Roof bars - 3 Series Touring to 5 series Touring

[RichP79]

Hi all,

Just bought a 530d touring F11 upsizing from a 320d Touring E91, with delivery in a few weeks. I have roof bars to fit the E91and wondered if they will fit the new car or if I need to get some new ones, and if so what people would recommend? Can just the bars be changed and I could keep the locking brackets?

I have BMW bike racks that I will be fitting back onto the bars.

Thanks.

[gizard]

Depends on the age of the cars involved ie LCI or not -

I had an e91 LCI model (no gap between roof bars and roof - pre LCI had a gap)
I had Thule aluminium 'aero' bars with clamps for the above.

I still have the Thule roof bars and they fit my F11 LCI 5 series. - the actual clamps fit under the roof bars as opposed to on the ends which allows a fair amount of width adjustment as the distance between the bars on the 5 is greater than the 3 - some 3 series roof bars might not be wide enough for 5 if the clamps are on the end of the bars and therefore do not allow width adjustment.