Originally Posted by 2010 X5er

Thanks to all who provided their views - I'm confident these will be pretty easy to fit onto the roof rails after reading the instructions. I also give great credit to the BMW Parts employee at Inskip (Warwick, RI) who cheerfully printed out the 10-15 pages of instructions on his printer for me. The instructions may be inside the box but I've not yet opened it up.

The crossbars come with a T-handle hex wrench that is pre-designed to show the proper torque when tightening them - so it's practically a no-brainer to ensure the right amount of tightening.

Now to make final choice on a cargo box for our summer vacation trip - I'm leaning heavily towards a Thule - the 687BXT in particular. It has 18 cubic ft of storage, a slick gloss black color (which will go well with our white X5/ gloss black trim), and should provide some room to grow as our family does. We have one 7-month old girl so far, and I need something to easily handle the bulky stroller as well as some other items. The X5 is fantastic automobile but the interior volume certainly isn't the most in mid-size SUV/SAV category.

Of course, I was spoiled a few years ago by owning a used Ford Expedition if we're talking interior volume...