I'm wanting a detachable towbar fitting to my Octavia estate 2015. It's just for attaching a bike rack, no towing planned.

 

I've found someone who'll do it and he seems to be saying he'll need to strip out the interior to take a cable to the front of the car. This sounds strange to me as I thought there would be wiring somewhere in the boot area. It's been suggested to me that this might be a sign that he's not installing it with the official wiring and coding.

 

Is anyone able to offer me any words of wisdom on this please? 

I am assuming that this is not costing you big money and you are going down the route of dedicated wiring, coding & all that malarkey for a bike rack & that he will be fitting a by-pass relay.

 

I'm afraid there is no reasoning with someone that prefers to bust his gut stripping out interiors time after to do a lash up ring terminal connection direct to the battery when there is a perfectly adequate power supply close by in the boot.

 

It is the auxiliary socket but good luck with convincing the fitter to use it.

1 hour ago, Murmansk said:

I'm wanting a detachable towbar fitting to my Octavia estate 2015. It's just for attaching a bike rack, no towing planned.

 

I've found someone who'll do it and he seems to be saying he'll need to strip out the interior to take a cable to the front of the car. This sounds strange to me as I thought there would be wiring somewhere in the boot area. It's been suggested to me that this might be a sign that he's not installing it with the official wiring and coding.

 

Is anyone able to offer me any words of wisdom on this please? 

Stripping out the inside would be correct if you have no towbar prep installed from factory?

 

I did my own detachable, pics below for reference. All in, correctly coded and working with the vehicle.

 

Hope that helps?

 

Kev

i guess you have reasons for choosing a towbar mount - I considered one  but decided on roof mounting eventually. As i get older it's more of an effort to load the bikes on, but that's probably no harder than whatever you have to do to get in the back of the car if you have a towbar mount

 

And i remember seeing an Insignia with two adult and two kids bikes on a ferry in rotterdam and thinking 'I don't fancy that' and about 10k down the motorway I saw the bike rake, then the Insignia 500 metres down the road. On the other hand I have nearly knocked the bikes off on one of those barriers meant for keeping caravans out of car parks, and while the setup i have on my hatchback (with roof bars) has never given any problems, the previous setup on the estate (with roof rails) had to be seriously tightly secured if it wasn't to sneak its way to the back of the car

Afraid I cant comment pon the fitting of the kit but as we are mildly debating different rack food groups...

 

Have used roof mounts for a number of years and will continue to for security access to the boot.  However having recently acquired a car with a towbar and also got a rack (Thule quick release job) from my dad, the convenience of having the bike on the back is great.  I'll be using both* while I have the kit.

 

*Not at the same time unless we need to (kids etc)

Thanks for those replies

 

In the end I've booked it in with PF Jones in Manchester who seem to have a very good reputation - and confirm that it needs a cable taking to the region of the glove box.

 

I've previously used Thule roof mounted racks but now one of the bikes is an electric one so it's too heavy for the roof rack and too heavy to lift up there,  so the rear mounted one is better for us. 

Have used for a longe period rooftop bars on my previous car - always had issues with automatic carwashes. With Octavia I didn't think things and did not order the tow-bar and purchased compatible rooftop bars. But after 1 year of hearing the wind (car was much quieter than the previous one) I ended up selling the bars and installed a detachable tow-bar at the dealer. They stripped the interior a bit (driving side), put some controlbox in the boot somewhere and did all the coding. So I don't get any audible problem with parking sensors when bikes are in place, all is ok. 

 

On 20/04/2021 at 17:01, Murmansk said:

Thanks for those replies

 

In the end I've booked it in with PF Jones in Manchester who seem to have a very good reputation - and confirm that it needs a cable taking to the region of the glove box.

 

I've previously used Thule roof mounted racks but now one of the bikes is an electric one so it's too heavy for the roof rack and too heavy to lift up there,  so the rear mounted one is better for us. 

i bought westfailia from PF jones and did it myself, there was no running any cabling to the front. Towbar prep was connected over the rear wheel arch.

 

 

Towbar prep was an option from the factory. If not on your car then a cable will need to be run to the glovebox area to connect the wiring properly. 
 

Salop towing were the cheapest when I had mine installed a couple of years ago. They did a very good job with a westfalia towbar