VW Polo fitting a tow bar for bike rack - need advice!

[Spinstar]

I want to get a tow bar fitted retrospectively to a 2009 VW Polo just so we can then purchase a sturdy bike rack that fits on tow bars. Three bikes to be carried weigh around 45kg (hybrid/mountain bikes). We're thinking about a bike rack like an Atera Strada Evo.

However, our local VW dealer has said that a VW Polo tow bar only pulls weight of 50kg - but from what I can see online, the maximum tow bar weight for a VW Polo is 1000kg.

Can anyone tell me what I'm missing here? If you fit a tow bar retrospectively to a car, does that type of tow bar then pull less weight? We might want to use the tow bar to pull a trailer at times too but presumably at 50kg capacity, that's a non-starter?

Also, does anyone know how much it costs to get a tow bar fitted on a car retrospectively?

Grateful for any advice please.

The thing is, Rich, if you're female, you either expect to get fobbed off with overpriced works at the proper dealership or fobbed off with less than safe works at the local cheaper garage. Can't win really.....

Back to the tow bar issue...the local dealership have given me contact details of another specialist local company who do various accessories/parts of cars and I'm hoping they can come up with something clever, safe and legal that might allow me still to use a tow bar bike rack and get a suitable tow bar fitted with some kind of extra accessory/part that distributes the weight of a tow bar suitable for my car but that takes more than 50kg...

If not, then I either have to tow a trailer for the bikes - further massive outlay - or probably give up transporting the bikes at all. Saris Bones 3 rack won't work (on further inquiry with that company) and can't afford a whole new vehicle just to transport 3 bikes! Seems a bit ridiculous that just because we have 3 small framed heavy mountain bikes and a particular VW Polo model, there's no way of carrying them on the car for cycle trips.

You might want to ask this Q on Singletrack. It's like MN for mountain bikers.

Can you put one of the bikes inside the car?

This website allows you to search for bike racks that will fit different model/year cars. There are some rear mounted ones which support the bike ftom under the wheels rather than prongs through the frame which might work.

Have a look at a Maxx Raxx - this fits on a tow bar but is itself much lighter than any other tow bar rack I've ever seen, dismantles so that it can be kept in boot, incorporates a lock to secure bikes to car, takes kids/ladies bikes, and is very easily fitted and loaded up by just me (5'2"). I don't know why you don't see more of these about.

I could only just lift the old towbar rack we had previously, and there would be no way I could load bikes on to a roof rack.

Thanks for trying to help. LtGreggs, I looked at the Maxx Raxx but it needs a minimum nose weight of 75kg for the tow bar - so it won't work as my car's tow bar type has a max. nose weight of 50kg.

BikeRunSki, I also followed your link to racks for different models of cars, found the Thule ClipOn 9103 only to realise that this is almost exactly the same model as the one we already have from Halfords - that 'opened up/split apart' when I tried to load the bikes on it and wouldn't fit the smaller framed bikes, even with a false cross bar, as the width of the frames is just too small.

Then I looked at the reviews of the Thule one and saw that like many other of these rear mounted racks, it eventually damages the boot/ stops boot closing and needs hundreds of pounds worth of works then done to the car. This was my original fear when i was trying to find creative ways to tie on the smaller framed bikes....which then led me to looking at tow bar mounted rack.....which then led me to find that my Polo will never have a tow bar nose weight sufficient to manage the total weight of bikes plus rack!

Can't fit even the smallest bike inside the car as the boot is too small and there would always be two teenagers plus me in the car. Haven't tried taking the front wheel off any of the bikes but even if I could competently and safely re-fit it, still don't think the bikes would fit in the tiny tiny boot.

Will see if I can go on that mountain bike forum you recommended - thanks.

Am now seriously considering whether I could exchange my Polo for another second hand but slightly bigger car that would fit a tow bar with higher nose weight .....but part of me is starting to think this is a bit ridiculous! We just want to be able to take the bikes out to the countryside, occasionally and cycle for pleasure/leisure. We're not committed 'bikers' at all...

No idea what sort of exchange I could get for my Polo - which has only done 30K miles and one woman owner but has probably hugely depreciated in 6 yrs.....could I virtually swop this for a slightly bigger car with appropriate two bar nose weight, that hasn't done too much mileage and is around the same age as mine????

so it won't work as my car's tow bar type has a max. nose weight of 50kg.

