Was impressed with a mates towbar mounted bike rack (easy to fit and seemingly very secure [not in the theft sense]). Normally the bikes are in the car but I’m thinking for trips with more gear it would be handy to have. I’ve started to look at getting one fitted and was shocked to see how much they are (£400-600), given I plan on getting a new car at some point in the next year or two I’m not sure it’s worth spending that much that I’m guessing I’m not going to see back in resale (possibly devalue the car if people think I’ve been towing?).

Any thoughts? As per title I’ve a Mondeo Mk4 Estate with no rails.

I’ve had a removable towbar fitted to the last two cars I’ve had (BMW 3 Touring); the first one I sold only after 12 months so not great but I’m using the current setup all the time. I’ll look to do the same on my next car as and when I purchase, but obviously the sooner you do it in your ownership the better.

Got several options with them.

I’ve just had the whole proper bypass rear sensors and removable bar one fitted to my wife’s X5 which wasn’t the cheapest option but works well ( told me the fog light had failed on the trailer)

Before that had cheaper home fitted, no bypass fixed bar one on my car because I knew that we were going to get rid of it soon but needed it to tow the trailer a few times.

If I was putting one on for bikes I’d probably go removable but no bypass as it’s not that much of an issue if it’s a bike rack on the back.

As per title I’ve a Mondeo Mk4 Estate with no rails.

Great, just great. I took one to the tip 2 weeks ago. Couldn’t be arsed to clean it up & put on Gumtree. I was gonna fit it to my Mondeo but we’ve just got an XTrail with a towbar already on. 🙄

I’m not sure if you’re asking whether you can get one fitted for less money, or not ?

It’ll be much cheaper if you install it yourself (obviously) – is that an option for you ?

There are 2 types of towbar electrical fitting – 7 pin (black cover) and 11 pin (white cover). You would only be getting a 7 pin model fitted for light boards and/or small trailers. If a potential buyer of your car question whether you’ve been towing caravans, simply point out to them that it’s not possible with a version you have installed. The entire towbar will also still look new for a few years, so again, you shouldn’t have any issues proving that your car hasn’t been towing all its life 😉

There are 2 types of towbar electrical fitting

Eh?

7 pin N electrics have the black cover, 7 pin S electrics have a white cover. You can tow a caravan without the S socket.

11 pin? I think you mean 13…and mine is black, not white 🙂

Buy a secondhand towbar, if you think it devalues the car when selling, simply remove it 🙂

Wot spooky said, go on a part finder site and see whats out there.

I’m not sure what I’m asking either DiscJockey, watched a youtube video on fitting, looks straight forward enough I guess. The hard part looks to be doing the electrics…

I got a detachable Swan neck Westfalia supplied and fitted to a 3 series for £450. Cost me another £200 to get it transferred to my new 4. Some places wanted £800. Depends on whether they use the official kit or a universal kit with identical parts from same manufacturer.

Labour to fit was £150 plus vat. £50 to remove. Took about 3 hrs.

Try PF Jones. they’re based in Manchester but use locally based fitters. My SMax swan neck detachable was about £350 – £400 can’t remember exactly. It was PF Jones’s own brand which was unbranded Witter. It’s virtually invisible when not using it which is a big plus point to me. No point in having a detachable tow bar if there is a load of metal structure hanging below the bumper when not in use.

I just went for the universal electrics kit. No point in the OEM electrics kit. Twice the price and often once fitted you need to go back to the dealership to have your car re-programmed for another additional not insignificant charge (£90 in the case of my brother’s Audi). Still not sure an OEM kit does that a universal kit doesn’t other than automatically disable the rear parking sensors – but there is a button not he dash for that. My brother reckoned it changed the ABS and traction control settings too when towing, but I don’t believe that. The system only knows when you have a tow bar fitted and not if you’re actually towing anything and if so what.

No point in having a detachable tow bar if there is a load of metal structure hanging below the bumper when not in use.

Agree, can’t remember the brand, but our detachable on the Civic has a big metal lump peeking out from the bumper skirt. Still avoids banging your shins, but if I’d realised, I’d have gone for another brand that was tucked out of site.

My brother reckoned it changed the ABS and traction control settings too when towing, but I don’t believe that

I got an OEM kit for my Iveco van, the vans Stability Control is meant to detect towing and take it into account, adding anti-sway control and also it dumps a lot more braking power onto the rear axle as it gets weighted up under hard braking, whereas normally it would lighten and need less brake power.

I’ve never worked out if it detects towing from the vehicle handling, or by the electrics being plugged in. I suspect its detecting the electrics…tried to wire in a reversing ‘spotlamp’ this weekend, using the wires to the 13 pin socket. The lamp works but the van picked up a bulb failure (and the read out knew it was on the trailer). I added a relay that only draws about 30mA, it still knew there was something connected. I then changed tack and took a feed to the relay from the vans reversing lamp, now the van is telling me to check the reverse lights!