Have any of you fitted your own tow bars? If so, how tricky is it? Thanks.

I would imagine the fitting of a tow bar could be quite straight forward as all the bolt holes etc should line up. However, the electrics might be a little more complex, particularly with a newish car that will have to have its circuitry ‘told’ about the new set up and configured. Given that potential complication and the safety aspects of the tow bar fit, I would suggest paying a professional to do the job might be a slightly less risky approach..

hth...

Being a practical sort of bloke I bought a towbar plus wiring for my 2016 Audi A1 (I can recommend PF Jones) thinking it can’t be that hard.
I soon realised that I had taken on too much and luckily found a reputable local company that were happy to fit my parts. Even they had a few problems with the programming of the electrics.
As mentioned a lot depends on the age of the car, personally I would now always get one fitted by a reputable company but many people on the various forums I’ve been on have fitted themselves.

Unless you have access to the software and ability to reprogram your ECU DIY fitting of a towbar to a modern car is out of the question. If you do not have a car specific electric kit you may get away with joining wires etc but I would certainly not want to do that. Colin is right, you face a cost of between 500/1000 to have this done.

Stewart

Vehicle specific wiring is the way to go with any modern vehicle, preferably with the manufacturers original kit. I fitted a volvo s40 (2012) with a Witter fixed swan neck, which was no problem for the steel work as it all fitted perfectly. For the electrics I went for the volvo trailer module and 13 pin wiring kit which again all fitted perfectly as expected, but still needed to take it to Volvo to finish off the programming. All told came to about £650.
On my latest I struggled to get any Ford dealer to fit a towbar and one gave me the details of a mobile fitter which they used. This came to £375 for a fixed swan neck (Brink) towbar, specific wiring for Ford Kuga and programming. Very pleased with the result and not worth getting my hands dirty for that.

I've fitted several towbars. Our previous BMW 1 series, our 2015 BMW 2 series and 3 Ford kugas for my dad. All were straightforward including the electrical wiring. All were vehicle specific wiring kits and purchased from PF Jones.
They come with good instructions and PF Jones are always helpful.
Modern cars use a CAN BUS system so it recognises when trailer wiring is fitted and none of the cars have needed reprogramming.
You will need to remove the rear bumper and trim inside the boot for fitting though and some may require cutting a section of the bumper away.

Fitted towbar and electrics to my 2011 3 series Bmw and just fitted removable towbar to my new Bmw X1 all with no problems, Electrics with the correct soldered joints along with bypass relay and all is well. Had to take bumper off on both cars and found this to be the hardest part of jobs but plenty of info online.

Follow all fitting instructions especially torques for fixing and double check electrics and you should have no problem.

Also bought a towbar 13pin tester which indicates all the required working pins for MOT tests along with the switched and unswitched pins for caravan/fridge etc.

I have just had a removable tow bar fit by a reputable fitter I have used before it was for a Skoda Octavia Scout. He did a cracking job when not fitted no workings are visible they fold up into the rear bumper the tow bar itself just detaches. Well when you release the locking mechanism you also have a an integral lock on the tow bar.

Also the electrics now show on the dash any problems indicator, stop light, or reversing bulb out on the troll. All for the cost of £500 for what I got I would say that is reasonable also life time guarantee as long as I am the owner of the car. Morphy