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Tow bar on Type S Tourer

gazzarose

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South Wales
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Gen8 Accord Tourer
Hi guys. Had anyone got a tow bar fitted to a Type S Tourer? My brother dad and I have just bought Enduro bikes and even though my brother has got a Transit, I was looking into getting a trailer for times when he's not coming with us or his van I'd out of action. I was thinking of a removable one so try and preserve the looks a bit, but they all say side cutting is required to the bumper, but they don't really say how much or how visible. Us it just the underside that would get cut? I'll be fitting it myself I'd imagine so if there is a cut I can make sure it's a neat one. Also are the electrics straight forward to just splice into? iirc there's no canbus on or cars?

Any help would be great, or if anyone got a removable one they want shot of and can't wait til after payday (got a bit carried away buying stuff for the bike) get in touch.

Cheers

Gareth
 
I own a 2014 ES GT Tourer with a detachable towbar, which is the same as for a Type S. The detachable towbar is certainly neater than a fixed, but is considerably more expensive, and you need to be aware that it is a horizontal detachable not a vertical detachable (like Audi, BMW etc) and so the towbar housing and electrics will be visible from the rear.

All the different makes require some cutting of the bumper but the size of the cut varies depending on the design. On most, but not all, the cut is invisible from the rear. You can find fitting instructions for all the major towbars online, which include the size of cut. The fitter who did mine has made the cut fit exactly round the towbar so it is very tidy, but I've seen some really poor cuts.

Regarding the electrics, my fitter told me that Hondas are easy electrics to wire (including the caravan electrics) as they do not need to be programmed into the car's electrics (unlike most German cars). I understand there is no plug in facility so the electrics are spliced and I've had no problems.

Finally, regarding towbars, I only considered quality bars as I tow a caravan. I have always had Witter in the past, but my last Witter detachable on a 59 plate CRV had started to rust badly. My fitter (independent company) recommended a TowTrust for quality and durability. It is certainly very neat and it seems to be much better protected than the Witter.

I hope this helps.

Bryan.
 
Thanks for your reply.I've had a look at the tow trust site and looks like a good option. It's on ebay for just under 200 which seems a good price. I think the electrics are extra but that's ready as is the fitting. I'll have a look over the next few months when my finances recovery after buying my bike, it should be handy for most things then.

Thanks again

Gareth
 
Sorry for a thread resurrection.

I missed out on a West falia vertical detachable towbar on eBay this week. So I went lookung for a new one, and pfjones do one for ~250, but I've just noticed it says under the exclusions not for the Type S. Any idea why? Is the type s lowered from the standard cars, or is it because of the rear bumper?

Anyone come across this?

Cheera
 
What kind of caravan can you tow with a 2.4? The manual says the trailer should not exceed 450 kg in weight; this seems to limit your choices.
 
I'm pretty sure the manual says 500kg unbaked, and 1700kg braked. If I get a trailer it'll mainly be for little trailer to the tip or my launching my father little boat.
 
If the Type S bumper is different to the standard bumper it may be down to aesthetics. The disadvantage of the vertical detachable is that a much bigger bumper cut is needed to accommodate the pivot plate which hides the electric socket. Normally the towbar and electrics will be completely hidden when not in use, but if the design of the bumper and position of the towing hook does not allow this it can look very messy as the large cut out section will be visible.
 
I've just gone through the westfalia catalogue and under the saloon it says exclusive Type S, but no exclusions are listed for the tourer. Is the saloon type s rear bumper different to the tourer?

If I get one I then need to decide between bypass relay or dedicated wiring. Am I right in saying the Accord has got a towing ***ist system? Does it need to get activated by a dealer? What does it do? Is it just adjust the stability control? How is the indicator telltale? Is it a buzzer or a light on the dash?
 
My car is a 7th gen Tourer, I had a Witter tow-bar fitted to it, it was a vertical detachable swan-neck, no cut out in the bumper

Although there isn't a pic with the bumper on with tow-bar still fitted, the pics in this photobucket album show the process as I removed the tow-bar, and also several pics of the tow-bar fittings

http://s1103.photobucket.com/user/btg_pics/library/tow_bar

I believe that the 7th gen saloon rear bumper wraps under a bit more than the 7th gen Tourer rear bumper, but I could be wrong
 
According to the fitting instructions on the TowTrust website only the Type S saloon needs extra bumper cuts for its towbars.

Dedicated wiring is an expensive option and, as far as I am aware there is no 'plug and play' facility on the Accord and the wiring has to be spliced. I have had bypass relays on three Hondas without any problems.

The towing ***ist system is built into the car and requires no activation by a dealer. It measures the yaw on the rear axle and adjusts the car's brakes accordingly to reduce the sway on the car. The indicator telltale is a buzzer which is normally fitted in the boot.
 
