Changed our car to a Tiguan, has anybody fitted a Witter detachable Flange towbar or Westfalia detachable towbar. any advice on problems with reversing sensors etc.
Towbar for VW Tiguan RLine, Witter or Westfalia ?
- Thread starter DCL
- Start date
DCL said:
Not got a VW but had a Witter detachable fitted to my car and everything worked as it should with or without caravan. Mine was ordered via Witter and using one of their authorised technicians. I’ve always had Witter towbar and used their installers and never ever had any issues with reverse sensors, cameras, stop start or bulb failure warnings.
Both are as good, but i think VW use Westfalia as their factory fitted towbar, what i would recommend though is to go for the dedicated electrics , you may also need the car to be reprogrammed to see the changes done?
gMichaelE said:
The towbar installer if approved by the towbar maker will recode the car. Others will too if NTTA approved but I always go for an installer linked directly to the towbar maker.
Both makes are very good and if there is a big price difference I would just go for the cheapest option. I would use the makers module though as if things do go wrong it will not invalidate the guarantee although I am not sure of VW's policy on that.
As a guide, the VW factory fitted Westfalia complete with electrics cost approximately £730 last December
hmy: how much !!!Witter are now questionable as they are no longer made in the UK.
Our last Passat Estate had a Thule bar with removable ball and was very good (still is - daughter now has that 58-plate car) but had a maximum noseweight of 85Kg.
Present PE has a Westfalia which is rated 90Kg. Dealer where we bought the car (7 months old) wanted just over a grand for supply and fit. The fridge/charging cable alone was over £100. Went to a towbar dealer/fitter who quoted me £450+VAT all in. Fitted in a morning, neat and tidy job, and it included reprogramming. Never had a problem.
PM me if you are anywhere near Leeds and want the installer details.
Our last Passat Estate had a Thule bar with removable ball and was very good (still is - daughter now has that 58-plate car) but had a maximum noseweight of 85Kg.
Present PE has a Westfalia which is rated 90Kg. Dealer where we bought the car (7 months old) wanted just over a grand for supply and fit. The fridge/charging cable alone was over £100. Went to a towbar dealer/fitter who quoted me £450+VAT all in. Fitted in a morning, neat and tidy job, and it included reprogramming. Never had a problem.
PM me if you are anywhere near Leeds and want the installer details.
Woodentop said:
Well your Passat and Westfalia aren’t made in UK are they? Thule, Alko, Bosel should all of these be avoided too?
I came across a snippet in the CAMC magazine that states Horizon Global the US company that bought Witter have also bought Westfalia and now Brink too. The Horizon Global also own Terwa the Romanian tow bar maker. Looking at a number of European business links it seems that the Witter, Westfalia and Brink design and conformance teams will be retained as they are, but with manufacture likely all to be undertaken in Romania. But it's likely that the design authority role may become more integrated as time goes by leading eventually to a single design authority. Such is globalisation.
Woodentop said:
The Towbar fitting is a lot cheaper as your not paying dealer labour charges, the cheeky bit is they get the towbar fitters in to fit them.
EH52ARH said:
This was not a particularly helpful comment, as having looked at the C&MHC website there was no way I could find what you have refereed to. Can you post the webpage address?
I can not find the thread in the C&MC website , the problem was that the bolts that fitted the cross tube to the chassis fitting were only two bolts on either side and were not of a close tolerence, to when the caravan was hooked Up the towbar would drop by about 2 inches. Witters fix was to replace the bolts with a stronger bolt and higher torque.
Witter and Westfalia are apparently owned by the same firm, and I do wonder if in those circumstances there is any real difference between these makes.
I only discovered this when I saw an article saying they are now trying to buy Brink, which to me would be anti competitive as it would give them near control of the market.
I only discovered this when I saw an article saying they are now trying to buy Brink, which to me would be anti competitive as it would give them near control of the market.
ProfJohnL said:
Here is another posting ref Sante fe tow bar. http://hyundaiclub.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=1465&p=7436&hilit=Towbar#p7436.
Raywood said:
From a Dutch website I understood that they have now aquired Brink. That only leaves Bosal as a significant other although Thule and Alko produce some but aren't mainstream I doubt that it's a big enough issue for the CMA or EU Commision to bother with. But if the various design teams retain independent Design Authority within UK, Germany and Netherlands then there should still be a variety of choice with the benefits of manufacturing scale on Romania.
otherclive said:
Sorry folks about the link. Hopefully my earlier post advised. Witter was always my fav. Tow bar but now prefer Towtrust.
I too found that the Hyundai required registration which I do not want to do, I get enough unwanted spam.
But lets understand how a tow bar is designed. For car sold in the EU, the car manufacturer has to set out the fixing points and the capability of the vehicle, in terms of the maximum towed load for the vehicle. It is set out in the EU Construction and use that the tow ball must be able to withstand a nose load of a minimum of 25kg or 4% of the towed load capability. (whichever is greater). The design has to be type approved.
What I find very difficult to accept is the claim the bolts used in the correct location could allow for the ball hitch to move by 2 inches. That's a massive tolerance!
Perhaps the Hyundai being a 4x4 is classed as a specialised vehicle which are exempt exempt from the regulations, but even so it seems a lot for a specially produced fitting kit.
But non of this helps the OP who is looking for Tiguan towbar.
But lets understand how a tow bar is designed. For car sold in the EU, the car manufacturer has to set out the fixing points and the capability of the vehicle, in terms of the maximum towed load for the vehicle. It is set out in the EU Construction and use that the tow ball must be able to withstand a nose load of a minimum of 25kg or 4% of the towed load capability. (whichever is greater). The design has to be type approved.
What I find very difficult to accept is the claim the bolts used in the correct location could allow for the ball hitch to move by 2 inches. That's a massive tolerance!
Perhaps the Hyundai being a 4x4 is classed as a specialised vehicle which are exempt exempt from the regulations, but even so it seems a lot for a specially produced fitting kit.
But non of this helps the OP who is looking for Tiguan towbar.
ProfJohnL said:
I really think that the OP got an answer in the first few replies to this post. Don’t you? But like quite a number of OPs there’s never an acknowledgement of the replies.
This detour into Towbars came about through a post that strongly implied that just because Witter had moved everything abroad, whereas in fact design and regulatory conformance were retained in UK. Only manufacture was going abroad.
Prof all I am saying is that the Witter tow bar , dropped due to the bolts used and the fix was higher tensile bolts and a higher torque on the bolts. The fit was also too far back from the axle. Witter did not recignise this for two years. They were in my opinion "The Best" but I have now changed my thinking. .
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