1500 mile drive and roof rack

I am going on a 1500 mile trip (3000 miles round trip). I will need the room for some things
(camping stuff) and am thinking I might install a HF roof rack for the trip. How bad do you guess will this affect my aerodynamics? I am getting like 14 mpg right now so...?

 

When I put my SSO roof rack on I lost .5mpg. -1mpg more if I have my RTT on(basically a big brick on top of a bigger brick).

if it's just the small basket type you probably wont lose much until you load it up.

 

I lose around 10% fuel economy with my roof rack on (Yakima Megawarrior with the extension). It will be worse at higher speeds.

It's worth it if you need the space.

 

The higher up the rack sits the more you notice wind drag and cross winds at highway speeds.

 

Bleh, well no choice need the storage space.

 

Have you considered a hitch mount carrier?

 

I will need my departure angle to be as high as possible for where we are going. So I can not use the hitch mounted thing.

 

I did a trip from Virginia Beach to Seattle with the 4Runner loaded down with people, dogs, luggage etc. I had a roof rack (Gobi) with lights, and a roof bag holding 4 large suit cases. With 33" tires I got between 12 and 13 mpg and was doing 70 most of the way. I don't think aerodynamics is too much of a concern based on my numbers. I did ensure the roof bag was synched down to limit the flappy crap however and make it as smooth as possible.

 

I used Lfd cross bars and a cheapo harbor freight basket with a cargo bag on it. Average about 18mpg with that on. 1" level and 255/75 at tires. Worth it for the extra cargo room.

 

I am going to paint the crossbars from HF black to match the rack on my runner. I think it will look pretty descent.

 

+1 for the LFD Cross bars.

Works great to carry a few items up top when needed. When unloaded it does not effect MPG's. Very minimal wind noise as well.
If I needed a lot of space up top I'd go with a Gobi.
If I wanted modularity (adding RTT/ lighting/ awnings) probably a Sherpa

 

Thule on factory bars (or LFD bars) probably a little better for aero...if your stuff fits in one.

 

I run a Thule Motion XT on road trips and it affects the MPG by about 1/2 - 1 MPG depending on the speed.

 

Rola rooftop basket on the 4x4 Designs mounts (lowest profile possible) incurs about 1 mpg penalty, maybe a tad more.