Hi All

I towed my caravan for the first time over Christmas with my newly acquired June 2010 Superb SE Estate 170. The tow was very stable with plenty of power and torque in reserve. However, there was an almost continual bodywork type squeak, which appeared to come from the offside rear of the car. Looking in the mirror, the squeak seemed to occur in phase with the movement of the caravan over road imperfections etc. The tow bar is a VW/Skoda detachable fitment, but I don't know when it was fitted. I will get the towbar fixings checked out by my local towbar specialist this week, but in the meantime, has anyone else had this experience and how was it solved? I am rather aware that bodywork squeaks can be very difficult to trace.

Thanks in advance for any help or info.

Happy New Year.

Cheers

Paul R T

I had this problem with a Chrysler Voyager when towing my new caravan a couple of years ago.

Make sure the tow ball is very clean and free from paint. My caravan dealer told me to rub all the paint off the towball with wet n dry and to spray some break cleaner on the ball to clean it.

Depending on what type of hitch your caravan has it may be fitted with pads inside the hitch. They look like tiny brake pads and help with keeping the van stable during towing, give these a clean aswell. These type of noises ten to amplify through the towbar.

Hope this helps

A common issue and as advised, noise likely to come from ball hitch - ensure ball completely clean, no rust or dirt, but also not greased, as then stabiliser pads in Alko hitches will not work. When ball is stored, a little WD40 wipe won't go amiss to stop any rusting.

Brian

Hi All

I towed my caravan for the first time over Christmas with my newly acquired June 2010 Superb SE Estate 170. The tow was very stable with plenty of power and torque in reserve. However, there was an almost continual bodywork type squeak, which appeared to come from the offside rear of the car. Looking in the mirror, the squeak seemed to occur in phase with the movement of the caravan over road imperfections etc. The tow bar is a VW/Skoda detachable fitment, but I don't know when it was fitted. I will get the towbar fixings checked out by my local towbar specialist this week, but in the meantime, has anyone else had this experience and how was it solved? I am rather aware that bodywork squeaks can be very difficult to trace.

Thanks in advance for any help or info.

Happy New Year.

Cheers

Paul R T

As already stated,make sure the towball is clean and all the black paint is removed.Sounds like the friction pads in the stabiliser are slipping on the painted towball.

John.

Yep get them free of paint, oil & grease. They need friction to stabilise the van.

Personally I wouldn't us WD40 but try a brake cleaner instead.

Let us know how you go - all though it seems a bit windy to be towing your pride & joy

Do NOT Use WD40 or any oil, light or otherwise, for that matter on the ball or pads - this is a friction system, lubrication is not what you want here! - It's better to put up with a Squeak than use lubricants.

As above post, use a brake cleaner (spray cans available all over) and clean the ball with light sandpaper 1st - there should be no paint on the ball.

If the Caravan is 2nd hand, check the pads in the head for contamination - AlKo ball's, along with many Swan types came painted black, and many never removed the paint before use. - Clean with Brake Cleaner too. (Be careful not to get it on painted surfaces - it wont do them any good!)

Use a Safety Ball in the head, to prevent any further build up of contaminants. - Dont use an old Flange towball!

If creaking / Squeaking continues after a good clean, consider replacing the Pads in the head.

Al.

I used to get a very loud creaking from my towbar even with a perfectly clean ball and a brand new Winterhoff stabliser hitch. Strangely the creaking got worse after I sprayed brake cleaner on and I found that one of those washing up scouring pads (the green Scotchbrite stuff) works better than wet and dry emery paper. Just give the ball a good scrub and dust off with a clean rag before hitching up.

Hi All

Thanks for all the helpful replies to my original post. I thought an update might just be useful to other Skoda caravanners.

Like many engineering problems, there was more than one issue. Prior to posting I had emeried off all the residual paint on the towball and had cleaned both it and the hitch stabiliser pads with brake cleaner. However, following the various posts here, I 'polished' the towball with wet and dry and recleaned it and the pads. This eliminated part of the noise, but there was still a definite 'creak' from the rear of the car when towing over undulations. When I discovered I could reproduce this creak when I initially connected the caravan to the towbar (and then re-lowered the jockey wheel to check for positive engagement), I decided there must be some minor movement between the towbar and subframe on the offside. My local towbar specialist checked it out and was able to torque up the bolts somewhat on the offending side. When tested ealier this week, I had a completely silent tow. Hurray!

Cheers

Paul R T

I have a 2012 Superb hatch with westfalia towbar. I have a creak underneath the offside of the car when caravan is attached. Problem seems to be the same as Paul R T describes above. Whilst away this week, i had it checked at a towbar specialist who checked the bolts on the offside arm of towbar. They said they were correctly torqued and the creak seemed to be coming from offside brake caliper or suspension. This theory seems to have some merit as when i apply the brakes, the creaking stops.

I can also replicate it by standing on the towbar and bouncing car up and down, without caravan attached, with or without the handbrake on.

