Prinsu that their clearance between the roof and crossbars was so low profile that is was quite difficult to install/remove a sky box... curious if that would be any better with the SSO? Does anybody have any experience attaching a cargo box to the SSO rack or the Prinsu for that matter? Thanks for this very thorough review!

 

I had a Thule Pulse Alpine that I used on my GTI but it wouldn’t work with the 4Runner (stock rack) because the it sat too far back and you couldn’t open the hatch.

The shark fin sits below the rack top of the rack so I don’t really see why it would interfere but with the amount of real estate on a full length rack you could just move it forward a bit so it’s not in the way of the hatch spoiler when opening or the shark fin. I don’t see it being an issue.

Although now that I think about it, my roof box you opened up and it had a knob you you turned to loosen or tighten the little claw mechanisms on the bottom of the box that secured it to the crossbars. If you have the 2 bolts sticking down you have to put the plate under the bar and then install nuts then yes it’s a pain in the ass. I know with the roof top tents it’s pretty common to get it mounted once then just remove the crossbars it’s mounted to. I don’t do it that way but that’s a common suggestion. I literally have $60,000+ invested in tools so I rarely have a problem coming up with the tools I need to make things easier. I usually go through the sunroof for the front bolts and just take out the furthest back angled bar to access the rear.


Where are you located? Your welcome to come by and test fit your roof box before my tent goes back on for the season.

 

Wow great thread! Another option is Victory 4x4. Well worth checking out. They have great quality control, and can supply products within realistic and dependable time frames. I bought two bumpers from them and visited their shop and saw one of their roof racks installed on a 4 Runner in their shop. Pretty nice. I ended up buying a Front Runner, because I really like the platform style that it has. It’s definitely a good choice if you’re into something that’s an industry standard and high quality, with lots of accessories. But along the lines of the low profile design my favourite is Greenlane Off-road. You guys in the US get a pretty good discount in terms of the currency exchange rate. Greenlane is made of aluminum which is an added bonus. Why add weight when you don’t need to? Also Greenlane makes a great aluminum ladder that weighs 8 lbs and doesn’t require heavy duty struts to support the hatch.
One thing to add about Victory is their great install videos.

 

I really appreciate the offer. Being new to this site, I’m not sure where you are located, but I am in Spokane WA. Using a different browser I was able to finally see some pictures of the SSO rack, wouldn’t load in Chrome for some reason, it looks to have a decent amount of clearance between the roof and the bars. My box does have the claw style attachment, it just needs enough room to drop down and open wide enough to go around the bar.

 

I’m in Boulder Colorado lol

 

Hows the wind noise on the SSO? I have yakima bars at the moment but I am looking at the SSO as an option in the future.

 

It passes the wife test so that’s good enough for me. It’s quieter than my previous vehicle with Thule old bars. With windows, sunroof, and sunroof shade closed you really don’t hear anything, if you open them you can hear some turbulence but no whistling or anything like that.

 

Good thread. Since Victory and LFD were mentioned, I’ll give my experience with both company’s crossbars. I originally bought two Victory crossbars to mount to my stock side rails on a 2019 TRD ORP. My goal was only to be able to carry my paddle boards on the roof, so no need for a lot of rails, etc.

The Victory rails showed up well packaged. Hardware was labeled but there were no install instructions. Their hardware included locknuts. There was no mention on their site of the height of their crossbars relative to the shark fin. Turns out this was important.

They installed easily enough, though they must install from the rear, not the front. After loading up my paddle boards, I discovered that the rails were lower than the shark fin and my paddle board rested on the fin - no good. I actually didn’t realize this until I got to the water and saw that there fin had damaged my board! Wind noise with the Victory bars bars was also quite noticeable.

With more research, I found the LFD crossbars. I found a used setup locally for the same amount I spent on the two Victory bars - it included 4 cross bars, hardware and a wind fairing. I got them installed and I must say that install ease goes to Victory. LFD uses a T-nut which is kind of a pain to get into place and lined up while tightening. LFD also doesn’t use a locknut - the nut is actually the T-nut, which means I’ll have to add a lock washer for additional security.

The LFD bars sit about 1/4-1/3” above the sharkfin, so still low profile but better thought out in my opinion. Fore the rails to sit below the shark fin is completely useless, IMO

The wind fairing on the LFD works perfectly. There is zero noticeable noise from the bars with the added fairing.

For me, the nod goes to LFD. The crossbars can be added to side rails to make a complete rack also. The Victory just doesn’t make sense to me being below the antenna.

mike

 

Wow, we have the lfd crossbars on the oem rails and when time to upgrade to a full rack we’re pretty set on the prinsu, but now not so sure.

 

So now im looking into this company called Westcott designs the rack looks pretty official. im thinking of purchasing my rack through this company instead off sso. Anyone purchase this yet?

https://westcottdesigns.net/product/toyota-4runner-5th-gen-modular-roof-rack/

 

I don’t like that use the smaller crossbars like the Prinsu, it’s not a flat top loading platform - there is a lip all the way down the sides, and there’s no cutouts on the sides for lights/grab handles. I do like the built in tie down points on the side rails though.

 

Thank you for your input.

 

How's it going with the iKamper skycamp installed? Pictures? I hate my I Kamper on the Prinsu! squeaks all the time. unbearable. Hows it on the SSO rack?

 

Fantastic information. SSO is now at the top of my list. Though I;m wondering if those thicker crossbars might cause problems with one of my use cases. I'm trying to figure out how I might mount a Yakima Rocket Box which I use for skis. It has a fairly precise requirement for cross bar locations.

Can anyone post where the SSO crossbars are located - that is distances from the first crossbar location to all the remaining crossbars as precise as possible.

Also, what is the layout of the T-track like on one of the rails, dimensions, etc.

I couldn't find anything like an engineering document on their website. Thanks

 

I ran into similar issues with my Prinsu... I also had to make this because if the wind deflector

https://www.4runners.com/threads/prinsu-rack-damage.19455/

Too much time has passed so I am stuck. I still wish I had gone with SSO or a couple other out there. I am/have considered taking my Prinsu off and ordering a SSO instead. The "bow" in the rails is worse on mine than the ones you had. Poor quality control.

 

Well SSO just fell off the list for me.

They have a policy not tell give any specifications over the internet. So there is no way for me to figure out if my Yakima rocket box will fit or not.

 

Sherpa! Enough said. Best mounting system and quality is top notch.

 

Thanks!

I can't tell from their site (photos/videos) are the top of the rails flush with the top of the crossbars on the Sherpa Crestone?

 

The top rails are basically flush with side rails. Maybe sit 2-3 millimeters below. One of the many reasons I went with Sherpa. Couldn't understand why the Prinsu rails sit so low. Doesn't make sense to me.