eBay $125 F54 Aero roof bars.
I looked and looked, but could only find Thule aero roofbars on F56 fitment. $Owww, I could buy a set of wheels at that price! I didn't want non-aero bars on an SE. Those, I could find at a decent price.
Hunting on eBay, the nearest I found were F54 cheapies:
US Stock For 2016-2021 Mini JCW Cooper Clubman F54 Cross Bars Roof Rack Rails
F54 is bigger, probably not too hard to cut down. Good chance rail design is very similar so brackets should work.
Step 1, assemble the SHORT F54 bar at minimum length, test fit. Notice that the clamps don't work, they clash with my roof, take them off for now, I'll deal with those later. Remove rubber boots, test fit. Measure how much too long the assembled bar is: 1 7/8". I used a tape measure. With the rubber padding and built-in bar adjustment then chopping 2" off the short one should work fine. I have a mitre saw with fine aluminium blade for cutting up 8020 at work, a hacksaw and file would also work fine.
Step 2. Cut both roof bars down to 2” shorter than the short one. The F54 ones are different lengths.
Step 3. Drill 2+1 holes in shortened bars so they can clamp up the end brackets. The short bar had one of the existing slots line up. Don't need to slot the holes if you get the bar length close. There is quite a bit of adjustment even with holes, plus the slotted other end.
Step 4, shorten clamps. I cut 8mm/5/16" off mine. They do make the rubber a minor PITA to slide up in place, but look at the three wheels that inconvenience bought! Again, power tools at work could have been substituted with a hacksaw and file. I painted the clamps yellow, though this has the downside that the rack can now ONLY be used on SEs.
Step 5: reassemble, trim rubber strip down with a CNC water jet or an axe, then just follow the mounting instructions. Maybe, I'd lost them by that point. 4mm and 5mm Allen keys needed for mount/dismount. I ought to add those to the toolkit.
Wasn't too hard. Took me forever as I decided to 'save time' but doing it at work, where I am perpetually swamped by real work...
There is some wind noise, but not too bad. I think there is a small drop in range. It's down at the hard to measure range, though, maybe 5%.
Well, right up until I put a ladder on it. That WAS noisy and gave a noticeable drop in mile/kWh. The locking caps on the bars are cosmetic, they aren't stopping anyone remotely determined from getting a free ladder and custom roofbars!
Don't forget kids, stay away from electricity!