The car is only 3 months old with 3000 miles on it.

Anyone else experienced this problem, which uncannily seems like Paul R T's problem. An update from Paul R T would be great?

Hi G Bain,

Following my last post on this when I thought I had cracked the problem, the creak returned after a further two trips.

I was then able to replicate the creak by vigorous upwards pressure on the towbar. I took the car into my local garage, who I have dealt with for many years, and asked them to investigate. They removed the bumper and retorqued all the towbar assembly securing bolts. They said that one bolt, which is partially hidden, was not fully torqued up, allowing a slight movement on the offside, which was producing the creak. I have just completed a long trip to the south of Spain - 3,600 miles, of which 2,500 were towing and it now seems all OK.

Cheers

Paul R T

I had to have a friend tow my caravan off a paddock with his Discovery, unfortunately it had a greased towball. I found the caravan swayed a bit on the way to a park and got some emery paper and brake cleaner from Halfords and cleaned the towball and coupling pads in the Alko hitch. Boy does it creak now every time I turn, you can feel it through the car. I think I may have to get some new pads.

Ian

Many thanks for replying in particular to Paul RT. Much appreciated. I towed again yesterday to take caravan for its service about 20 miles away and no creaking. Clearly though caravan empty and nothing in boot. I have booked at my dealer week after next but in light of comments, inclined to get towbar checked again.

Cheers

Hi, I've been towing caravans for almost 30 years and it's not until I started to use the friction pad clamp type hitch that I got any squeaking.

It's unlikely to be the car! As has been said several times it's most likely either the ball or the pads that are contaminated. A new ball definitely needs the preservative black paint removing before use followed by a clean with brake-pad cleaner. Also probably a good idea to replace the tow hitch pads, they are not expensive and you notice the difference.

My Superb Elegance 170 Tdi 4x4 tows brilliantly and have to be careful to keep the speed down!!!!!

My Superb Elegance 170 Tdi 4x4 tows brilliantly and have to be careful to keep the speed down!!!!!

I'm pleased about that, as my 170 4x4 is at the port ready to get on a boat.

You'll love it!!!! Quiet, fast, powerful, comfortable, reasonably frugal (am averaging 42mpg but that includes quite a bit of towing when it goes down to about 27mpg with a big caravan on the back) and an ENORMOUS amount of luggage space. Feel good factor driving it too.......................

Taking it (the caravan) to my house in France in August and then on to Lake Como (Italy) at the end of the month before coming home early Sept. Unless I'm VERY wrong, its gonna be a great experience with the Superb doing its stuff on the Autoroutes.

Changing the Adaptive lighting system to European touring worked a treat in March so no more wasted money on those stupid light deflectors that can only be used once!!!

Just need the weather to change for the better!

You'll love it!!!! Quiet, fast, powerful, comfortable, reasonably frugal (am averaging 42mpg but that includes quite a bit of towing when it goes down to about 27mpg with a big caravan on the back) and an ENORMOUS amount of luggage space. Feel good factor driving it too.......................

Taking it (the caravan) to my house in France in August and then on to Lake Como (Italy) at the end of the month before coming home early Sept. Unless I'm VERY wrong, its gonna be a great experience with the Superb doing its stuff on the Autoroutes.

Changing the Adaptive lighting system to European touring worked a treat in March so no more wasted money on those stupid light deflectors that can only be used once!!!

Just need the weather to change for the better!

If only, we live in hope.

Just thought i would provide an update to my creak. The creak was most definitely coming from the towbar. Without a caravan hitched you could stand on the towball or simply lift it up slightly to replicate the creak. Took back to towbar fitted who was also convinced it was the bar and spent 1 1/2 hours taking it off and refitting. He mentioned wayoyl on chassis which may have prevented it sitting completely right. Collected caravan from service and no noise. Going away again next week so another test but hoping that it is cured. Couldn't bear it to France and back for summer in August.

Hi again G Bain (et al),

Thanks for your update. Both our experiences confirm that there can be sqeaks/creaks coming from the towbar, quite separate from any noises coming from the friction pads in the stabiliser hitch. In the course of this saga I think I am now able to clearly distinguish the different noises involved. I was interested to hear the theory from your fitter that the waxoyl on the 'chassis' members may have contributed to the towbar not seating properly. I hope you have solved it and have a quiet trip to France. We had a further outing to Norfolk last week, and the tow was silent. Hope to follow you to France in late August.

Cheers

Paul R T

Looks like there will be a few of us towing with the Superb in the Summer this year....that is assuming we will have such a thing as Summer!!!!

Looks like there will be a few of us towing with the Superb in the Summer this year....that is assuming we will have such a thing as Summer!!!!

Well, there's no summer up here at the moment, and we have more heavy rain forecast for tomorrow.

However, we'll be towing our van down to Kent for 3 weeks at the end of July, so can you please have plenty of sunshine ordered for around the 27th?

cheers Simon