Tow-bar fitting

[Tim M]

Does anyone know how easy/hard it is to fit a tow bar; I want to fit one to my Fiat Punto. I've phoned around all the local companies and all are around the £150 mark. Towsure sell a full kit for £70. They says it's very easy to fit, but I was just wondering if anyone can verify this. I understand it's just a matter of doing 7 bolts up, and wiring the electrics in (is the wiring a nightmare??)

Thanks!

[chaskins]

Hi Timofengland,

I have bought and fitted two now and they were pretty straight forward to fit, I think if you set aside half a day for fitting you will have plenty of time.

I bought 'Witter' towbars on both occasions from http://www.towbarwarehouse.co.uk/ and fitted them to my Passat Saloon and the other to a Passat Estate.

It was simply a case of unscrewing the bumper, then unbolting the impact/crash bar. Then slot the assembled towbar inplace of the the impact/crash bar with the bolts provided.

Wiring was a breeze for single electrics and the instructions supplied are quite clear on this subject

I gave mine a couple of coats of smoothrite a few days before fitting to keep rust at bay.

Saves paying fortune for someone else to fit it.

If you would like to know any more please feel free to ask

Chris

[ollyit]

towbar electrics are simple mate, most new cars have a wiring socket on the rear light harness wires any way plug striaght in, when I was rigging up the electrics on my 12year old calibra, I had to break into the wires physicaly and cut and reconnect them using "scotchblock connectors" worked well as I found the wires configuration well covered on the net through searching google etc to find what colour wires do what function - best of luck mate, I sure a call to fiat would be a problem for them to tell you what to do

as for fitting the towbar this a mission on my car, not neccessarily on yours though , it involved ramps, unbolting the rear silencer and drilling holes through the boot floor pan to the precut holes in the box sections on the rear chassis section, - best of luck

[Rich L]

Wiring is usually straight forward but not always. Having fitted two cars before easily, I couldn't suss how best to wire my Shogun (and I'm an electronic engineer). Most likely the fiat will be OK.

Towsure tow bars are good quality, relatively easy to fit (same as any other) & good value for money I reckon. Fitted one to an A4 & to a Zafira no problem. In the case of the A4, it was the last thing I did before leaving our old house for the last time. Trailer, wife & kids were waiting in the car!

If there is one, it's very unlikely you will be able to use the actual trailer connecter in the car because you can't buy the opposite connecter separately. You can usually buy the official wiring kit from the dealer with the correct mating connecter but this will be expensive. Scotchblock connecters are the answer and are supplied by all towbar manufacturers (including witter). Note that Scotchblock connecters can be unreliable.

If you can't find a wiring diagram, do what I did use a 12v bulb to test each wire (I actually used the courtesy light in the boot!).

In the case of my Shogun, I fitted a witter bar and had to ream one of the holes on the bar to make it fit (!) but in general witter are known for their quality. As it happens, the Shogun did not have an accessible trailer connector so I left it to the experts - £30 (they connected it to the loom behind one of the rear lights) and did a much better job than any amateur could have.

[Tim M]

Thanks all.

Im just about to buy the one from towsure. Hopefully it wil be nice and easy!