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The reason I'm posting loads on here this evening is because I am hacked off. A very small woman in a very large 4X4 backed it into my Outback this morning but her car had a large tow bar assembly sticking out of its backside and the damage to my car is not insignificant. Surely it is not beyond the ken of the motor industry to devise a towing arrangement that is flush with the back of the vehicle. As an aside, the deliquent driver blamed the 'rubbish' visibility from the rear of her behemoth, not her driving technique. I give up.
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sorry to hear of you bad news. I was talking once to a guy who was hit from behind by a BMW. The guy i knew had a tow bar fitted and the front end of the BMW was in quite a bad way. The other car had no aparent damage to it as the towbar took all the energy. Being a bit concerned he took it into his garage to get it checked out and it got the all clear. Having then a fortnight later hooked up his caravan he found the towbar would not perform in the same way as before. On closer inspection to the fittings, he noticed that the bolts that held the towbar on had sheared with the energy of the impact. So maybe she did.nt get away scot free as they say.
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From a different perspective, I just got a towbar fitted to the Scenic a fortnight ago, and I am now quite comfortable in the knowledge that my rear bumper should be relatively safe from any parking bumps inflicted by other drivers, especially with the cost of these painted fibreglass (?) bumpers.
I would hasten to add, however, that the primary reason for getting it was to tow a trailer!
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My dad has a towbar on the back of his Megane and says that it comes in useful when people park too close to him as it causes more damage to their cars than his (important when parking on my street anyway). Both of our neighbours have managed to damage their number plates (front and back) by parking too close to it.
He's planning on getting one fitted onto the next car he gets too, purely to save his bumpers from people who can't park without touching the cars in front and behind them
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He's planning on getting one fitted onto the next car he gets too, purely to save his bumpers from people who can't park without touching the cars in front and behind them
Yes but what if he's the one that can't park without touching another car.
A low speed bumper to bumper causes little if no harm, same can't be said for a tow bar.
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When I got a towbar fitted to my estate, I specified one with a removable 'blade' the the ball mounts to. It has two large bolts to secure the blade to the rest of the arrangement under the bumper. The towball at the rear may well deter 'touch-parkers' and the like but I find that I'm always barking my shins on the thing. When it's not in use I remove it and stow it and the spanner down beside the spare wheel. Having once driven across town to pick up a trailer, only to find that the towbar was in my garage at home, I keep it closer to hand now.
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If you have a towing coupling that is flush with the rear of the vehicle. How do you propose to turn corners or when reversing at 45/50degs without damage to the rear of your vehicle ???
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IIRC all new towbars (or on new cars) must have a removable ball that is taken off (or hinged) when not in use! I bet prosecutions are few and far between!
I think I can recall seeing Landrovers with a fixed ball on the front for people who do a lot of manouvering of trailers. This must be the ideal solution for the contributor above who wishes to indulge in touch parking with minimum impact on his cosmetics!
If the story of sheared bolts after a rear impact is true, I cannot believe that the floor pan was unscathed! probably more expensive damage than the plastic front end that contributed.
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pmh (was peter)
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Excellent idea. The best parking and tailgating protection/deterrent there is.
Get the kind that has a draw bolt as well as a ball, and a substantial drop-plate.
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Agree - my old 940 estae had a particularly sturdy tow bar which certainly seemed to focus the minds of those who might otherwise have got a bit too close.
However, a 'lethal' device in the wrong hands I'd agree.
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Those of you with tow bars had better hope you don't meet the owner of the Rover 75 featured in another thread here; the way things are going he's going to have an RSJ tack-welded to his car in place of a front bumper if he's to get his car back on the road this side of Christmas.
Actually we'd all better hope we don't meet him!
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IIRC all new towbars (or on new cars) must have a removable ball that is taken off (or hinged) when not in use! I bet prosecutions are few and far between!
Pmh, can you enlarge on that? I have just had a standard towball fitted that is neither of the above, and this was after checking quite a few suppliers, all of whom were selling the same?
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Factory-fit towballs only, IIRC. There is legislation that requires any towball (including aftermarket ones) to be removable when not in use if it partially obscures the number plate.
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"...very large 4x4 backed it into nmy Outback..."
Well I always thought that 4x4's were best suited to the Outback :)
Sorry, I do sympathise really but just couldn't resist.
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