TIP: Bike Racks on New Paint

We have a very dear friend, NannyDanny, who worked for many years at a bike shop.  When I received my new bike this year, he not only assembled and tweaked it, but he lent us his bike rack until we could afford our own.

Not on my new car!

We loved the ease of installation and use, but, admittedly, I didn't want to use it on my leased car. Danny gave us two invaluable pieces of advice:

1. Make sure the car is clean

It's not the clips but the dirt trapped under the clips that scratch the paint.

2. Twist the straps before tightening

If you don't twist the straps, the air hitting the straps make them to loosen and flap, causing them to scratch the car. If you twist them, it disrupts the air flow so the air flows around the straps and no flapping occurs.

We drove down to Midwest GeoBash and back with no movement and, more importantly, no scratching!