i30 Owners Club
MODIFYING OR DETAILING YOUR I30 => EXTERIOR => Topic started by: williamfrantz88 on December 10, 2020, 02:03:22
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Helloo,
Just wondering if anyone here had fitted a tow yourself? If so can you tell me if it was pretty straight forward or it does require modifications on the chassis?
This is for a i30 - 2011 -CRD-i
Thank you
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I have fitted a towbar on UK spec 2011 1.6 CRDi hatchback. I bought a 2nd hand Witter towbar, it was pretty easy except that the previous owner hadn't taken all the brackets off so I had to fabricate some more from steel angle. Hopefully you will have a towbar with all the right bits.
In Europe all towbars have to be type-approved so they must use the fixing points already provided in the chassis. The only possible modifications that may be required are to cut bits out of the rear bumper. I had to clean out the threaded bushes in the chassis using a tap, which I think was M12 fine pitch. Don't use a standard pitch tap you may find in hardware stores, it will wreck the thread. You need to clean out the rust and dirt that may have built up in the chassis attachments, otherwise it will be difficult to screw in the towbar attachment bolts and you could damage the threads on the bolts and chassis.
I used a wiring kit with a TBE7AS universal bypass relay, I wouldn't know whether you have similar things in Oz. For the UK, the towbar has a detachable swan-neck. It is not legal to use a fixed towbar because it partially obscures the view of the rear number plate.
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Helloo,
Just wondering if anyone here had fitted a tow yourself? If so can you tell me if it was pretty straight forward or it does require modifications on the chassis?
This is for a i30 - 2011 -CRD-i
Thank you
I fitted a tow bar to both the FD and the PD. Both were bought from the dealer, both were the Hayman-Reese type, not that stupid looking donkey dick rubbish. Neither need any modifications done, picked up existing holes under the car. Some needed the body deadener cleaned out a bit from the threads. The biggest thing was to cut the bumper out using the provided template. From memory I used a tin snip with both models as the bumper material was playable plastic in both cases. If you are handy with your hands, should be a walk in the park.
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I'd looked into doing it on my FD but the square cutout required of the bumper plastic put me off the idea, but I agree it's an easy job.
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A quick correction, the threaded bushes in the chassis for attaching the towing bracket are M10 x 1.25 thread. That's the size of tap you should use to clean out the threads. I was fortunate to have a friendly bodyshop nearby that lent me one for half an hour.