5 inches down if you want alittle toe room. Lil guy wears size 5 xw sneaker (stride rite) so finding pool shoe that wouldn?t smush his toes was a challenge. Dropping down to ONE star. A lot of it is also personal preference so I would try them out and judge for yourself. I tried command strips-2 large size. I have a 2020 Ford Ranger and this bike rack is 2" too wide to fit between the wheel wells in the bed. Headset did not work straight out of the box. I dont believe they would hold the bike in place. Same goes for the Sols, which are pretty much designed like a tank due to the super strong headband and hard but not brittle plastic. The surround is better than the A40s although they do not get as loud.