Morning all.
I'm going to be fitting a towbar to my 2004 Leon Cupra TDI to allow me to transport my new toy around:
Now I'm looking for the most unobtrusive way of doing this and the stealthiest method is a removable swan neck towbar which only involves a small cut in the bumper which can then be hidden by adding a couple of plastic tabs to the removed section and a neatly placed countersunk screw to re-secure the cut out when not towing.
This guide outlines the necessary steps and is pretty straightforward, but bloody expensive when you price it up. Around £380-420 for both parts depending on where you go to buy them.
The problem with a Swan neck detachable is that I won't be able to use a bike rack like this one, which would be my preference. For that you need a fixed tow bar as it doesn't mount to the ball itself - it's bolted to the flange.
Because of this it means I'll have to buy a trailer which is going to take up room in my garage and isn't really a preferable option.
Another option that needs research is to get a fixed tow bar, but manually unbolt the ball each time I want to take my bike out (only once a week or so, so no big deal if it means 10 minutes under my car with a ratchet each time). However I don't know where abouts the mounting point will sit under the rear bumper and therefore where the cut out will need to be and more importantly if it'll be reachable without taking off the bumper. The beauty of the removable swan neck is that the cut out is right at the bottom of the bumper and barely visible - whereas if I'm looking to mount the rack straight to the flange it's probably going to be right up high just under the number plate or something.
So OcUK, what's your ideas?
I'm going to be fitting a towbar to my 2004 Leon Cupra TDI to allow me to transport my new toy around:
Now I'm looking for the most unobtrusive way of doing this and the stealthiest method is a removable swan neck towbar which only involves a small cut in the bumper which can then be hidden by adding a couple of plastic tabs to the removed section and a neatly placed countersunk screw to re-secure the cut out when not towing.
This guide outlines the necessary steps and is pretty straightforward, but bloody expensive when you price it up. Around £380-420 for both parts depending on where you go to buy them.
The problem with a Swan neck detachable is that I won't be able to use a bike rack like this one, which would be my preference. For that you need a fixed tow bar as it doesn't mount to the ball itself - it's bolted to the flange.
Because of this it means I'll have to buy a trailer which is going to take up room in my garage and isn't really a preferable option.
Another option that needs research is to get a fixed tow bar, but manually unbolt the ball each time I want to take my bike out (only once a week or so, so no big deal if it means 10 minutes under my car with a ratchet each time). However I don't know where abouts the mounting point will sit under the rear bumper and therefore where the cut out will need to be and more importantly if it'll be reachable without taking off the bumper. The beauty of the removable swan neck is that the cut out is right at the bottom of the bumper and barely visible - whereas if I'm looking to mount the rack straight to the flange it's probably going to be right up high just under the number plate or something.
So OcUK, what's your ideas?
