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I initially went the Thule tower mounts, but after one season, ended up replacing them with the euro rails. Why? With the Thule tower method, the metal piece ends up bending the door rubber gasket. With the towers mounted on, the water from hard rain or car wash will leak through because the rubber gaskets are not making good seals. It is a pain having to take them on and off. Not a big deal, but if you're like me, I just want to leave the load bars on and forget about it. If you leave them on, however, the rubber gaskets will lose its original form, and when you eventually take them off, you won't have the good seals any more. Leave them on and live with the water leak, or take them on and off every once in a while? The water leak isn't bad, just trickles, but heck, I didn't want it. After one week of having the towers mounted, I could tell that the rubber gasket looked different already.
Euro rails are much more expensive, but I like the fact that I can adjust the spacing between the load bars, when I have the kayaks on top, etc. With the towers, you are stuck with one spacing. Good enough for kayaks, but I want to space them apart. Besides, the car looks much better with the rails.
Oh, the original 'thin' euro rails that were on brand new 850 wagons are no longer made, and replaced with the new 'thicker' rails that came with '98+ XC models. You ask for euro rails for 96 855, you'll get the thick ones. Good thing, in my opinion.
Installation was easy, but don't expect the instruction to be crystal clear. It was clear only after I had pulled out the molding. There were some posts with detailed instruction, but nothing like having the thing taken out and decide for yourself.
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