Towbar.. which one?

Michen

Michen

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Need to get a tow bar fitted and am not sure what to go for, swan neck.... flange.. detachable?

Would be good to hear from anyone whose had one fitted- it's to go on a VW tiguan... with parking sensors...
 
I have a fixed flange Witter - had it put on my Sorento last month with sensors & its fine as long as the person fitting knows what they're doing & have the right wiring kit. I won't entertain anything that moves whether it be one that flips out or detaches, it just doesn't sit right with me. I had my first Sorento one with the detachable removed & replaced with a fixed & my Touareg had a flip out one which again I would have replaced if I'd had it long enough to tow with. I know accidents are few & far but I'd rather minimise that as much as possible. Personal preference.
 
awelshandawarmblood said:
I have a fixed flange Witter - had it put on my Sorento last month with sensors & its fine as long as the person fitting knows what they're doing & have the right wiring kit. I won't entertain anything that moves whether it be one that flips out or detaches, it just doesn't sit right with me. I had my first Sorento one with the detachable removed & replaced with a fixed & my Touareg had a flip out one which again I would have replaced if I'd had it long enough to tow with. I know accidents are few & far but I'd rather minimise that as much as possible. Personal preference.
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Agreed makes me feel a bit twitchy. What electric socket type did you have? I'm confused as to what I need.. there seems to be a choice!
 
Michen said:
Agreed makes me feel a bit twitchy. What electric socket type did you have? I'm confused as to what I need.. there seems to be a choice!
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Mine is a 13 pin dedicated socket - I have an Ifor HB506 so they fits straight with the box standard electrics, I think it depends how new your box is. Mines 2013 so classed as 'new' so its a 13 pin, but of you have an older box they have 7 I think. Even if you have the newer 13 pin put on your car anyway the adapters are cheap online. I only know this as I grilled the guy lol I was clueless!!
 
I have a swan neck Brink. I had a flange on the previous car. I think I prefer this one albeit it both done the job! I never chose either, I left that up to the towbar specialist who told me what was available for my car. All I made crystal clear was that it was for towing a horse so it must be up to scratch and fitted correctly (not that it shouldn’t be for towing anything else but I emphasised that my cargo was precious!)

I personally wouldn’t use a detachable for towing.
 
Ps make sure you get the correct pin. I had one of the adapters on my old tow bar and it was temperamental. The new one was night and day. I have a 2015 ifor Williams and I’m sure it’s a 7 pin... 13 pins are for caravans etc.
 
Fixed tow bar all the way. Our fixed tow bar on the Shogun does not interfere with the parking sensors.

The modern 13 pin plug/socket for electrics is much better than the old 7 pin, you can get adaptors if the tow vehicle and trailer are not fitted with the same type. My OH rewired my 2006 Ifor, it needed doing anyway, and replaced the old 7 pin with a new 13 pin plug. Bit fiddly reconnecting all the wires correctly, but perfectly doable. Shogun had 13 pin fitted from new.
 
We have the standard Westphalia detachable towbar on our Tig, and used the same style on our previous Audi Allroad. Never had any concerns over it, the locking mechanism is secure and I like that it can be taken off if needed, though it rarely is.
 
Speak to your local towbar fitting specialist to see what your vehicle can and cant have and make sure whatever towbar you go for is rated for the correct weight your vehicle can tow.

The wiring loom is the important thing when it comes to parking sensors / rear cameras etc.
 
IUf you have rear parking sensors you will probably have to have a swan neck removable tow hitch. I have sensors on my car and when the tow bar if fitted, when you put your car into revers the warning buzzer screams at you. If you are prepared to put up with that then have a normal tow bar fitted, your car will drive nice & quietly until you put your car into reverse. The decision is yours.
 
Toby_Zaphod said:
If you are prepared to put up with that then have a normal tow bar fitted, your car will drive nice & quietly until you put your car into reverse. The decision is yours
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Eh? That should not happen, can you contact whoever fitted the tow bar about that and see if it can be rectified?

This is my sturdy, prominent and very much fixed Mitsubishi tow bar on the Shogun. The parking sensors work as normal when I am not towing with this fitted, they ignore the tow bar. They do shriek if I go to reverse with the trailer attached, but are easily cancelled.

6B819E48-03EA-4E29-B35B-847FD9694DF4.jpeg
 
We've got a Thule detachable towbar on our Merc ML (with parking sensors), although it doesn't very often get detached. That is what the company recommended for the car who are towbar specialists and used by all the main dealer garages in the area. They configured it so that the parking sensors are disabled when we're towing the trailer. With the towbar in place if we're not towing then the parking sensors work as normal.

Also before we had the towbar fitted, I called Ifor Williams to check on the recommended towball height for our trailer, and when the towbar was fitted it was spot on. You see quite a few trailers with hitches too high / low and it can cause the trailer to become unstable.

Try to make sure that the car & trailer is evenly loaded so it's all level when hitched up. I was once a passenger in a Range Rover towing a big old Rice trailer with two big horses loaded, and they had overloaded the hitch/nose of the trailer (huge home-made wooden tack box) and it started snaking really badly going down a steep hill and it was pretty terrifying, so I'm always really careful to check that everything's loaded safely.
 
Our Touareg towbar was fitted By our local fitter. Doesn’t affect the reversing sensors. Would advise against a detachable.
 
I'd suggest keep it simple, tell them its for towing horses and see what the fitters suggest.
Count the pins on the your trailers plug to know if you need 7/13 pin for the electrics. As others have said you can get 7-13 pin converters but they can be a tad temperamental so one less stress on show morning if you get the right one, but no biggy really either way.
I have towed with a detacbable tow bar when thats what the car came with; but if I'm paying to get one fitted I go for fixed. Detachable is just so can take it off and not bang your legs on it when loading the boot, but its not something I've ever done anyway.
New one on the on the freelander seems to be an Anker one, no idea on that brand, but its up to weight and it works so all good. The wiring loom cost more than the bar this time but it is a key part of it so I supposed thats right.
Oh and reversing sensors have always coped just fine with them so far, although as Tiddlypom says they do squeak when you reverse the trailer but I just hit the button on the dash that turns them off.
 
If your reverse sensors are set off by the towbar it's more than likely the car ECU hasn't been coded to tell it there's a towbar. This can happen when fitted by an aftermarket company if they don't have access to the correct diagnostic equipment. We fitted our towbar ourselves to our Tiguan but have to take it to a VW specialist to have the coding done. Thankfully we don't have reverse sensors but worth mentioning for anyone fitting a towbar aftermarket.
 
I have a fixed tow bar as I don't feel comfortable with the idea of detachable. Also, a friend of mine has had two detachable tow bars stolen in car parks.
 
I've just had a towbar fitted to my 2016 VW Tiguan & picked it up today. Not sure what year your one is but mine was registered in April, 2016 and apparently that is when they changed the model so you may need to check out which one you have as that can apparently make a big difference.

When I booked mine in, they told me I would have to have a detachable hitch due to the year, model style, and all the sensors. After I left it in, they phoned to say mine was an 'older' April model and I could get the fixed hitch after all as it would not affect the sensors. So I'm actually relieved about that as I have always had a fixed one.

I'm not a tecchie so I've no idea what accounts for the difference in models and tow-hitch style but when I picked mine up they said it was a swan neck, and it doesn't stick out too high or far. I tried reversing (no trailer attached yet of course) and all the screaming sensors stayed quiet!
 
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