Towbar Fitting

[Tyroaudi]

I have a 2.0tdi Avant on a 58 plate and would like to fit a towbar.

If anyone has a recommendation on make, or experience on fitting one,​ then I would very much appreciate their advice.

Is a control unit required for the wiring or can I just splice into the car wiring?

[inspectorman63]

The old days of scotchlocking cable into each feed to the rear and taping the resulting rats nest up are long gone. The modern Canbus systems will want to know a trailers connected in order to do all sorts of cunning things with rear sensors, stability control and all sorts. You will have to get a little harness which will plug in somewhere in the boot area.

The big name in towbars is PFJones - they'll have a range of towbars and fitting kits. I used a local indispension (??) Centre who, despite having a handheld coding device from Witter or whoever, failed to code the car properly. My tame indie spotted it and fixed it.

[basil31]

i have just fitted one to my 2006 A6 4.2 quattro. Expect yours would be similar.

i went for a fixed bar as i can't be bothered to remove each time, plus it adds extra protection - i learnt the hard way 3 years back when i bought a brand new car - was 10 days old and got whacked in the carpark by a van. a towbar, which i hadn't got round to fitting would have prevented damage, so have since left a towbar fitted where possible.
fairly easy to fit. bumper skin unscrews from side of rear arches; then couple of bolts from underneath of rear light units. just pulls backwards.
remove the steel crash bar. need to lower both exhaust boxes to reach bolts.
then refit towbar.
i cut out the bit from the rear valance with a dremel drill.
then refit it.

the toughest bit is the electrics. i bought this - Dedicated 13 Pin Electric Kit Audi A6 Avant / Estate 4F5 Allroad 03/2005-04/2011 #AU-030-D1U - Towing Centres UK Ltd which is 50% the price of a westfalia one, but deos the same job.
you need to get into the rear electonic panel and swop a few wires out, then piggy back them with the replacements.
as long as you follow the instructions and are methodical it should be fine.
i had to do the same on a 2016 skoda superb, where the electrics are in the passenger footwell - and that was HORRIBLE to fit. at least there is more room in the rear offside boot part of the audi to get hands in.
then need VCDS to do the coding.

all in - as a DIYer probably took me 2 hours to fit the towbar and then 2-3 hours to fit the electrics and do the coding.
cost - about £80 for the towbar (secondhand from a mates audi which i knew hadn't been crashed - usually they start from £160 new), £90 for the electrics; £20 for some new bolts and nutes, and then i had the VCDS already.
Local towplace quoted c.£450 with non car specific wiring (splicing i think).
At least with mine, all bulbs warning lights show - even on trailor, and the parking sensors are disabled when plugged in, plus if the trailor is unplugged when the car alarm is set, the alarm will sound.

[Ozfox]

Hi,
thanks for the detail.
I am about to embark on the same trip.
i have got the universal kit with extra relays and splicing instructions which are making me nervous.
Did the kit from Towing Centres cost much to code?
And would you recommend going that route before I do anything silly.
Thanks
Heath

[Tinkywinky]

Evening Heath,
The wiring kit I purchased from that company was okay to fit. Just a bit fiddly with big fingers.
It will need coding - after I fitted it, and switched the ignition on, the dash lit up like a Christmas tree with errors. I used vcds/vagcom which I purchased for around £250 for another project so it didn’t cost me anything. It’s probably an hours work at most, so if you have someone local to you on this forum, they may do it for £20.
Failing that, I expect an independent VW garage with similar software could it within an hour so probably £50.

Once coded it worked well and I had no problems and it integrated with the car very well.
I preferred doing that to splicing wires.
If you decide to get vcds or vagcom there are various articles which will say what codes need to be done to get it coded.

I sold my car and vcds last year so unable to offer assistance in that respect.

Hope this helps.
Regards
Basil

[Ozfox]

Thanks Basil, much appreciated.