Unfortunately I had a bit of a disaster on Saturday with my tow all mounted bike carrier and thought it was worth sharing so other forum members who are into Lycra pastimes don’t make this mistake. I put 3 bikes onto a 4 bike bike rack (Atera), with my carbon gravel bike closest to the car. All loaded correctly, a 3 hour drive up North to Aberdeenshire and when taking off my gravel bike, found both rims unusable. After going to my local bike shop (where I spend a fortune on bikes - my 17 year old son being an avid MTBer), we worked out that the exhaust gases have melted the carbon rims. Apparently, they see quite a lot of burst tyres on bikes, but not often carbon rims! Don’t know whether a P400 runs with higher exhaust gases than a SDV6 (never had a problem on the Disco although exhausts were pointed downwards behind rear bumper). So it’s cost me a new set of wheels to get going on holiday and have written off £500 carbon rim x2 (both wheels were exactly the same as twin exhausts). So thought others might be able to learn from my mistake - never thought this would be a problem and a, hoping my bike insurance will pay out! Photos attached!

😞

My old petrol RRS Supercharged similarly melted the plastic bike wheel support on my Thule bike carrier. Not happened on the sdv6 diesel though.

Probably different exhaust gas temps.

Thanks for the heads up. 2022 P440e AB

The official Range Rover bike rack includes a heat shield, yet out on the wild, everyone seems to buy Thule - which presumably don’t have a heat shield

Seeing your photos makes me wonder if I need a heat shield before putting my carbon fibre bike on a new bike rack

Never had any issue[/img]

Thanks, that’s good to know. That’s the model that I’m looking at - great deals on those at Halfords

Hi,

had no issues with my bike mind you it is an old one at 40 years +

and its never seen any Carbon lucky to get alloy rims rather than steel

Click image to enlarge

I have a Thule bike rack and I noticed that the Land Rover bike racks are made by Thule and you can buy the heat shields separate, does anyone know how they attach, mine is a velocompact 927 2015 RRS Autobiography Dynamic Corris Grey Black Roof

This $100 advantage tow bar bike rack from Amazon has been flawless for me over the last few years, but I haven’t taken my petrol RRS on three hour journeys, typically under an hour. Fabricated heat shields may be a necessity for longer trips.

 Vincit qui se vincit

I emailed Thule, and they replied:

“We do not offer heat shields to our rear mounted bike carriers any longer. The plastic has been redesigned to withstand more heat and if your exhaust is pointed directly to the carrier we instead recommend an extension for the exhaust that redirects the hot fumes”

I have the official land rover bike rack and additionally paid the extra for the heat shields as I was never comfortable having my bikes so close to the exhaust tips, pleased I paid the extra after seeing the results.

FYI the shields can be fitted to higher or lower on the rack depending on whether you have a diesel or petrol.

Thanks for the pictures and heads up.

Alex MY18 SCV8 Satin flux silver
Gone:
MY19 SV VELAR AUTOBIOGRAPHY firenze red
MY18 SCV8 Yulong white- perfect 👍
MY16 SDV8 SANTORINI BLACK - perfect 👌
MY64 SCV8 DARK BLUE - nightmare car
MY64 SCV8 FIRENZE RED - loads of annoying issues
MY15 SDV6 FIRENZE RED - perfect 👌
MY12 SDV6 DISCO4 IPANEMA SAND - perfect 👌
MY09 TDV6 SPORT BLUE - lots of issues