I'm not altogether convinced of that, a towbar site I looked at showed 85kg as being the max nose weight.

WMittens, one of the companies I've been in touch with also thought the car should fit a tow bar with a nose weight of 85kg, only to retract this when they said that the exact model I have will only fit 50kg - something to do with the time of year (October) in 2009 that the car was produced and this particular model (PoloE 1.2 60PS 5Dr) meaning there was the limit to the tow bar nose weight.

Could you possibly send the link to the website you saw about the tow bar nose weight please? It would be brilliant if it can indeed be fitted with an 85kg bearing tow bar.

Ah, that makes a bit of sense. In VW speak the E model of a car is the Economy version, and they tend to have lighter/less strong bodies. Obviously they cannot reduce crash resistance, so I guess the compromise is in towing.

Spinstar

It's not the towbar that decides the weight (they could probably take a couple of tonnes on their own) it's whether the rear suspension and chassis of the car can take it.

Looking at the site www.towbars-uk.co.uk/product/11219/volkswagen-polo-%286r%29 this page is for the model of Polo released in late 2009 (Mark 5) and later and has the 85kg limit; the mark 4 Polo and earlier does seem to have the 50kg noseweight limit (mk4 and earlier www.towbars-uk.co.uk/product/7247/volkswagen-polo-hatch-)

WMittens, many thanks. I have my vehicle registration cert. in front of me but can't work out which 2009 model of the Polo I've got - only that I purchased it on 30th October 2009.

What would I need to look at on that document to find out whether it's the Mark 5 or the Mark 4?

The revenue weight is 1014.0kg unladen. Nothing has been inputted for the technical permissible maximum towable mass of a trailer (though I realise now that's different to the tow bar nose weight. Nothing on it indicates tow bar nose weight.

The dealership from which I bought it is one of two places saying 50kg tow bar nose weight maximum but the usual person is away and so this has been conveyed to me via someone else there who simply copies me a parts document that states: "Towbar - Detachable Application Polo (A04) 2002 >2004 and Polo (A04-GP) 2005 > Permitted drawbar load 50kg"

I'm not sure if they've accessed my actual car or just a generic list.

Surely the reg. certificate should state somewhere exactly which Mark model of Polo I've got?

The registration document won't usually have that sorry of info on it, and sometimes what is put on there isn't always right. You can tell by the shape of the headlights, if you do a Google image search for 'vw polo 2008' and 'vw polo 2010' (there's no significant change between the respective generations within a year) and judge which matches.

The VIN plate will either be in the engine bay (looks to be on the bulkhead, at the back of the engine bay) - it will show the gross vehicle weight (should be the same as on the reg doc), the gross train weight (if it's allowed to tow) and max weight figures for front and rear axle. If the front and rear axle weights added together are more than the gross vehicle weight, the difference is the towbar nose weight limit. E.g. If gvw is 1350kg, axle 1 is 775kg and axle 2 is 630kg, the max nose weight would be 55kg.

*sort, not sorry

Sorry, gross vehicle weight won't match the unladen weight stated on the reg doc of course, I was getting my terms mixed up.

Thanks WMittens. I've got what I think are the figures but not sure which is which? Basically, there is a set of figures as follows, each one underneath the other:

1570kg; 2370kg; 1-0830 kg; 2-0790 kg; Type 9N

How can I tell which figure applies to what, bearing in mind that the vehicle reg. document says the unladen weight is 1014.0kg?

Many thanks.

1570kg - Gross vehicle weight (the car on its own, filled as much as it's allowed with people and luggage)
2370kg - Gross train weight - car and trailer, both fully loaded
830kg - max weight on the front wheels
790kg - max weight on the rear wheels

Type 9n - indicating you do indeed have a Polo Mk 4.

The two individual axle weights added together make 1620kg, which is 50kg more than the GVW of 1570kg, confirming that the max noseweight is 50kg. Maximum weight you're allowed to tow is 800kg.

Maybe you could take the wheels off and put them in the boot? If we're estimating the total weight is about 65kg, it's only a few kilos over so with removing some of the easily detachable bits and putting them inside the car, I don't think it will be to much of a problem in practice.