RV means Rad Van

I ended up getting my windshield re-attached after doing some legwork to find a place that would do it without replacing the whole thing. I should add, it took me several months to figure out it was the windshield causing the leaks, and not my after market roof rails like the Ford dealer insisted. A few months later this recall gets released. According to the terms of the recall, I could be reimbursed if I already paid for the repair myself. With recall notice and windshield invoice in hand, my local dealer refused to honor it, saying the reimbursement had to come from the dealer from which it was purchased, an hour away. So I called that dealer and they refused to pay it either, saying it had to come from Ford corporate, in spite of the text on the recall notice I was sent in the mail. And this is all after the sliding door recalls, in which my locking mechanisms were deemed "not affected" by a Ford service department but then broke within a few months. So when the other door latch fails I'll be out well over $1k on repairs that were known manufacturer defects and subjects of formal recalls. I have otherwise very much enjoyed my TC, but everything about dealing with Ford dealerships and service departments has been awful. I stopped using them for regular maintenance and I'm not sure what I'll do about any further recalls on my vehicle as visiting the dealer has been nothing but a source of failure and frustration.

Just installed these rails on my 2015 LWB Wagon. The TC I bought had the factory rails installed but the van arrived with a crumpled rear fender, and somehow nobody noticed it until they brought it out to give me the keys and I saw it (?!). So I took another van that was basically the same package, minus a couple small interior upgrades and NO FACTORY RAILS. Not having these items knocked the price down a few hundred, so I said fine, I've already spent enough money today I'll just get the rails/crossbars in the future. I've bought and installed rail systems before. Big mistake. The roof mounting points for the passenger version are not the same as the commercial version, so commercial oriented aftermarket rails were out of the equation. To get the factory rails installed I was quoted $2000 USD! They have to take apart the entire ceiling liner on the inside and remove and reinstall the air bags, etc. Took it to a specialty towing/rack shop and their solution was to drill new holes for a mounting track just inward of the roof gutters. The whole track/mount/bars package + installation would have come out to $750 before tax. Better, but since I didn't really need them I put it off. Moral of the story: get the factory rails bc they're prohibitively expensive to install after the fact. After not checking around for aftermarket solutions for a few years, I decided to see if anything new had come up. Found these "Turtle Can Carry" rails, and a seller on Amazon had them for $190 USD. I like the look and function of a raised rail more than the TC flush rail so I decided to give these a shot. The instructions are not great. For the LWB, you have to flip the center mounting bracket around from how it's pictured. Getting the front bolt around the air bag assembly took 2 people and a flashlight. There are some videos on YouTube that show this step but the head liner, foam, and air bag assembly on my American market version were different from the videos. Installation was the same just more difficult. Used some silicone on the washers. Overall it took about an hour and a half. I drove it around for a few days before finish tightening the mounting bolts and capping them off. In hindsight, I should have put Loc-tite or something on the bolts. The way this bolts onto a naked TC roof is kind of clever, but the interface of the roof and the bolts themselves didn't strike me as bullet proof. It's all working great now, but we'll see. As for the cross bars, I didn't like the Turtle Can Carry ones so I decided to look for used name brand bars. After I didn't immediately strike gold I went looking at universal cross bars and found these at Harbor Freight: https://www.harborfreight.com/universal-roof-cross-bars-set-of-2-64877.html They were a good size for a TC and looked like they would fit my Turtle rails so I bought them. The same model crossbars are sold rebranded in various places, from $60-$110+, but the ease of returning the Harbor Freight ones made $80 seem fine (90 day return policy). This is where it all starts coming together. These Haul Master universal cross bars fit my Turtle Can Carry rails like they were made for each other. The 54" bar leaves about an inch hanging over the mounting feet and the aluminum bars and black plastic/rubber feet match the aesthetics of the Turtle rails. The curvature of the cross bar mounting feet fits the curvature of the rails. Looks and feels very secure. Some aluminum tape on the bottom of the bars got rid of the whistling. There is some additional wind noise, but I feel that's only fair when you bolt extra metal to the roof of your vehicle. Haven't had these for very long, maybe 450 miles. So far they are sturdy and I much prefer the look over the factory rail/Thule cross bars. Including shipping, taxes, a tube of silicone, and a roll of aluminum tape, I went from "naked roof" to full rack system for $330 USD. Coming from an initial quote of $2000 for just the rails, I am very pleased so far. Will update this thread if anything fails.