This was fitted to mine when I got it 2nd hand, would I trust it with £20,000 caravan????? Done lots of towing in the past but not with one of these things, search on internet, make your own mind up, the plug is a standard 7 pin. No idea what it was used to tow.

http://www.bosal-towbars.co.uk/?gclid=CjwKEAjwi9K4BRCQzq7d1c6A_XASJABueAO2DLQrZZwYnkYN8tgYLOAkLGWJAsynWPEooxm0B1L1pBoCLVfw_wcB

DSCN0278_zps0tnenglg.jpg


DSCN0277_zpsqbnowrga.jpg



DSCN0273_zpsxm279sl3.jpg
 
John.

The towbar fitted to your car is a Bosal which is the approved Honda towbar and so the first owner would probably have specified this when he ordered the car. Since 1998 all towbars have to be type approved to meet European regulations and so you can legally tow anything up to 1700kg on your Accord. I have towed a large caravan thousands of miles with detachable towbars on both a CRV and my present Accord Tourer without any problems.

The standard 7 pin plug suggests it was probably used to tow a trailer and not a caravan.
 
Thank you I know what it is, I was unable to demount it when I got the car, so unbolted the whole shebang and sent it to Bosal, who sorted it out and charged me £60 for the pleasure. 7 pins went out years back, due to caravans having to be fitted with all kinds of gizmos. So it could have been a flat bed with a road roller on it for all I know. LOL
 
I think it also depends on the amount of strengthening fitted, if you look through those pictures in #9 you'll see that strengthening bars were added into the chassis
 
Sorry for dragging up an old thread.

I'm revisiting the tow bar issue again as I'm hoping to start doing a bit of enduro racing next year so its more Preston g to get a trailer and towbar sorted so I can transport my bike.

Now my car is getting old and now having a 2 year old my life is getting busier and the Accord, as nice as it is, is starting to get used more like a stereotypical family wagon so it's spends months on end filthy. My original plan was to get a detachable bar to preserve then looks, but I'm swaying more towards a fixedc Swan neck as a compromise between looks and cost.

My only concern is whether a fixed Swan neck will interfere with the rear sensors.

Also I don't suppose anyone has got a towbar they dont need anymore. A few come up on ebay but always tee other side of the country and collection only. If I cant find a used one in the next month or so I'll have to get a new one. Any preference on brand?

Cheers
 
My tow bar doesn't interfere with my reversing sensors. Check to see if your sensors have a wedge shaped spacer fitted, if they do they can be rotated to angle the beam away from the tow bar if it does cause problems.
 
Gareth you may also want to consider fitting a cut out switch to the sensors to save the annoyance of the buzzer when reversing with a trailer on. The downside is that you may forget to turn them on again when you unhitch the trailer.
 
My car has got a switch that turns all the sensors off so I'm good for that.

Does anyone know how much of a cutout a fixed Swan neck needs? Also how are the electrica connected in the accord. I think I've read somewhere that even with dedicated wiring it doesn't just plug I, so what advantage is dedicated wiring?
 
The cheapest towbars I have found are on Ebay.de, you can buy a fixed swan neck for €143 delivered, these all have to meet the tough German TUV tests so I would think they are good enough to tow a trailer with a couple of orange bikes on it.
I have to get one for my Type S Tourer as well, and the last one was a Witter from PF Jones which was pretty good value, I don't think the electrics are a problem on these cars as they don't use canbus like the germans so a dedicated wiring kit is a waste of money IMHO.
I really don't know why the type S is listed as excluded because there isn't a massive difference to the ESGT in terms of bodykit?

https://www.ebay.de/itm/Anhangerkupplung-starr-Honda-Accord-Kombi-ab-2008-7-pol-E-Satz/152335371031?fits=Year%3A2009%7CModel%3AAccord+VIII+Kombi%7CMake%3AHonda&hash=item2377e54b17:g:-QEAAOSw5cNYamQ~:rk:7:pf:0
 
I found a NOS Genuine one on Ebay for the Tourer, complete with dedicated wiring kit, I fitted it on Thursday took about 4hrs with my son helping me.
The genuine ones are made by Bosal and are not hard to fit, the dedicated wiring kit made life very easy just a matter of plugging into the connector behind the Sub and running the loom along the lower panel under the stainless slam plate in the boot.
I discovered an area of surface rust on the body under the bumper bar so gave it light wirebrushing and a few coats of rust primer and top coat just to keep it looking somewhat presentable.
I did notice that under the rubber seal around the body there was some light rust as well which may be an area to keep and eye on, just pull the rubber off and have a look around that standing seam. If you can catch these things in time its worth it.
 
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