I disagree with the 1 1/4 deal I sell them all the time in 4 bikes and in the 40 years we have been in business we have never had a single issue. The reason the trunk mounted racks are scratching cars is probably because they were either put on wrong or some walmart $40 Chinese junk, or both. Again I sell probably over 100 trunk mounted car racks a summer and I have never had a person complain of scratches in my 3 years of working there.