I didn't mean to sound like an anti-Chinese-import guy. I'm aware that good products can be made in China if the company specs it properly and makes sure the factory actually adheres to the specs. I just meant that a product made in China shouldn't be way more expensive than one made in Japan or the US. But I didn't realize these Nankangs are made in Taiwan, and I wasn't thinking about tariffs. And no, I don't want to get into a political discussion...at all!
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Originally Posted by Camaro Fanatic
Slightly off topic but I would love to see pictures of your bike rack/carrier conversions.
I never considered a solution like that.
I've only seen tire trailers or trying squeeze all 4 tires in the cabin/trunk.
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The thing you have to keep in mind about a cargo carrier is that it's a lever arm on the hitch. That makes it different than tongue weight, which just pulls straight down. So a hitch rated for 200lb tongue weight may not hold 200lbs of loaded cargo carrier. FWIW, I am using the
Draw-Tite 24938 trailer hitch and the
Curt 18110 cargo carrier. I used that hitch specifically because eTrailer assured me it could handle the leverage of a loaded cargo carrier without a stabilizing strap. The strap would be difficult or impossible to mount to the car in a way that wouldn't damage something, so I wanted to avoid that. I mounted three of the cheap plastic wheel chocks to the rear edge of the carrier and the tires wedge in between that and the front edge of the carrier. I use two self-rewinding ratchet straps diagonally across the top of the three tires on the carrier to hold them in.
It works well enough, but you have to watch driveways that it doesn't scrape. The metal plate that forms the main high support does bend down under load, but it doesn't bend to yield. The curve of the neck in the cargo carrier helps raise it up usefully so it doesn't drag over dips and bumps in the road. I might pull the hitch off and try to reinforce over the winter so it doesn't bend down as much under load.