For the Most part, both work on both
With the odd exception here or there. Most yak will work on thule and vice versa. It's even usually listed on Yaks and Thules website whether the product fits round and square bars. Which to get? Basically, Who's got the better sale? I've used both, currently have more Yak as they had slightly better employer purchase when I was still at a shop. Yak can be quicker on some cars (sedans, etc) but sometimes one or the other will fit a particular car better (in the past, I can recall certain instances where despite a claimed fit for a given car, a Yak/Thule wouldn't quite work right, but the other brand be be perfect). All this said, Yak has moved most (if not all) of their production to mexico, whereas Thule makes a lot of their stuff in the US. Both companies blatantly copy each other (For example, Thule made the Hull-a-Port kayak holder first (to be fair, tho', they copied that from another brand I've never heard of till I saw the product) and Yakima copied with the Hullraiser, but then Thule copied Yak's hitch swinging style) so in the end, it doesn't really matter which base you go with as most products will, as I said, work with both.
Even if you're not going to buy at a store, go to a dealer and physically check out the products, and compare. You'll probably find you like the feel/look/performance of a given item better than the other. And you might not always like Thule over Yak and vice versa. Personally I like Yak's Viper better than Thule's V2 (both fork mount roof mounts), but I like Thule's upright better than Yak's. If mounting on a sedan I like Yaks as they go on and off quicker, but as I said, sometimes one or the other fits better, so ask the shop (if possible) what they think, then take that with a grain of salt. My old shop carried both, so I was sort of impartial, and we were a big enough dealer of both that neither company ever gave us problems with pricing, returns, or warranties.
There was recently a thread with roof rack horror stories, and at the last time I read it it seemed Yak was in the lead with more horror stories than thule, but when I did last work in a shop (now over 2 years ago) it was pretty equal.
This probably didn't help, but maybe it did. I just don't think you can go majorly wrong with either, as long as you follow directions and don't rush the install.
And remember, if mounting on a factory rack, they do have weight limits, sometimes as low as 75lbs, sometimes as high as 165 lbs (rarely, very rarely, there is a rack limit higher, but after hundreds of installs, I've come across only one that I've actually done that was higher than 165lbs, and that was a 1980's mercedes wagon. go figure). Yaks and Thules do not increase the weight limit, and the rack and hardware counts as weight on the rack (I mention this as I've seen people try to mount a roof box (40lbs empty) on a Rav 4's rack (75lb weight limit) with three bikes (lets guess on the low side 25lbs each, so 75lbs) plus the rack, conservatively 10lbs. Right there you've got about 125lbs on a rack made to take 75lbs, and certainly they planned on putting stuff in the roof box. I'm sure the first couple of times the rack would be fine, but eventually...
And don't overtighten everything, like many people like to do, and grease all the threads, as sitting out in the weather day in day there's nothing worse than a rack that has been on a car for 2 (or more) years rusting in place.
Sorry for the long post, but for some crazy reason despite being a mechanic I always enjoyed the the rack business more than anything else, and when I sold them, since no commisions, I always tried to get the perfect rack for what the customer wanted to do with it, and that wasn't always the most expensive (it was fun to get creative and figure how to mix and match a rack system for best price, or tell a customer that instead of spending $600 plus on a roof rack for their 4 bikes, that they didn't want in the first place but were all set to do, an under $200 hitch would slide into their already present hitch reciever and be much easier for the family to use).
beekeeper357 said:
Both are equaly great and I don't see much price difference however I think Thule equipment works on both Yakima and Thule load bars but Yakima only fits on Yakima. I currently have a Yakima system but would buy a Thule system for that reason if buying new.
