I’m looking to get a towbar fitted to my Passat for the sole purpose of having a bike carrier attached. Cost seems ridiculous to me (in excess of £500 then the cost of the carrier), is there a more cost effective way? Do I actually need a towbar or is there something more simple? Already have roofbars but once the roofbox is on there then space for bikes is tight. Don’t really want a boot mounted one as it makes getting into the boot a pain, though I appreciate that they are the cheap and easy solution.

Any thoughts wise STWers?

Where on earth are you looking?
Standard fixed bar is around £75-150 then cable kit is £20-100 (iff you want a plug and play).
Couple of hours of yours or a spanner wielding mate and its done.
eBay has thousands all supplied by the big guns around the UK.

I did mine myself

it was four bolts – its heavy and hardish to do and required the exhaust off

I did the electrics myself as well

Reckon it took me 4 hours on a drive way. Always surprised by what they charge for fitting

Beyond doing it yourself there is no cheaper option – rear non tow bar carrier aside.

Places down here that do fixed ones for around £295 all in.
What year Passat? Saloon/estate?
PF Jones on eBay are doing the swan neck towbar for £75.99 here
Plug and play genuine wiring £79.95 here

I was looking at a detachable one as I’ve got parking sensors & the mrs doesn’t need any excuse to drive the thing into a wall 🙂

Detachable + vehicle specific wiring = mega bucks
Detachable + universal wiring kit = less, but still expensive

DIY not really an option as my spannering skills are pretty much non-existent!

2007 Passat Saloon

Detachable here £98

Seriously – beer tokens to someone on here and loads spare.
Just because you have sensors doesn’t mean you have to pay loads – it just needs the black box in the boot as the link above

Me and Hammy will do it for £250 and a guided tour of your local loop 😉

Paid £330 to get a detachable fitted. Mobile chap, came and did whilst I was parked at work.

I’m guessing one of these would do the trick too, if you wanted to fit it yourself, or Towsure also have a mobile fitter if you want to spend a little more.

Plus electrics

Way cheaper than the prices you quoted, even with fitting.

Fitted my own, took 2-3 hours I think. hardest park was locating the 101 plastic clips and screws that seem to hold Ford bumpers on. Depending on the car’s design it might be simpler, depends how it bolts to the chassis rails, some bolt from underneath, other’s (like mine) replace the crossmember in the bumper with a much beefier unit and the towball bolts to that.

Hmm, got me thinking now. DIY would be way cheaper, would cover the cost of the carrier in the saving. Is there any trim cutting to do generally?

Some do, some don’t (require a bumper trim) even with same car model
Worth shopping around to find one that doesn’t if poss.
I did on a car I knew I was getting rid of in a year and didn’t fancy cutting the bumper

I had silly quotes of over £900 from the dealers and £660 from an independent fitter for a detachable towbar on an Octavia. Bought the parts myself included VAG dedicated electrics. I fitted the mechanical parts of the towbar including the electrics socket one day then connected the electrics to fuse box and can bus another weekend. £20 for someone to program the car to recognise when something was connected and it cost me a lot less than the independent.
I took my time but nothing difficult, can bus wiring was a bit fiddly.

Mine required about 20mm x 120??? cutting of middle and bottom of the bumper

Easy to do with a hacksaw. Not noticeable with towbar in way bur probably is when removed.

As noted by tinas some require the replacement of the whole cross member under the bumper (like my old 3 series) and will be more of a pain. If you want to know if there’s cutting involved just ring the indie you got the quote from and ask them – that’s what I did as I wanted to know if they’d be hacking away at my car (they weren’t!)

Having said all of that I got mine done for about £340 all in for a Thule detachable so your quotes are steep. This was a towbar indie in Durham.

Just looking at the fixed ones again, I reckon the ball will be low enough not to interfere with the sensors so I’m going to do some experimenting!

Just thought of something else – how much do they impact on ground clearance? My house is accessed by a road then a dirt track – road has a couple of sleeping policemen and there’s a couple of decent size dips in the dirt track where I definitely brush the ground with some part of the car.

