Is there any difference between various roof rack brands: Yakima, Thule?

I'm looking to buy a roof rack system for my 2007 Audi S4 sedan.





QUESTION 1:





Is there a difference between the Thule system and the Yakima systems?





I want to use it to carry the following things (in order of importance %26amp; frequency of use)





1) One tandem bike (MAY NOT HAVE QUICK RELEASE FRONT WHEEL)


2) Two mountain bikes, each with disc brakes.


3) Two, one-person kayaks


4) One of those roof pod things (an extra trunk of sorts).








QUESTION 2:





Is there any sense in looking for used equipment, or is a roof rack system pretty tailored to a particular make, model and year of car?|||You need to go to Thule'ss website to build your own kit here: http://www.thuleracks.com/fg_total.asp?f鈥?/a> as I have just done for you based on limited info that you gave about your car and I set this one up for a 4 door. Do not buy used as this does have to be an exact fit for your specific make and model year although there are fit kits that apply for many makes and models the other parts can be specific to your model and year. Do not buy used! One brand may work for your car and the other may not, I researched the Thule brand only as it is the one I sell and am familiar with and I also chose 4 locks and you may want more or less (this was the cheap part) as you can see the total price on the page I selected. I would suggest that you start over and price it accordingly on the homepage to find exactly what you need and as a guide for total cost. Do this right and do not buy used unless youdon'tt want to hold that tandem bike...|||roof racks are a tailored to make model %26amp; year. What you can do if you want to go the used route is to use the fit guide on Yakima or Thule's websites. It will tell you all of the pieces needed. You can then look for used parts to match the specs as far as load bars %26amp; carrier parts. All you'd have to buy, maybe, is the clips that hold the rack to that specific car.