Roofrack causing drag?

[Aurey]

When I'm driving at highway speeds, I feel like the roof rack is holding me back. I'd never had a roof rack on my old car and I can't think of anything else that's causing this. I'm also thinking that it's probably costing me more in (already expensive) gas...?
Suggestions?
I have the THULE racks from Mazda. I have a canoe, I need the racks, so there's gotta be a solution. I'm not a huge fan of the way wind fairings look - unless i can customize it maybe? I also thought of sliding the racks all the way to the back of the car - would that help?
Thanks for your suggestions,
A;)

[baymoe]

I've noticed somewhere in the 10-15% reduction in mileage with the rack and empty bike trays. What bothers me most is the annoying noise it creates. Take the rack off when not in use.

[little_wheelz]

I've noticed somewhere in the 10-15% reduction in mileage with the rack and empty bike trays. What bothers me most is the annoying noise it creates. Take the rack off when not in use.

Do you have a fairing? I have a Yakima rack and without the faring to is so loud, with the faring it is pretty good... you can even open the moonroof and hear yourself think.

As for the drag issue, I remove the racks when I'm not using them. I assume you don't drive around all week with the canoe so you might want to take the time to remove them when not in use.. especially at $1.35/L.

[zakman]

im looking for a roof rack as well and all the friends i take to say take it off any chance you get. they say gas is a pain and that the noise, unless you have the farring is crazy loud. When i get mine mine wil lbe off all the time unless i need it for my bikes.

[yearoftherat]

I've had a rack on my car for the past 5 yrs and have never had issues where
the roof rack is holding me back. You're driving at 100km+ and amount of drag the rack creates is very small. A fairing will def help with the noise but may decrease the gas mileage your car gets. Like Baymoe, my gas mileage dropped whenever I kept the rack on with nothing loaded on top. In fact, its prb even worse when I have it loaded up with my bike and stuff...
IMHO, I don't mind look of the fairing:

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k22/cjlee9/DSC_0054.jpg

[baymoe]

What size is your fairing? The noise is driving me nuts! I was looking towards modifying a yakima fairing for a clear plexiglass unit so i get sunlight through the sunroof.

[yearoftherat]

What size is your fairing? The noise is driving me nuts! I was looking towards modifying a yakima fairing for a clear plexiglass unit so i get sunlight through the sunroof.

IIRC, its this one: http://www.rackattack.com/product-pages/thule-872xt-fairing.asp

For me, I found that the noise was worse before I got the fairing.

[Aurey]

thanks for the feedback everyone, i'll just take the racks off while I'm not using them. The noise is pretty annoying and gas is too expensive to be wasted right now.
A;)