Mine sits a little below the rear bumper at it’s lowest. I’ve caught it once or twice but that was on roads that would provide a reasonable test for a Chelsea tractor.

Hard to say without knowing what the underneath of a Passat or your driveway looks like.

I’t a big solid lump of metal, welded to another big solid bit, bolted straight to the chassis rails though. You could probably jack the car up on it.

The fitting costs are not that much. It’s a relatviely simple task but a ball ache all the same. It may take a couple of hours to install yourself but will take a pro 45 minutes, and i’m happy to pay for someone else to do it.

the high cost options are usually for detachable + swan neck + invisilbe when the tow bar is detached.

If you’ve got rear parking sensors then a fixed one will render them useless. I’ve got a detachable tow bar and when installed they trip the rear parking sensors constantly.

Don’t bother with the OEM electrics kit. All they do is automatically disable the rear parking sensors (i’ve a conveneient switch on the dashboard to manually disable them as most cars will have) and, i’m told, change the ABS and traction control logic – I can’t see that being a problem. Also if you get the OEM kits you might need to pay extra at the dealership to get your car’s software updated – my brother had to pay Audi a couple of hundred quid to do that.

If you have rear parking sensors you really need to go with detachable if my experience is anything to go by. But beyond that: swan neck vs. conventional ball – not sure what the advantages and disadvantages are, but some bike racks are not compatable with conventional ball tow bars, so check with the manufactureres of your bike rack (my bike rack came in two varients – swan neck compatable and conventional tow bar compatable).

I think I paid about £375 for a whitter detachable swan nex that is virtually invisible when detached – fitted on my drive in about 45 mins. I got it from PF Jones (actually it was their own brand tow bar kit whcih is a rebranded Whitter, just cheaper).

Not sure on ground clearance. I can’t imagine it would be a problem with the tow bar kit i’ve got – but some other kits seem to hang alot lower and could be once your rear suspension has sagged under the weight of whatever you’ve attached. But probably it’s not a problem, and even if you do ground it all you’re grounding is the tow bar, so it’s really protecting your car.

My all up nose weight with 4 cheap heavy bikes and a 20kg buzzrack quattro is probably around 60 – 70kg’s and i had no grounding issues going up and down steep ramps on and off ferry’s.

Fitted my own, took 2-3 hours I think. hardest park was locating the 101 plastic clips and screws that seem to hold Ford bumpers on. Depending on the car’s design it might be simpler, depends how it bolts to the chassis rails, some bolt from underneath, other’s (like mine) replace the crossmember in the bumper with a much beefier unit and the towball bolts to that.

Same for my Focus with an ‘own brand’ removable one from PF Jones that turned out to be a Witter. The trickiest bit was dealing with a rounded bolt. Ended up cutting it out and replacing with a zip tie (it was just a little plastic one that held a bit of the bumper on it’s support).

I fitted the bar with help from a friend. I could have done it myself but an extra pair of hands made it easier.

I then paid a local place £50 to do the electrics, cheaper than it could have been because I didn’t need any of the caravan stuff (extra power sockets, fog light disabler etc).

Luckily, I didn’t have to do any bumper cutting but it varies by model.

If you’ve got rear parking sensors then a fixed one will render them useless. I’ve got a detachable tow bar and when installed they trip the rear parking sensors constantly.

Not necessarily, some cars can cope with the towball, my Mondeo has had a fixed Ford (Westfalia) swan neck from birth and the rear sensors still work, whether they are all activated or not I can’t remember but certainly enough are active for it not to be a problem. IIRC the rear sensors are only deactivated when the trailer electrics are plugged in.

I tried fitting the towbar to my old Civic. On paper – piece of piss. In reality – nightmare that ended up with me driving to the fitters with no rear crossmember as the old studs had sheared when I undid the nuts. Cue cutting into chassis rails and general bodging to get it on. I’d encourage sending it to a fitters where possible unless you are confident enough and equipped enough to get round such issues.

