Towbar Kit with a Load Tester in Powder Coated Steel

A matched kit: the bar, the loom and a load tester, because a self fitted loom that passes a test lamp can still fail to run a trailer's lamps.

Towing is the one thing you can buy for a car where the wrong part is not merely disappointing. Every towbar listing here states the type approval number, the D value, the maximum noseweight and whether the bumper has to be cut, because those four facts decide whether a bar is legal on your vehicle and whether it will pull what you want to pull. Every electrical listing says plainly whether it is a dedicated loom or a universal one with a bypass relay, and what each will and will not do. We would rather lose a sale to a cheaper part than sell you one that does not fit.

Specification

• Fits: vehicle specific. Send us the registration and we confirm the bar, the loom and whether your car needs the bumper cutting before we take the order
• Approval: UNECE R55 for your exact vehicle, with the plate riveted to the bar. Every car first registered in the UK after 1 August 1998 must be fitted with a type approved towbar, approved for that specific make, model and body shape. The approval number is printed on a plate riveted to the bar and it is stated on every towbar listing on this site. A bar without one is not a cheaper towbar, it is an uninsured one.
• Rating: up to 2400kg gross trailer mass on the bar, subject to the vehicle handbook
• D value: 9.6 kN. The D value is the measure of how hard a towbar can be pulled. It is worked out from the towing vehicle's maximum mass and the trailer's maximum mass together, in kilonewtons, and the bar's D value has to be equal to or greater than the figure your combination produces. We publish it on every bar and there is a calculator linked from every towbar page.
• Noseweight: 100kg on the bar. Noseweight is the downward load the trailer puts on the ball, and the figure you may use is the lowest of four numbers: the towbar's S value, the vehicle handbook's noseweight limit, the towball's rating and the caravan coupling's rating. Most people know the first and none of the other three, and a combination that is legal on paper is often over the limit on the one that matters.
• Ball height: 350 to 420mm laden on a standard vehicle
• Electrics: a dedicated loom matched to the bar, with a coding voucher redeemable at any of our centres. A dedicated loom plugs into connectors the vehicle already has. It talks to the car's electronics, so the rear parking sensors switch off when a trailer is plugged in, the trailer stability programme arms itself if the vehicle has one, the bulb failure warning understands the extra lamps, and on many cars the fog lamp is muted as the regulations require. It costs more and on most cars it needs coding with a diagnostic tool, which we include on any kit we fit.
• Fitting time: two to four hours for a competent DIY fitter with the car safely supported, and the coding is done afterwards at a centre or mobile
• Bumper: stated per vehicle before you order
• Materials: a chromate primed and powder coated S355 steel weldment, which is the standard finish and will last the life of most cars
• Weight: approximately 22.0 kilograms
• Guarantee: a lifetime guarantee on the towbar weldment and two years on the electrics
• Why a kit: the bar and the loom are matched to each other and to your VIN, which is the half of the job that goes wrong when the two are bought separately from different places
• Coding voucher: included, and it is the step that turns a fitted module into a working one. Without it a dedicated loom is present and asleep
• Saving: about 10 per cent against the bar and the loom bought separately
• The honest alternative: if you are not confident under a car, the fitted package costs a few hundred pounds more and includes the labour, the coding and a load test. This kit is for people who would rather do it themselves, and we would rather sell it to them than to everybody

What arrives

• the vehicle specific towbar and every fixing
• the matched dedicated loom
• a coding voucher
• the extras named in the kit title
• printed vehicle specific instructions with torque figures
• the type approval plate, riveted in place

Fitting

Two to four hours if you are doing it yourself, on axle stands or a ramp and never on a jack alone. Torque every bolt to the figure in the instructions. Then bring it to a centre for the coding, which takes about twenty minutes and is included in the price.

Before you order

There is a real gap between buying a bare towbar and buying a fitted package, and this is it. What you get over a bare bar is a loom that is matched to the bar and to your VIN, and the coding, which is the step most self fitters do not know about and which is why a great many dedicated looms sit in cars doing nothing. What you give up against the fitted package is the labour and the load test.