Tow bar

jeffstevens763@g · 15 September 2021, 21:44

Anyone fitted a tow bar recently BMW wanted £1500-£2000 most others are around £700-£800 to suit the vehicles gismos for a detachable ball, a lot of dosh but I come from the days of making my own and fitting it or has prices rocketed recently

gtflash · 15 September 2021, 22:17

Yes. Fitted a witter two weeks ago to x5. Paid around 600 ish and it took me about 8hours. Witter failed to deliver the towbar but the electrics turned up (westfalia). I fitted electrics before realising the pig iron wasn’t in the box. They refunded me £330 and the mrs found a brand new one on facebay for £150

The wiring diagrams were rubbish. I am an electrical/electronic engineer and the bmw forums were crucial. Can bus and brake light wires were a nightmare to find. Probably took me 4hours for mechanical bits (bumber removal was tricky). Then another 3 hours for electrics.

Local company wanted £1200. Solent towbars

gtflash · 15 September 2021, 22:20

Ps apparently some need coding. However some manufacturers state when they don’t need coding. Mine works fine but the reverse camera would pan down if it was coded by all accounts. I had a fault when engine and battery went back on for dsc. I turned off dsc, hooned It about for ten minutes. Then turned dsc back on and all was good.

Limecc · 15 September 2021, 22:31

Not recently but I fitted a Westfalia detachable to a X3. Completely invisible. Very straightforward install, took about 6 hours only because I was very particular. Model specific wiring kit was easy to install but had to pick up a wire from the drivers footwell using the supplied Scotchlock which I thought was poor. Had to order some plastic pop-rivets from EBay to refit the bumper. Don't recall any coding although I've got the cable and software anyway. DIY saved us a fortune.

_monkey · 15 September 2021, 23:14

When I was looking for a 5 series I discovered the cost for retrofitting the standard electric towbar was around £2.5K - 60% labour costs. At the time I wanted the factory towbar, so I found a car with it already fitted. I think there is additional cooling with the factory towbar.

Now, I'd be happy with fitting a kit came with model specific wiring kit from Westphalia., but check if the car needs coding for everything to work correctly.

jeffstevens763@g · 16 September 2021, 15:02

By the sound of it I’m paying £714 fully fitted and coded so not a bad deal by the looks of it.
Thanks for the reply’s

gtflash · 16 September 2021, 19:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeffstevens763@g

By the sound of it I’m paying £714 fully fitted and coded so not a bad deal by the looks of it.
Thanks for the reply’s

Agree

paintman · 16 September 2021, 20:32

Don't know if you've seen this website. Usually says if it needs coding.
https://www.pfjones.co.uk/tow-bars/bmw-towbars.html

jeffstevens763@g · 16 September 2021, 20:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by paintman

Don't know if you've seen this website. Usually says if it needs coding.
https://www.pfjones.co.uk/tow-bars/bmw-towbars.html

I did see that they say it’s needs a bypass but no mention of coding where you don’t lose any features of the vehicle

Limecc · 16 September 2021, 21:49

On ours with the LED towing module it still wasn't happy powering LED bulbs and I had to put a wirewound resistor in parallel with certain bulbs to get correct operation. This doesn't have to be done at the light cluster of course

Iankristy · 19 September 2021, 08:52

I priced fitting on a Touareg with VW. They wanted £2k ish. This involved upgrading fan for engine cooling and changed the engine mapping when towing. I got one done for £450 worked perfect. I don’t think additional engine cooling was a big concern in Scotland [emoji23] They explained it’s their generic kit and I guess if you lived in the middle of the outback in 40c plus may have come into play.

Pikey Dave · 19 September 2021, 10:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeffstevens763@g

I did see that they say it’s needs a bypass but no mention of coding where you don’t lose any features of the vehicle

Jeff, Skoda wanted £1200+ to fit a towbar to our Yeti. Our local towbar place did it for £300 (pre Covid) including OEM Westphalia towbar & wiring loom, fully coded in. I can send you their details if you like, only 45 mins up the road from you.

lakelandterrier · 19 September 2021, 10:29

The only option Skoda offered me when I bought my Kodiaq was an electronic fold-away tow bar for c. £1700. No fixed option. What could possibly go wrong with that, especially near salt water ???

Got local company to fit Tow-Trust removable bar for c. £400 - not that I often remove it- the tow bar has stopped at least 3 vehicles from smacking into my bumper in queuing traffic with no damage to me at least!

What was worth paying extra for was the reversing camera, makes single handed hitching up to the trailer so much easier - line up bang under the hitch first time every time

jeffstevens763@g · 19 September 2021, 12:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pikey Dave

Jeff, Skoda wanted £1200+ to fit a towbar to our Yeti. Our local towbar place did it for £300 (pre Covid) including OEM Westphalia towbar & wiring loom, fully coded in. I can send you their details if you like, only 45 mins up the road from you.

Thanks Dave I’ve booked it in at Lincoln Portland towing they were recommended by the salesman on the QT. I was quite surprised on the price hike from when I had the mini.