Tow bar mk2 octavia 2009

[Jay_tfsi]

Hi I’m looking for a tow bar and seen so many out there would I need to Have it coded at all ? And does anyone recommend any ? 

[slow_nick]

Depends if you're going to do serious towing or not, e.g. regularly towing a caravan long distances. If so I would say go for one with the vehicle-specific wiring as the car can detect when a trailer is connected and does lots of clever things such as disabling the rear fog light on the car, disabling the rear parking sensors, activating trailer stability control, it even protects the trailer against theft (the car alarm will go off if the trailer is disconnected).

 

If you're just casual towing small stuff infrequently you can probably get away with a cheap universal bypass electric kit, I have the Witter SK26U towbar on mine with quantum vertical detachable neck and folding electric socket, the whole thing is invisible when you don't need it. I wired in the 13 pin electric socket myself, I ran a 30A supply from the engine bay for the battery charging pins and a 10A supply from the fuse box for the lights, the bypass relay and audible relay are tucked neatly in behind the nearside panel in the boot, and the feeds for the lights are all spliced into the wiring to the clusters. The bypass relay does not interfere with the bulb failure warning system.

 

As for fitting the actual towbar it's not too difficult, you need to remove the rear bumper. The towbar frame slides into the chassis rails and two big bolts go in each side from the outside. The nearside was a little tricky as the exhaust and heat shield is in the way but I managed to do it with a very long extension bar on an impact gun and I didn't have to completely drop the exhaust down although you do need to move the heat shield out of the way. From memory there are a couple of rubber grommets to run the electrics through.

 

In total it cost me about £120 and 4 hours work - I bought a 13 pin electrics kit on eBay for £30 and also got the full SK26U towbar kit with detachable neck for £90 on a clearance sale from Witter directly - normally the detachable neck is £180 on its own! If you take it to a professional fitter you will probably expect to pay around £500 for something with universal electrics or £800 for vehicle-specific electrics.

Edited 31 August, 2021 by slow_nick

[Jay_tfsi]

Nice 1 thanks for the info and reply I’m looking to do casual towing with the chances of a caravan etc or even trailer tent