General Cycling Discussion - need help finding manual for a trunk mount bike rack

recently bought a Thule bike rack used. It was only $30 which saves me over $70 in buying a new rack. It seems to be an old model but it still works. When i bought it the guy put it on my car and i watched him do it so i would remember how to do it. So i took off the rack when i got back to were i was going and got my bike settled. Now i will be going back on a long trip and will be taking my bike with me and i can not seem to get the rack back on the same way he did. The way that he did it there was plenty of strap left for the bike but when i did it, the rack was sturdy on the car but not enough strap left to put the bike on strongly.

It is a Thule trunk-mount bike rack with the model number 515-5033. I called Thule and the guy told me that it was a European model and i should check on their website for it. I checked on both the USA and UK website and i tried the Swedish and French site as well even though i do not know any Swedish and only a little bit of French and i still could not find it. I then googled it and i still could not find it.

Can anybody help me find the manual for this bike rack so i know how to put it on correctly? I am going to be driving about 200 miles so i want to make sure it is completely safe for me, my bike, and everybody else on the road.

I would try looking at all the current and discontinued trunk-mounted models you can find on the Thule website and download the instructions to the one that is most similar to yours. A different model may still have the same basic installation instructions.

Good idea man, thanks.

I just checked the Thule website and looked at all their older and newer trunk mounted bike racks and i did not find one that was similar to mine. All the new ones and sort of old ones (seems they do not keep models before 2002 on there) are a bit different then mine and have this extra part on them that mine does not have. I even checked the UK website.

Any other suggestions?

I've found manuals online before. Try typing the name of the rack on google and see what comes up.

I've found manuals online before. Try typing the name of the rack on google and see what comes up.

tried that already with no success. Since the model number is similar to a phone number i am just getting a whole bunch of offices and business that have that phone number, haha.

Maybe i could just use secondary straps to tie the bike to the rack and use the straps attached to the rack to keep it firmly on the car. Not sure, i would rather see what the manufacturer says about it.