little advice

blahblah06

Hi lads. looking to get a tow bar fitted on my astra sports but cant seem to see anyone that does it. Also looking for a motorbike trailor. any ideas?

Wishbone Ash

blahblah06 wrote:

Hi lads. looking to get a tow bar fitted on my astra sports but cant seem to see anyone that does it. Also looking for a motorbike trailor. any ideas?

Try http://www.mrbullbar.ie/

Many 'sports' editions of cars do not permit addition of a tow bar - check handbook.

blahblah06

I know it can be done alright as ive seen it but no idea were does it

Wishbone Ash

blahblah06 wrote:

I know it can be done alright as ive seen it but no idea were does it

Contact your local Opel dealer. They will need to have an agent to fit tow-bars as some buyers specify it on new cars.

crosstownk

Look up the phone book for Towing Equipment. They are off the Kylemore Road (Dublin 10). They will fit a tow bar a lot cheaper than an Opel Dealer. They should be also able to advise you on a supplier for your trailer. I can get you the number on Monday - PM me if you want it.

Another option is Malcolms Caravans in Rathmines.

Fey!

Wishbone Ash wrote:

Contact your local Opel dealer. They will need to have an agent to fit tow-bars as some buyers specify it on new cars.

Some dealers do their own fitting.

maidhc

Fey! wrote:

Some dealers do their own fitting.

I would be somewhat worried about the ones that can't! I know the witter one I fitted to the mondeo just bolted on behind the bumper. I'd be surprised if the situation was much different for a pretty normal car like an Astra, even if it is 3 dr.

crosstownk

maidhc wrote:

I would be somewhat worried about the ones that can't! I know the witter one I fitted to the mondeo just bolted on behind the bumper. I'd be surprised if the situation was much different for a pretty normal car like an Astra, even if it is 3 dr.

Outside of Dublin most dealers will fit a tow bar (OE or not) to a car. For some reason, in Dublin, its usually specialist fitters that the dealers call to do the job.

Just something I've noticed.

maidhc

crosstownk wrote:

Outside of Dublin most dealers will fit a tow bar (OE or not) to a car. For some reason, in Dublin, its usually specialist fitters that the dealers call to do the job.

Just something I've noticed.

That is odd.

crosstownk

I think it's simply because there are more 'specialist' fitters in urban areas.

Sorry, I shouldn't have singled out Dublin - same goes for other cities and larger towns.

Wishbone Ash

crosstownk wrote:

Outside of Dublin most dealers will fit a tow bar (OE or not) to a car. For some reason, in Dublin, its usually specialist fitters that the dealers call to do the job.

Just something I've noticed.

Yes that's why I referred to an 'agent' in my post. I presume it's because tow-bars are a lot less common in Dublin. It would probably be more feasible to get an outsider to fit them than to train staff to do it.

Fey!

Wishbone Ash wrote:

Yes that's why I referred to an 'agent' in my post. I presume it's because tow-bars are a lot less common in Dublin. It would probably be more feasible to get an outsider to fit them than to train staff to do it.

Shouldn't that be part of their training anyway?

ianobrien

Two extra points

I was talking to a friend in a main dealer, who said that a customer had got the towbar fitted by another company (saving 40 euro, the friend reckons). When the fitter wired up the socket, he blew the ECU in the car (Bill, 1000 euro and 2 days in the main dealer).

The friend in the dealer told me as the customer tried to claim the ECU under warrenty!

Moral of the story, with modern electrics, you have to be careful who wires up the seven pin socket.

Another point is that if you get another company to do the work (ie not the main dealer), and there is a problem (leak, etc) the towbar company may blame the car ("Oh, that's a main dealer job, warrenty") and the main dealer may say the towbar company is at fault, and you may be trapped between the two (my Da leart the hard way)

maidhc

ianobrien wrote:

I was talking to a friend in a main dealer, who said that a customer had got the towbar fitted by another company (saving 40 euro, the friend reckons). When the fitter wired up the socket, he blew the ECU in the car (Bill, 1000 euro and 2 days in the main dealer).

My cars are all very much of the bread and butter variety, but surely all the wires in the boot do is carry a 12v supply to the relevant places, and even shorting one should only result in a fuse getting blown. Considering a short can be caused by a dodgy trailer light, I really hope this is the case.

I hear talk of "Can-bus" and all that recently, but surely the indcicators and lights still just use a plain old 12v supply.

Perhaps the fitter decided to do a spot of welding on the car?

ianobrien

maidhc wrote:

My cars are all very much of the bread and butter variety, but surely all the wires in the boot do is carry a 12v supply to the relevant places, and even shorting one should only result in a fuse getting blown. Considering a short can be caused by a dodgy trailer light, I really hope this is the case.

I hear talk of "Can-bus" and all that recently, but surely the indcicators and lights still just use a plain old 12v supply.

Perhaps the fitter decided to do a spot of welding on the car?

Modern car wiring is not my strong point but I believe what I was told. I think that modern ECU's contol everything, including the indicators, and that in the Can-bus wiring there is a single 12V supply and a signal wire, even to rear light clusters. The signal wire tells which light to light up, and the supply is taken from the 12V wire. This reduces the number of wires in a car, making it easier to manufacture.

This means that you can't tap into the wiring in the boot, as it isn't carring 12V to the indicator and brake light.

I think that the reason for the ECU being burnt out was an overload on the indicator circutry, but I cant recall for certain. I think that the fitter put 12V through the ECU for the indicators in the trailer without him realising.

If you want to see how much the ECU controls, in my 2000 Micra, the interior light delay is controlled by the ECU, and at a recent service, a friend offered to change the delay for me when the car was hooked up to his instrument!

colm_mcm

A lot of busy dealers sub-contract the work out because they want to free up the workshop for servicing.

blahblah06

Wishbone Ash wrote:

Try http://www.mrbullbar.ie/

Many 'sports' editions of cars do not permit addition of a tow bar - check handbook.

my bullbar wants 550 euro LOL

crosstownk

Most bread and butter cars don't have CAN-BUS at the rear light cluster. But it is becoming more popular in larger executive saloons so it's only a matter of time before all models have it.

The point made about it doing damage to components, ECUs or otherwise is real. I had a 2006 Octavia in Cork that had a leak in the boot. So I booked it in for a warranty repair only to be told by the Skoda dealer that the leak was down to the towbar fitting. There was also some other component damaged as a result - I just can't remember what it was. Anyway the towbar fitter stepped up to the plate and paid for the repairs and then fitted the €0.25 rubber grommet that he should have fitted in the first place.

I've seen towbars getting fitted to 2006 Passats and I've noticed that the fitters completely remove the rear bumper reinforcer. The towbar is fitted in its place - I've often wondered if this behaviour would compromise the rear crumple zone on the car as the towbar is fitted down into the chassis leg and has the appearanc of impedeing the crumpling of the chassis leg.