One last point – go flange where possible unless you want to be stuck relying on an adaptor to fit a sandwich plate to, very apprehensive about mounting my Aiston like this so sorting a bike rack for my trailer.

If you’ve got rear parking sensors then a fixed one will render them useless. I’ve got a detachable tow bar and when installed they trip the rear parking sensors constantly.

Not true…………..the angle of detection can be altered by using a dealers lap-top, to miss the tow ball. I had this done on my Qashqai.

One last point – go flange where possible unless you want to be stuck relying on an adaptor to fit a sandwich plate to, very apprehensive about mounting my Aiston like this so sorting a bike rack for my trailer.

Why on earth?
Theres no need to go flange unless you really want the cheapest TBSO out there OR your existing rack needs the adaptor plate fitting to the towbar.
The OP doesn’t have a rack so can choose whichever rack fits his needs best and the towbar of his choice for useage/cosmetics.
I’ve had flange bars on work vans but I wouldn’t ever bother on a car unless iits a POS bangernomics.
The price difference now doesn’t warrant it.

Price vs versatility.

Flange gives you more options and is IMO far more secure having had a ball mount rack in the past and then moving on to an Aiston. Unless you’re willing to spend a few hundred more on a Witter/Pendle then why NOT get the flange? (they come in detatchable flavour too if you’re really that image conscious)

To further qualify my experience with rear parking sensors: With a swan neck tow bar fitted to an SMax the rear parking sensors are tripped. Not sure if any other type of kit would have a different outcome. Not a problem as I just switch them off when I have the tow bar installed, but if I had wanted to go the permanent route i’m not sure what would have happened. Maybe if I wanted to do this then the OEM kit plus software re-programme might address this issue, but that was another few hundred quid vs. £60 for the universal kit.

My brother was also advised this would be the case with his A6 Avant. He went down the OEM kit plus Audi reprogramme route, so not an issue when he has his tow bar installed, apart from the additional few hundred quid or so installation costs.

Obviously something to look into with your particualr car and kit.

EDIT: My Buzzrack Quattro tow bar rack is rock solid when installed. There is no way on earth it is not secure – it’ll probably rip the tow bar off before it gives up. Not sure what the official statistics are, but the roads down to the ferry ports in the summer are hardly littered with tow-bar ball mounted bike racks that have fallen off – and i’ve seen some really shoddily installed racks overloaded with too many bikes and other stuff strapped to them. I think they’re pretty safe.

Maybe if I wanted to do this then the OEM kit plus software re-programme might address this issue

And there is exactly your problem. AFAIK it’s literally a case of taking it into the dealer and getting them to reprogram the ECU once you have the official wiring kit installed, Westfalia sell it as a pack (seeing as they are that gens OEM). A good installer can get all that on, home job if it’s a simple plug and play rather than **** about with scotch blocks. My old mans Mondy was the same story but as you say it comes down to the particular car and kit.

On racks I have no idea what we had before but it would literally swing around the ball and don’t fancy my chances with a bodged on lump of geordie welded pig iron. Don’t get me wrong, I love the Aiston but light it is not.

I’ve been looking at tow bar bike racks recently as I’m getting tired of having to put my bike inside my car every time I go somewhere and the inside of my car is getting filthy despite copious use of sheets to cover the upholstery.

I’m reasonably competent with spanners so would be happy having a go at fitting the tow bar myself but I’m really not good with electrics. FWIW my car is a 2012 (62 plate) Ford Fiesta.

A lot of you make it sound like the electrics are quite straightforward – or have I misunderstood?

Also, how do you deal with theft security? Is there a particular model which lets you lock the bikes to the rack?

Thanks.

