Considering doing the same thing, was wondering why you went that way with the load bars. I have an Eezi Awn 1600 and am debating wether to go with a Forester or an Outback. Trying to come up with an option that still fits in the garage. According to the internet, the Outback is 2" shorter than the Forester but the design of the stock Outback rack looks to negate the height difference.
The main reason was simply weight capacity. The Yakima round bars increase the dynamic load capacity slightly, but also the rigidity (stock bars have some flex). My brother in law and I were both in the tent testing it out after putting it on, totaling over 600 lb static with the tent included and everything stayed rock solid. The bolts on the Tepui would be tough to get tightened with the low clearance stock bars, and with all that weight on the roof it would probably put it very close to actually having the bolts hit the roof when loaded.
In addition to that, the pre-drilled holes on the Kukenam 3 are just barely too wide to fit between the two rails so we would have had to drill our own to make it work.
I would definitely recommend after market cross bars on whichever model you decide to go with, and that would make the Forester another couple of inches taller as well. How tight of a fit will it be for your garage?
From cars101.com :
2018 Forester Height-
2.5i without roof rails- 66.4"
all other models have roof rails- 68.2"
2018 Outback Height-
(except Touring model) 66.1" with crossbars in use, 65.7" with crossbars on rails, not used
Touring model only, 63.75" to top of roof rails, 67.25' to top of optional factory Thule Crossbars
Subaru Camping
