Have not a scooby about towbars

I’d like one to fit our 14 plate sportage ideally one that won’t need the bumper modified, and potentially could be removed and kept for the next car

Do these exist? What make model should 8 look at?

Are these diyable or is it a garage to fit, if so what sort of cost should 8 expect?

Ta

Modern car with complex wiring so personally I’d make sure it has the dedicated, model specific wiring kit. If you have reversing sensors or an auto I’d say that’s essential as it will detect the presence of a tow bar load and adjust shift patterns in the box and disable the sensors as appropriate.

Also key if any warranty left.

Towbars are type approved to specific attachment points for each vehicle so
it is very unlikely to be transferable between different cars (unless you replace your car like for like). There may be some common towbars (e.g. cars that platform share).

Bumper cutting will be model dependent and I can’t remember the last car I had that didn’t gain a hole in the lower trim but it might be different for SUV (I tend to have a hatch or estate). If there is a no cut option it will probably be more £££.

Fixed balls are a lot cheaper than removable.

13 pin electrics are latest standard but last time I had a towbar about £50 extra.

7 pin electrics are a bit more limiting but adequate for a bike rack and most lighter small trailers even if you need a 13/7pin adapter.

Last one I had fitted two years ago.

Car specific wiring box
Fixed ball
7pin electrics

A touch over £350 and while you wait fitted in an hour.

Personally I’d go for a pro fitter they’re heavy and awkward bits of metal and I reckon the job is not an easy one unless you’re well practiced.

If you’re in Southern Hampshire i can suggest a great little towbar place near the A3.

Thanks for the info. Not too far from a3. Quick look online mobile fitter quote is 467 though that’s not removable and not sure whether it used a universal kit or not.

Bit more than I expected.

You could give Phil Taylor Towbars at Horndean a try. He’s done at least two, maybe three for me over the years.

http://www.philtaylortowbars.co.uk

Last one I had fitted two years ago.

Car specific wiring box
Fixed ball
7pin electrics

A touch over £350 and while you wait fitted in an hour.

That’s very cheap, all the the quotes I had late last year were over £500 for vehicle specific.

I thought i would fit mine myself…never again on a modern car!

Got a Westfalia removable swan neck with dedicated 13 pin electrics and the high power upgrade electrics (for fridges etc) for my E-class.

Fitted the hardware last sunday, involved taking off the rear bumper (had to remove rear lights which was made stupidly hard by 1 of the 3 nuts being buried), trim out the boot and the whole crossmember from behind the bumper.

The original cross-member is designed as a deformable structure with crushable legs bolted to the car shell and the pressed behind bumper beam. The Westfalia one is very much the opposite made of 5mm wall thickness box section and with 2 long beams that slide into the chassis legs of the shell (remove foam seals from behind original cross member mounting points) and are bolted in from inside the spare wheel well. It did concern me that in a crash the rear of my car is now a whole lot less forgiving.

Got the dedicated wiring kit to install tomorrow but not sure if I will bother with the upgrade kit, not until the summer anyway as I need to run wires all the way to the battery in the front. I can easily get my hand up into the space behind the rear bumper and open up the spare bit of the sealing grommet for the extra wiring to fit through.

I mainly want it for fitting a bike rack but will get the car coded at a specialist, or westfalia have a fitting place nearby, so it will be better set up for towing stuff and disable the rear sensors.

While it is not difficult there was so much stripping down of trim and lights etc to be done that I can now see the prices I saw online for fully fitted are worth it.

Never got a towbar myself but my folks always buy a ‘witter’ towbar for their car/caravan.

Pf Jones fitted mine at home for about £350. Think they do nationwide. Swanneck with dedicated 7 pin electronics and no visible trim cut. Had to remove a small bit of something from the bottom but totally invisible. Think that depends on the car. Make sure you know the nose weight limit of your car and also the limit of the towbar.

And tell your insurance Co.

@doomanic

I thought it was pretty reasonable too. Removable was a lot more and it’s a very common car, which may have helped.

Brinks do a lot of OEM. Westfalia, Witter and Tow Trust all well known brands. TT cheapest, then Witter, Westfalia normally cost a bit more and have dedicated wiring kits. Brinks do things like the automatic drop down ones you get on some cars.

I had a swan neck towbar and electrics fitted to our Sportage (also a 2014 model) about 18 months ago – cost £360 from G T Towing in Hatfield.

Phil Taylor has done the tow bars on my last 4 vehicles.
Usually takes them a couple of hours tops and it’s an easy ride to QECP so you can drop it off, pop out for a quick ride and then pick it up afterwards.