Electrics ARE. easy.
There’s a big song and dance being made in this thread about OEM, sensors, etc.
Use the proper kit and most are plug and play. That’s the whole point of them being a specific kit.
Some may need the software telling it’s fitted but you don’t need a dealership to do it.
Any Indy will have it or they wouldn’t be able to work on those Marques.
If it does need doing then it’s beer tokens not a mortgage.
As for squirrelking’s insistence that anything other than a flange mounted bracket will swing about is utter bollocks and he knows it.
If it wasn’t then there is no way Thule, Atera, etc could seek a single rack.
See Wikipedia for “operator error”

Thanks for all the info everyone. Turns out I have a mate who has fitted a couple so we’re going to have a crack at it between us. I shall report back! 🙂

The alternative to ‘plug and play’ electrics if your car doesn’t have them is a relay for £20, takes a bit of cutting and faffing with wires but it’s straightforward enough and only needs a 12V wire from the fuse box (or there may be a 12V supply in your boot already).

Don’t just spice it straight into the loom though, some modern cars don’t like the extra current of 2 bulbs, with a relay it doesn’t even know it’s there.

I was quoted 500 for a Audi A4 Avant, so I did some digging on the Westfalia web site & then found the right one with detachable hook lighting kit the lot hardly used on ebay, 65 quid & delivered with parcels2go for 11 quid.

Easy to fit four bolts plus the wiring in & bingo jobs a goodun.

Woody, if you have a B6 or 7 Passat I might have the Westfalia dedicated wiring kit you need.

Craig – it’s a 2007 B6 saloon (2.0 Tdi if that matters). If you’ve got one that would be grand 🙂

My email’s in my profile if you want to send me some details

A lot of you make it sound like the electrics are quite straightforward – or have I misunderstood?

Most thinks you can do are easy. If you are out of your depth get someone to do this for you SHould be less than an hours work for an auto electrician

Also, how do you deal with theft security? Is there a particular model which lets you lock the bikes to the rack?

They all let you use a chain some have locks in place
Personally I just dont leave it with the bikes on the rack

As for squirrelking’s insistence that anything other than a flange mounted bracket will swing about is utter bollocks and he knows it.

Well I know that claim is utter bollocks, not sure about me making it though. So smartarse, where did you get the impression I said all ball mounted racks swing about? I’ll make it easy for you:

One last point – go flange where possible unless you want to be stuck relying on an adaptor to fit a sandwich plate to, very apprehensive about mounting my Aiston like this so sorting a bike rack for my trailer.

Flange gives you more options and is IMO far more secure having had a ball mount rack in the past and then moving on to an Aiston. Unless you’re willing to spend a few hundred more on a Witter/Pendle then why NOT get the flange? (they come in detatchable flavour too if you’re really that image conscious)

On racks I have no idea what we had before but it would literally swing around the ball and don’t fancy my chances with a bodged on lump of geordie welded pig iron. Don’t get me wrong, I love the Aiston but light it is not.

I didn’t. I said unless you are willing to pay Witter/Pendle money (a few hundred quid) for a decent secure rack then you could save a load and get a flange mount rack. I also said I’m not happy about using an adaptor for my Aiston as it was never designed to work that way and don’t fancy its chances. The rack we had before was a cheap POS but still at a price point with the Aiston IIRC, can assure you that no “operator error” occurred.

Some may need the software telling it’s fitted but you don’t need a dealership to do it. Any Indy will have it or they wouldn’t be able to work on those Marques.

Who will do it out the goodness of their hearts, right? Or will they still expect financial reward?

I’m offering an OPINION from my own experiences, wanna wind your neck in and stop trying to be the big man? Can’t do right for doing wrong around here…

You’ve just quoted yourself saying that a towball mounted rack will swing about the ball.
So I’ll leave that one there…
As for the Indy – you didn’t bother quoting the part where I mentioned paying and the relative cost did you.

You’ve just quoted yourself saying that a towball mounted rack will swing about the ball.

Please tell me exactly were I said this. I said it CAN if it’s a cheap POS.

Relative cost? Depends on the Indy, half price maybe. Depends on convenience as well. My point was more that you will still have to pay someone to do the programming side (unless you are confident and have the tools) but I guess you abviously missed that blindingly obvious point as well.

Honestly, just give it a rest. No doubt you’ll be back for the last word and a self congratulary pat, hope it was worth it.