Surf racks

OEM from chevy, or thule/yakima. i have had good experiences with thule at one point on a vw gti. the aftermarket options will prob be cheaper then from the stealership unless you can find used oem's on a enthusiast forum for chevys or craigslist.

 

actually i dont know if chevy even has racks as an option for malibus but maybe

 

I have had good service from ORS Racks Direct, http://www.orsracksdirect.com/ They have fit guides in the major brands. I found Inno racks to be great for the money.

 

Thule, and if you have to--Yaks.

 

+ 1 on http://www.orsracksdirect.com/, good pricing and service. the best racks out there are the whispbar racks. they are strong, lightweight and most of all quiet. no need for a lame fairing to control air noise over 60mph.

 

Thule!!! =)

 

Thule makes great rack systems. Super versatile, lots of attachment options. I'm currently using the surf carrier attachments on my OEM crossbars, and its really nice. Easy to use and durable.

 

+1 on Thule. Use a Thule rack system plus the 554XT attachments, no issues.

 

thule on rackattack.com search the net for coupon codes for free shipping, 10% off, etc
the site will walk you though everything.
i have thule aero bars...they're pretty quiet, but I also only put them on when i need to- i see 3-4 mpg lost with them on (my car gets 45 mpg so you might not see such a significant decrease).
once you have them "fitted" for your car, its only 5 mins to take them on or off.

also since your car is a 2006, use rack attack to find the thule models and then check craigslist/ebay...you might find a cheap used set

 

Soft racks can be super noisy due to the straps vibrating. But in my experience, hard racks aren't usually that bad. You can hear some wind whistling sometimes but if it is really noisy it is usually something flapping around, not the racks themselves. If you have a loose board bag on your board that can flap against the car and make a lot of noise. When mine does that I usually cinch an extra strap around the center of the board to tie up the bag.

You definitely will lose a bit of gas mileage, especially with the board on there. Though what's the alternative, buy a big truck or SUV with even worse mileage?

 

You're gonna have some noise with any kind of racks but the hard racks are the way to go. Don't waste your time with soft racks. Make sure you buy the locks that go with your racks and locking board attachments as well.

 

Get a fairing to reduce noise

 

+1 on fairing. I tried to go without on my car because I thought it looked cleaner, but it sounded like someone was beating a rug with a baseball bat right outside my window the whole time. Installed fairing, whisper quiet.

+1 thule. I have yakima right now but have owned thule as well. Both are top notch. Get the lock cores, as mentioned above.

Shop used, as mentioned above. The racks are 95% universal, for the most part. You will only have to buy one part (q-clips) to change from vehicle to vehicle (with some exceptions, t-tops, some 2dr coupes, trucks, etc).

My yakima racks held up at 130mph with two mountain bikes on the roof. I have put a dozen 2x4's on the roof, a canoe, a few sections of chain link fence, all sorts of sh*t on my roof. The stickers are right, trucks are for girls.

PM me for any advice on racks, I used to sell them for a living