I got a set of four Yakima Q Towers for nearly nothing. I have a bunch of Yakima stuff for the top of my cars. I'm trying to use the same stuff on my daughter's car which has a "naked" roof, therefore the need for the Q Towers.

First, I understand that I will have to get new Q clips specific to her car, and I already have some Yakima lock cores to use, so those things are not an issue. Also, everything else in the tower seems to be in perfect working condition, including the cam-type adjustment that grips the round bar.

But these Q towers I have don't look like the current model, in regards to the "foot". Note the circled portion in the photo. In this area, the towers I've seen illustrated on the Yakima website have a "foot" portion, on which you place a rubber pad (which comes with the Q clip package). These towers have a angled bracket which is not removable.

When I bought these things (again, very cheap and the person offered to take them back if they didn't work), I had no idea that there were different types of Q towers - I thought (and still do) that a "Q Tower" is a universal item that is simply modified to specific cars by the "Q clip".

I'm wondering:

Are my towers missing the "foot", which either needs to be replaced or because they're gone makes the towers worthless?

OR is this angled bracket actually the way these older towers are, and if so, how does it work?

Thanks for any advice or insight you can give. My local Yakima dealer, an LBS is staffed by marginally informed people. I plan to buy the Q clips there tomorrow, but want to find out if these things are actually usable before I go in there. They may indeed know about these older Q towers, but I can't count on it.