have looked thro the threads re towbars for superb and whilst i know i could pick one up from ebay for £100 or so i dont fancy fitting it - anyone give me an idea of how much they paid to have one fitted - either the whole supply and fit package or just fitting if they supplied own bar - also can you just have bar fitted without electrics or is there some eu rule to stop that - thanks

If you can handle a spanner and a Torx screwdriver, you can fit a towbar to a Superb - it's dead easy. All of the mounting holes are already there (covered with tape and sprayed body colour). The back bumper has to come off, so an assistant is useful as it's a big plastic moulding.

I just bought the cheapest Passat B5.5 towbar I could find on eBay (Bosal) and fitted it without any difficulty. I could probably fit one now in under an hour.

Whether or not you wire up a lighting socket is up to you, if you tow on the road - you need one. Wiring the trailer electrics into the back of the rear lights is also straightforward. Use a relay to feed the trailer brake lights though - VAG brake lamp switches are rubbish and won't take the extra load. The power for the trailer brake lamps comes from the back of the power socket in the boot, via a 5A line fuse. Piece of cake.

rotodiesel.

If you want to know costs for getting a place to fit it for you, I had a detachable Bosal fitted and this was £385 all in.

thanks for the posts - £300 cheaper to fit it myself - think i might just give it a try

If you get stuck give me a shout as I have been there done that and got the Tee shirt....pictures as well somewhere.

I bought a Passat removable Westfalia towbar of E-bay, I believe Westfalia supply Skoda these towbar as their factory fit removable towbar.

There really easy to use with a auto locking system thats also lockable by a key, Best thing is the cut out in the bumper is designed for this towbar as even the swivel up electrics fits through the cut out perfectly.

It is completely hidden and doesnt effect the looks of the car at all unlke some removable bars and when its in place it has no effect on the reverse sensors either

Cost me about £160 including delivery, if your thinking of fitting it yourself (which, repeating the advice off others, is really easy to do) the little extra cost is well worth it!

I’d like to double check on the general comments that wiring the electrics (for a simple 7-pin trailer board) is straightforward.

New to Skoda, I’ve been warned that the car has a ‘canbus’ system and the whole wiring loom is sensitive to electrical loads and voltages. Probably scare mongering, but it’s been suggested to me that it could even affect the engine management system.

Fitting the tow bar I can do; having done two before.

My questions are: would a 7-pin bypass system work the trailer board while having no damaging effect on the rest of the system? And if this is OK, can someone outline exactally which type of suitable 7 pin bypass system I should buy; and finally; most of the pictures show the tow bar fitting; can anyone describe where to connect the bypass, or even better, have pictures?

Thanks.

The Superb is an ancient design (B5.5 Passat) and has absolutely conventional lighting wiring. This means that you can connect the trailer lighting straight into the car's electrical system without any problems.

The only point of detail is that VAG stoplamp switches are rubbish, so it would be unwise to increase the load on it. If you fit a relay in the boot next to the back of the RH rear light, you can power the trailer stoplamps from the rear of the boot power socket via a suitable line fuse. This places no appreciable extra load on the stoplamp switch. Dead easy.

rotodiesel.

Rotodiesel,

I should have come clean and made clear that I’m looking to fit the towbar to a 06 Octavia. I posted on this thread as the info on towbars was nice and clear. Perhaps it’s not so simple for the Octavia eclectics.

Eclectic is a good description of the electrical system on the latest Octavia. Being a newer design than the Superb, it's user hostile - take advice from a towbar fitting specialist.

rotodiesel.

as suggested picked up superb bosal swan neck towbar from towequippe via ebay (£71 + £15 delivery - ordered late tuesday night and delivered thursday morning - excellent) - fitted sunday in about 3 hours - as previously stated by rotodiesel all holes already there and only needs removal and refitting of back bumper and boot trim - well pleased with result and saved quite a few quid - no more wobbly strap-on bike carrier - thanks to all for good advice