Beginner Info

How Fast You Can Drive with A Roof Box?

People install roof boxes to manage the extra luggage for some specific occasions. But after installation, users have to follow some limitations for the safety of the vehicle. The turning point of the vehicle increases when the vertical height exceeds after the installation of the roof box. To avoid any serious issue, read the following discussion for better understanding when drive with a roof box.

How fast you can drive with a roof box? Experts suggest for the safety of the driver and vehicle do not go beyond 90 mph while driving with a roof box. Due to an increase in size after installation, the center of gravity varies which affects the vehicle’s stability. As we have to maintain proper balance, the drag force increases and time to stop the vehicle too. So, it is better to go with the safety limit.

How Fast You Can Drive with A Roof Box
How Fast You Can Drive with A Roof Box?

How Fast You Can Drive with A Roof Box?

You need to pay more attention while driving with a roof box. Not only the weight increases but also some changes happen which makes it difficult to handle the vehicle.

There are two main issues which create some problems:

First, the surface area of the car increases which leads to more power consumption issues.

Secondly, as the height goes on, the center of gravity varies and so does its balancing position too.

To avoid all these issues, the speed limit explained above is given after some honest experiments. In kilometers per hour, you can drive 130 to 140 kmh with a roof box. Within this limit, you can manage to balance your vehicle with the safety limits. For example, drag force is under consideration at this limit as the roof box can withstand this speed.

As the drag force increases, the engine consumes more energy to overcome this gap. As a result, fuel consumption increases. Now, the second thing which creates an issue is the gravity center.

Adding roof boxes means high size, more load, and a little slow movement than the average driving routine. After installment, be aware of the sharp turns as increased inertia can be dangerous.

The other thing related to inertia is, you cannot apply sudden brakes. This thing can lead to some serious problems as a combination of moving vehicles and inertia can be fatal. As a result, you need to give more time to the vehicle to stop.

All these things are possible only if you are driving within the safe boundary and that is the speed of 90 miles per hour.

Tips While Driving with A Roof Box

Within providing the security, roof box adds your car an aesthetic view even while providing storage. This can be a perfect combo for an adventurous holiday plan. But it’s necessary to know some points if you are a beginner with a roof box. Here are some points for further clarification:

Weight Handling

Roof boxes are made of lightweight material and they do not have too much weight to add. But after putting luggage in it, it is not easy to handle. So be aware of your vehicle’s weight ratio and for further help, you can check the vehicle’s helping manual. You mak also know what happens if you exceed truck payload

Protection Feature

As the safety of your belongings is prior to everything so, you should learn the accurate way to use roof boxes. Do not ever put everything into the roof box unevenly. Try some tricky ways like you can cover it from the ends with polythene sheets in some extreme weather conditions.

Use of Straps

Generally, roof racks have straps to use for tightening purposes. To add extra protection you can buy these straps from Amazon. These will help you to withstand more wind force while driving. All you need to do is to check the condition of straps every alternative week.

Straps can get broken because of wear and tear. So, put some backup straps in the vehicle to use within the journey.

Tire Pressure

Tire pressure has its importance when the automobile is fully loaded. It is necessary to be in optimal condition as over or under pressured tires can ruin your journey. Overpressure can cause extra jumps and low pressure can puncture your tire while passing from any uneven surface.

Smart Packing

Now, this is something you can learn only by practice. But a simple tricky way is always to place larger things first and then small ones on their sides. And forever fill the middle space first and then front and rear. This is the best way to manage the weight balance.

Position of The Roof Box

It does not matter how much smart packing you have done, if still, your box is in the wrong position, it can cost you heavily. There are two issues related to this; first, driver visibility problem and secondly it can be dangerous for other vehicles passing by you. So adjust the position wisely, and hold it tight to avoid any serious headache.

Do not ever forget that your vehicle is loaded with a roof box. This is an easy thing as we are not used to it. Especially, if you are going to pass through a tunnel or an archway. After applying brakes, suddenly check the straps if your vehicle observes a little jump. If the box slides a little, suddenly fix it without any hesitation.

Conclusion

Our experts have finalized the following results after working on the topic “How fast you can drive with a roof box?”. Here we go:

  1. Avoid any type of sharp turns, slow down the vehicle and give some time to absorb the inertia.
  2. Most families use these while going on vacations, we all know we have extra luggage for these occasions. So never do overloading, as chances for the vehicle to flip over the side are more.
  3. To overcome its chances of flip, be aware of the vehicle’s weight ratio limitation. You can check this from the helping manual of the vehicle. In case of unavailability of this manual, contact any local auto shop.

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