Cost of Mercedes Tow Bar

[MAM]

Hello All,

First post on this forum.

I'm about to plunge into my first caravan ownership. As I have a Mercedes E-Class Estate, I though this would be an ideal towing car - until I asked Mercedes for the cost of fitting a Tow Bar.

The receptionist at the dealer phoned me with a quote and started by saying "It's a bit excessive" - not a good start.

After parts and labour I was quoted £2,200 (this includes 11 hours labour - 8 for the mechanicals and 3 for the electrics).

Can you guess my response?

Question - has anyone retro-fitted a tow bar to a current model E-Class estate - preferably for less than £1,000?

 

[rob_jax]

Hi Mike,

I have a 2003 C-Class C270 CDI, spoke with the dealer when I bought the car - and decided to get a Brink detachable from Tow-be-Fabs in Hemel Hempstead. Fully fitted with my preferred 13 pin ISO electrical socket, it was under

 

[VIP2006]

Hi Mike - I have had fitted a type approved towbar and twin electrics to my C220CDi Auto for

 

[MAM]

Thanks for the reply fellas.

I was contemplating buying an old Nissan Patrol just for the purpose of towing but my wife wouldn't have it.

I'll look around for a local supplier and keep it under

 

[rob_jax]

Mike,

After you have removed the detachable tow bar, and the 13 pin electrics have swung up behind the bumper - you can't see that the car has a towbar from behind.

The swing up action of the ISO 13 pin electrics socket means that it does collect crud when driving "solo" - it's clean when you decide to take the tin tent out.

12N+S "twin electrics" (in the UK these are still the "standard" - most if not all UK caravans have 12N+S plugs), are too bulky to swing up, so they must be on a fixed plate - in which case you may as well save some money and have the swan neck towbar fitted.

Robert

 

[rob_jax]

Hi Keith,

Fitting a tow bar to a modern car is not difficult, agreed - especially With type approved bars - where the holes may already be drilled - and it should fit without issue.

The electrical interface in a new car is very simple - the 13 pin ISO socket wiring loom plugs straight into the standard socket in the boot - and at the same time totally outside the ability of the home DIY guy - most modern cars use CAN-BUS to distribute sensors and control signals.

So my C270 has only two pairs of wires running from the front to the back of the car - one is a heavy duty 12 V feed - and the other is the CAN-BUS. A small electronics CAN-BUS module in the boot fans out the power to the lights.

The CAN-BUS central module needs to be told (programmed) that you have fitted tow-bar electrics - so it can automatically detect and disable the rear fog light and / or parking sensors - and do more advanced things like change the car ESP mode to help damp out caravan sway. And it's this bit that needs to be done professionally - especially as CAN-BUS also carries safety stuff like ABS control.

You can just connect the caravan socket to the power socket - but it's only a partial job.

Robert

 

[CliveV]

Away from the techy stuff and revisting the appalling cost of the item from Merc. A friend who had a service at a Merc Garage was given a bill for over

 

[MAM]

Hi Robert,

Are you suggesting that the work must be done by a Mercedes Dealership or by stating that it needs to be done professionally, are you including companies such as "Tow-be-Fabs" in Hemel Hempstead as professional fitters?

Mike

 

[rob_jax]

Hi Mike,

No.

The majority of the work can be done by yourself or an independent tow bar fitter - like in our case by Tow-be-Fabs.

Fitting the tow bar is a straight forward job - at the very worst it requires the bumper to be removed for access, and fitting the 13 pin ISO wiring loom is a straight forward job - some trim panels in the boot need to come out

Telling the CAN-BUS control module / car ECU that you now have a caravan tow bar attached - is the part that (today) must be done professionally - some tow-bar fitter's can do this or you may need to visit your local Mercedes dealership and let them make the change.

If your E-class is straight out of the factory, it should be an easy job - all of the settings are preprogrammed in the car computer they just need to be activated - the dealership should be able to do it in a few minutes.

Robert

 

[paul_5097673]

Mike

I Have a 2004 Mecedes E-Class saloon, I also got a silly quote from the main dealer, On enquiry I found they used a local company, I got in touch with them and had a detachable towbar (witter) with twin electrics fitted for

 

[MAM]

Hi Paul,

Sounds like you have come up with the best option. Please can you let me know what area of the country you are in and what was the name of the local company?

Cheers,

Mike

 

[paul_5097673]

Hi Paul,

Sounds like you have come up with the best option. Please can you let me know what area of the country you are in and what was the name of the local company?

Cheers,

Mike

Mike,

Sorry for the delay I have just come back from touring the south of France, The company I used is Bank Farm Trailers they are im Swansea Tel 01792 795834, They also have a branch In Bridgend 01656 659742, how usefull this info is depends on your location,

Regards

Paul