Trailer hitch and towing

[Gimpster]

My Curt trailer hitch should be delivered today (decided to go with them), so I'll snap some pictures when thats all done.

 

[langer]

I installed an EcoHitch. Had to take a good chunk out of lower fascia/diffuser to get bumper cover to seat fully. Wasn’t that bad of an install. Did an a3 once that was a nightmare. Overall, all you see is the receiver and it’s a pretty stealth setup.

 

[CeeBeeKay]

I've been googling after this subject for a couple years. Installed a StealthHitch on my R this week. Purchased the 2" receiver and the 2" ball hitch with the wiring kit. It is very beefy and high-quality. I have not installed the wiring, but wanted to have it just in case it became discontinued later. My StealthHitch rates its tongue weight at 400 lbs. hitch / 200 lbs. vehicle and and its tow weight at 5,000 lbs. hitch/ 2500 lbs. vehicle.

I think the reason why VWoA prohibits towing on the Golf and Jetta is because in EU, those models have been tested and rated to tow specific loads at specific speeds at specific grades. Those rules are ingrained into the EU regulations and drivers. In the US, there is no such specific regulation in place. So VWoA avoids the burden of assuming responsibility for US-style freedom-85-mph-bassboat-with-80-gallon-Yeti-filled-with-ice-style towing. VW never tested for these extremes and VWoA didn't invest in further testing. A VWoA Tiguan has a 1500 pound tow rating as a fellow MQB. Keep in mind, it has an 8-speed slushbox.

My plans for the hitch use will be to use my Kuat Sherpa bike rack and I have eyes for the CarPod cargo carrier.

Probably the take-away is that the R with DSG or manual is just fine towing the occasional lightweight utility trailer with one jetski, or one quad, or one motorcycle, or a short stack of plywood or drywall from Home Depot, or track tires and a coolers. Keep it under 70, expect more wear and tear, naturally-much higher fuel consumption and if the dealership gets wise and takes you to task-expect to forfeit your warranty.

 

[Gimpster]

I installed the Curt 11564 hitch today. Fitment was very good, I did not have to clearance the rear crash bar in any way and I was able to use the foam without cutting it, and everything fit fine. No lower tab drama or anything like that. Happy for my $150.00 shipped.

It took about 90 minutes to install, some of that being me very slow pulling the bumper cover out of those plastic clips. The noise those make gives me anxiety.

What I was not happy about, and this isn't really Curts fault to a degree, are the rear blind spot sensors. The drivers side is A-OK, it has M8 captive washers/spacers you just slide the new longer bolts through. The passenger side is, ... I don't know what VW was thinking. It was almost like two different teams designed those sensor brackets. Instead of using the same M8 captive setup, they used M6. The M8 bolts that hold the crash bar on that side have M6 studs on top of them.

Curts solution is: you zip tie around the crash bar to hold it down. I did this for now, but going to try and find some longer M8 bolts with M6 studs eventually to make it "OEM". Really pained me to do that, even though nobody will ever see it. I would have gladly paid Curt to provide these bolts for a few bucks more. I attached some pictures of this situation, hopefully they are clear enough. My other compliant, and I've given this feedback to Curt before (I've owned like 5 of their hitches now) is their packaging... in a word... sucks. The hitch had busted through the box (like always), but thankfully was not hurt and the powder coating was intact.

The cut in the bumper was a total non-event, and even if you removed the hitch you'd never know it was there unless you had the car on a lift. I just marked it out 3.5" x 2.5" on the center line per the instructions and used a rotary tool.

 

[CeeBeeKay]

Stealth Hitch had the same issue with the rear blind spot sensors. I also had that head scratching moment looking at the different mounts which should have been mirror images of each other. My solution was to reuse the two double-sized factory bolts to retain a clean mounting for the passenger side sensor. They still extend 3 or 4 threads beyond the captive nut in the body. I feel confident with this and using the rest of the stainless M8 bolts for the crashbar. Plus Stealth Hitch adds a beefy bolt through each frame rail for even more solid mounting.

 

[olds350]

I installed the Curt 11564 hitch today. Fitment was very good, I did not have to clearance the rear crash bar in any way and I was able to use the foam without cutting it, and everything fit fine. No lower tab drama or anything like that. Happy for my $150.00 shipped.

It took about 90 minutes to install, some of that being me very slow pulling the bumper cover out of those plastic clips. The noise those make gives me anxiety.

What I was not happy about, and this isn't really Curts fault to a degree, are the rear blind spot sensors. The drivers side is A-OK, it has M8 captive washers/spacers you just slide the new longer bolts through. The passenger side is, ... I don't know what VW was thinking. It was almost like two different teams designed those sensor brackets. Instead of using the same M8 captive setup, they used M6. The M8 bolts that hold the crash bar on that side have M6 studs on top of them.

Curts solution is: you zip tie around the crash bar to hold it down. I did this for now, but going to try and find some longer M8 bolts with M6 studs eventually to make it "OEM". Really pained me to do that, even though nobody will ever see it. I would have gladly paid Curt to provide these bolts for a few bucks more. I attached some pictures of this situation, hopefully they are clear enough. My other compliant, and I've given this feedback to Curt before (I've owned like 5 of their hitches now) is their packaging... in a word... sucks. The hitch had busted through the box (like always), but thankfully was not hurt and the powder coating was intact.

The cut in the bumper was a total non-event, and even if you removed the hitch you'd never know it was there unless you had the car on a lift. I just marked it out 3.5" x 2.5" on the center line per the instructions and used a rotary tool.

Nicely done, thanks for the info on the sensors and the pics, appreciated...

 

[red450]

Lots of great info! I'm hoping to pick up a '16 Golf TSI AT soon, and want to occasionally pull a small trailer for general home stuff and motorcycle recover as needed.

 

[mascudkoray]

This is primarily for my UK friends that own a mk7.5 R. In the US, the manual states to not install a hitch and not tow with the R. Is that the same in the UK or are you allowed to tow small loads? I ask because I sold Showbox jiofi.local.html tplinklogin my primary car that I pulled a small 4ftx8ft utility trailer and now I have to tow it with my 128 BMW convertible. While this set up works fine, I'm not a fan of towing the trailer with the 'vert. So UK folks, are you allowed to tow or not? Just curious...

I had space to keep a trailer, I'd do it too, even towing stuff to VW meets just for the fun of it.