Kuat hitches

For those who have Kuat racks, have you had any issues with them rusting. Alternatively, what other racks can be recommended that stand up to the issue?

I had a Kuat (Sherpa I believe) and it turned into a pile of rust after a couple of winters. Replaced it with Thule and it looks as good as the day I bought it. Highly recommended

The only thing that has rusted on my kuatt is the locking mechanisms.

1up USA! Mine is going on 10 years old and still looks like new.

https://1up-usa.com/

I have a thule, love it. I typically remove the hitch rack and put the roof racks on for the winter. I’ve spot repainted the Yakima roof racks a few times and replaced some bolts over 10+ years but otherwise it all works great.

I have a thule, no issues.

I had a Kuat for eight years and it was quite rusty, but it was just surface rust.
I ground the rust off and repainted it about a month before it was destroyed by someone rear-ending it.
I now have a new kuat and a Thule.
The Thule is definitely more refined, installs a little more quickly, but they both carry the bikes perfectly.
One very noticeable difference is the ride height.
The Thule rides 3-4” higher than the Kuat, which I don’t like on my car but prefer on the suv.

Kuat rack owner, definitely having rust issues. I’m planning to sand it down and repaint in the spring.

My Thule racks never rusted, but they also loosened and had several warranty updates and replacements so maybe I didn’t have them long enough to rust. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: Glad others are not having the same issues I did with the Thule racks.

I love my Kuat racks. Have them on multiple vehicles. I feel functionally they are as good or better than other high-end racks. Yes I’ve experienced surface rust too; easily fixable. The thing I love most is their customer service. They truely seem to provide lifetime warranty. Over the years they’ve replaced multiple components without question and without charging me. In fact they didn’t even charge me for shipping components.
Once I backed into something and caused a decent amount of damage to rack. Totally my fault. Took a chance and called them and they ended up giving me crash replacement for some components and no charge for others.
A lot to be said for no hassle customer service.

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