I used PF Jones through eBay for mobile fitting for vehicle specific wiring and coding as the local prices were bonkers. It was a great service.

My local towbar place fitted me a brink swan neck with a universal wiring kit for £235. 64 plate zafira tourer. I diy’d my previous car and whilst it wasn’t massively difficult, I didn’t relish the thought of doing it again! 🙂

My local towbar place did ours. Think it was £390 from memory for a witter removable swan neck one with 7 pin electrics fully fitted. Apparently there was a cut somewhere under the bumper but invisible from the outside. Not sure about vehicle specific vs universal wiring.. is there a way to find out? That’s on a 3 series in the North (fitting was a place in durham).

I fitted a removal towbar to my last car (Audi A5) it wasn’t too difficult, but as described above quite time consuming due to all the trim that needs removing. I found a Youtube video which helped a lot. Dedicated electrics made the electrics part of it fairly straightforward, and I invested in the cable to be able to reprogram the car to recognise the towbar. I later sold the cable for more than I paid for it, so that bit worked out well!

On my current car (Mondeo)I got a quote from the garage I bought it from to fit a removable towbar, I think I paid them £300 for it to be fitted before I picked the car up, which is what the towbar company charged them. That was for removable towbar with dedicated electrics and seemed cheap to the point I got them to double check the price. It was fitted by Solent Towbars, so worth giving them a try if you are down that way. The one they fitted was an ACS towbar, which I hadn’t heard of before but seems to be as good quality as the Westfalia I had on the previous car.

Got a removable westfalia on our Mondeo. Not an inch of bumper has been removed. Comes off in a second as well. 13 pin electrics that fold out of sight.

I did fit one on our Berlingo with multiplexed wiring. Was easy with a relay box. Took an hour tops to get it on.

Last one I had fitted two years ago.

<span style=”font-size: 0.8rem;”>Car specific wiring box</span>

<span style=”font-size: 0.8rem;”>Fixed ball</span>

<span style=”font-size: 0.8rem;”>7pin electrics</span>

<span style=”font-size: 0.8rem;”>A touch over £350 and while you wait fitted in an hour</span>

This – we paid £435 for our Kuga which include a Thule Velocompact 3 bike rack, from a place recommended from here – GT Towing in Herts – who were superb.

Ours was about £350 I think. Removable brink bar, universal electrics. The fitter did it on our driveway, didn’t cut the bumper at all.

Thanks for all the info, 350 is much more a reasonable price, reason I want removedabke is I’m told it can mess with the parking sensors and will only be needed when using a bike rack.

What is the difference between a swan neck and a flange? Just the shape?

And how do I find the nose weight out? Websites seem to suggest 80kg weight for the towbar itself which seems to be ok for 4 bikes, though I expect the rack itself must weigh a good chunk.

Any follow on recommendations for a tilting tow bar 4 bike rack? Thule is the obvious choice but see,s twice the price of ones I’ve not heard of before

Thanks for all the info, 350 is much more a reasonable price, reason I want removedabke is I’m told it can mess with the parking sensors and will only be needed when using a bike rack.

Same here. Plus I smack my shins on it with depressing regularity.

Buzzrack buzzwing 4 is < £300 and carries our 4 bikes of varying wheel sizes/tyre widths with no problem.

Swan neck towbar will most likely not trigger the sensors by the way (mine doesn’t).

What is the difference between a swan neck and a flange?

I think some bikeracks only used to work with one or the other but when I was recently looking all the ones I looked at were fine with either.

Flange – towball bolts to it and you can attach stuff behind the ball to be able to tow AND carry at the same time.

Swan neck – long towball that mounts to the bar behind the bumper and allows for towing OR carrying but not both

I had a Westphalia removable ball job and 13 pin electrics fitted to my Passat. £550. Gulp. Still it’s only money and it’s the one VW fit, so there’s a little moulded compartment in the boot for the Towball when you remove it!

I bought a towbar fitted it myself then took it to a mechanic to connect the electrics , he charged me £100

+1 for Phil Taylor. Give him a call and he’ll tell you what works and doesn’t. Reasonable cost and ideally placed for a lap at QECP while he fits it. There via the cycle-path, a lap of the red and back – about an hour and your car will be done.

plus I smack my shins on it with depressing regularity.

+1. Ouch.

plus I smack my shins on it with depressing regularity.

Yes I’m hoping that will be worth the extra £200. What I was disappointed by was the auto stop/start is disabled with the electrics plugged in. Now that might well be desirable with a caravan, but a bike rack?