I recently installed them on my 2012 EXL. Same parts and procedure as all 2011-2017. Overall it was pretty easy after watching a few videos.

Roof Rails

Check out the deal on Roof Rails at College Hills Honda

www.collegehillshonda.com

Edit: I ordered from Bernardi Parts but College Hills currently has them on sale, so maybe a lower overall price.

 

You have to drill into the roof, right?

 

Fitment of OEM Honda roof rails on your Honda are a no brainer. Not sure what the Swiss flag has to do with this, but I would not recommend using a swiss-army knife for trimming the black roof strips.

 

Fitment of OEM Honda roof rails on your Honda are a no brainer. Not sure what the Swiss flag has to do with this, but I would not recommend using a swiss-army knife for trimming the black roof strips.

 

I use the crossbars when carrying a cargo box or ladder. Otherwise I have the crossbars removed since I think it looks better. (Don't carry much on the roof lately.)

 

btw, just bought a set from my Honda dealer for $242 OTD. Freight was $75 at Collegehills and other sites freight was as much as $300!

 

As kernel said, click the second pic under the large image. This should play a video of the install process.

 

Would strongly recommend either Yakima or Thule crossbars--the ones that "grab" the roof rails add a lot of flexibility in regards to fore-aft placement and spacing. You'll find that different accessories do better with different spacing between front and back crossbars.

These are expensive, so I recommend going 2nd hand route--Craigslist, offerup, Thrift stores.

 

what size length should I get? I don't want to go out to my garage and measure

 

Trying to find these on the Thule website

 

I'm confused as to whether this product comes with the part that attaches to the parallel bars: https://www.thule.com/en-us/roof-rack/roof-racks-and-accessories/thule-squarebar-evo-150-_-712500

 

The size of the cross bars depends on which van you are putting them on. For the old standard Thule square bars, your 06 will take the 50 inch load bars, your '14 Odyssey will need the 58" load bars. To find the size needed/recommended for your vehicle, go to the Thule.com website click on "fit my car", and put in the year, then make, then model, select roof rack, then roof railing, then there should be 3 or 4 different products. The ones that you have in your photo above are the squarebar evo ones (for the 2015 the evo 135 comes up as being compatible), if you click on add to cart, then click on the cart in the upper right corner, the cart will show that you actually have 2 different products--a set of crossbars (thule calls them load bars), and a set of feet. The bars themselves retail for $129, the feet retail for $229. The link you have above are just for the 150 bars not the feet.

The feet are the parts that attach the crossbars to the roof rails.

If you are feeling adventuresome you could pick up a set of Thule 450 for around $80 on ebay (make sure that all the parts including locks and keys are present) and a pair of 58" square bars for $60-$80 including shipping. They may not look as nice as the squarebar evos, but they are very functional.

Also, do not be surprised at the howling that bare crossbars make. There is no appreciable noise when there is a cargo box or paddleboards or kayaks attached, but when it is just the crossbars it is a bit annoying above 35 mph. Our bars live in the garage when there is nothing on top of the van.

Just to be clear, one needs the roof rails to use the above stuff.

Hope this helps!

 

I didn't order roof rails for our 2013 Touring (back in 2013), but 2 years ago, I had the dealer install the rails and cross bars. I didn't want to do-it-myself. I think it was about 600$ but well worth it. Since then, we've added Thule J-racks which easily mount to the cross bars. And two kayaks. With front and rear tie downs (for safety on long trips), we drove the kayaks from Wisconsin to Oregon - no problem (we stayed below 64mph). And best of all, I can remove the cross bars using a T30 tool and ratchet, when I'm not transporting the boats. I highly recommend the Honda system.
Note that the rails are NOT parallel, nor is the roof line - so the cross bars are NOT the same length. So when you attach your J-racks, line them up by eyeball so the boats are parallel to the van.
Note: the Thule J-racks are removable, and are now mounted on the cross bars of my other car (2002 RX300).

 

Note that the rails are NOT parallel, nor is the roof line - so the cross bars are NOT the same length.

It's interesting how much difference there is in distances between the rails. In the rear I can use the same Thule bar as I did on our '06 and '99--the 50 inch ones. In the front I can only use the 58" ones. Discovered this when I first tried putting the crossbars on our '15--was smiling because I put the rear one on first.

Dave--I like where you have your front tie downs located. I put ours closer to the front of the van using unused holes, but it seems like the straps really don't accomplish anything except hum and move excessively. It looks like you are using the screw that the fender attaches to a solid looking support--I will probably move my hold down loops to where yours are.

 

I bought this in 2017: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00QVWGNQ6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
No drilling.

 

I highly recommend these. I put a set on my 2011 Odyssey when I bought it in 2016. They have carried loads of over 60 Kg. and a very heavy whitewater canoe with no problems. I’ve done several side-by-side comparisons with OEM rails on Odysseys I parked next to, and could find no difference. I suspect they may actually be the same rails as the OEM ones, just with an off-brand label.

Unfortunately, they are currently unavailable on Amazon, which I hope is only temporary, as they were a fraction of the Honda price. They are made by a (probably Chinese) company called Brightlines, in case that helps finding them at another vendor.

 

Like Charlie says, just put a twist in the strap.
For the front tie-downs, Rutabaga PaddleSports in Madison WI, recommend the "hood loops", and it was easy to bolt them under the hood with the existing bolts there; when we're not using the tie-downs, you can tuck the hood loops under the hood. The guys at Rutabaga really taught me a LOT about carrying boats on the roof. For short distances, and under 50mph, we really only need the J-rack straps.
For sure, the roof rails are not parallel, so the cross bars are not the same length (they are marked R and L, and only fit in one configuration). So again, with the J-racks, one can't simply put them "the same distance in from the side of the car" and have parallel front facing boats.
We drove 2000 miles with the boats on the roof (as I mentioned, below 65mph, and mostly on highway 20); Wyoming was interesting, with 60+mph winds, and I slowed to 40mph on some mountain passes. But we were never in a hurry.

Two other things:
thing1: To my surprise, I could open the rear hatch completely without it hitting the boats (see attachment).

thing2: I accidentally discovered while carrying the boats long distance - the moonroof! I opened the sunshade at times just to 'look at the boats' and see how they wobbled, etc.

 

Find a pair at a junk yard and save big $$

 

Making a cross country trip and would probably benefit from roof rails. Tried to search, but honestly the search feature is not great.

Looking for websites, or part numbers with firsthand experience on the fitment. Pictures are like the Swiss Flag (a huge plus).

I removed my rails and then installed them on a friends Odyssey. The hardest part of the install is cutting the trim. Once cut to the correct size, the rest is very easy. I would recommend that you put some antiseize on the screw threads on the off chance you ever want to remove the racks.

 

I would recommend that you put some antiseize on the screw threads on the off chance you ever want to remove the racks.

When I had the rack & bolts off for 2 years, I tried every which way to cover the holes to keep them from getting dirt, rain, corrosion. Finally, I covered them with strips of electrical tape, and amazingly, the tape stayed in place and was still water tight when I put the cross bars back on 2 years later.