Rear bumper flex after towbar fitting

[ansgurr]

Hi all
I recently had a towbar fitted, as part of the procedure they removed the rear impact bar which I understand is necessary. Following this there is quite a lot of flex (5-10mm) in the upper surface of the rear bumper if you apply weight to it, before it stops on the towbar support underneath. From other posts I see you can buy an insert to stop this.

How much of a problem is this? Presumably I would be within my rights to ask my towbar fitter to come back and install the insert - is it worth the bother? Would you have expected this to be done as part of the job, or am I being unnecessarily picky?

Thanks!

 

[BognorMotors]

It would be standard to fit the insert

 

[The Bear78]

@ansgurr Hi.
I assume that in your trawl of the forum you came across this post? If not, have a good look through it.

Some tow bar kits include a spacer as standard and some don't (westfalia). There is a VW part used for this purpose which some people have had to buy. Others, myself included, managed to cut the old crash structure to fit around the tow bar frame. The installer should have mentioned this really, even if it wasn't included as it is a known consequence.

 

[ansgurr]

Thanks that's helpful. It's a towtrust towbar- not clear if spacers included or not but given the movement in the bar I'm assuming not

 

[Dellmassive]

our TOW TRUST tow bar kit doesn't require the spacer . . .

the bumper skin sits on top of the bar its self. . .

so what tow bar have you got exactly?

Tow-Trust detachable Towbar - "TVW9VK" kit & Wire kit -- How I Done It --

Tow-Trust detachable Towbar - "TVW9VK" kit & Wire kit -- How I Done It -- Here we go, following on from this thread . . . - Towbar recommendations please i though it was time i finaly got around to doing it myself. . . it started with a quote from the main dealers . . . and the...

www.t6forum.com

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[ansgurr]

@Dellmassive
That's interesting - thanks for the insight. Maybe it's just a normal amount of flex and nothing to worry about. It's a towtrust TVW9SN if that sheds any light.

 

[manfrotto]

I am fitting a towbar that will require packers to replace the removed bumper support piece.
Rather than fit packers I am thinking of cutting the plastic support bracket to fit around the towbar instead. This will theoretically provide better bumper support as well as the clips for wiring etc.
Has anyone done this, and can comment? Planning on using a multitool to do the cutting.

 

[manfrotto]

Update - I re-used the bumper support bracket, and just cut it down to fit around the towbar. I found it did the job very well.
I also use the dedicated wiring from Erich Jaeger, which worked really well. Theoretically just plug and play, as it came with all the required plugs connected to connect directly to the towbar prep connectors at the back. However in order to feed the wire through the grommets I had to "deconstruct" one plug. I also had to "transfer" some of the wires from one connector to the trailer prep connector, but all in all pretty straight forward with the correct connector deconstruction tools.

 

[JumpShip]

Is that the steel bumper bar you chopped?
I did a similar job with ours but just cut the ends off to reattach once the towbar was fitted .

 

[manfrotto]

No, it was plastic, so easy to cut and trim with a multitool. It is a t6.1 and I think they changed to plastic.

 

[JumpShip]

Ah ok , ours is a 5.1 so explains the difference.

 

[DMcCook]

I've just been through an exhausting discussion with our dealer because I'd become convinced they didn't install the support insert, only to find they insist they did but it doesn't actually make the bumper bar sturdy! So I'm planning to pull it apart and add some high density inserts so the bloody bumper bar doesn't sag! After reading the above, I wish I had the option to re-use the original internal support!

 

[manfrotto]

I've just been through an exhausting discussion with our dealer because I'd become convinced they didn't install the support insert, only to find they insist they did but it doesn't actually make the bumper bar sturdy! So I'm planning to pull it apart and add some high density inserts so the bloody bumper bar doesn't sag! After reading the above, I wish I had the option to re-use the original internal support!

It sounds like a lot of the installers don't bother with the packers (which need to be purchased sepaartely I believe). IYou wil soom find out once you remove the bumper. What year is your van? My t6.1 had a plastic piece supporting the bumper, which I was able to cut down to fit around the towbar and still provide the bumper support, clips for the parking sensor wiring etc. If yours had the plastic support piece, hopefully they haven't thrown it out and you could do the same.

 

[DMcCook]

I’m assured that they did install the supports that needed to be added, (Part number = 7H0 807 723) but maybe we’re all talking about different bits and some bars are more flimsy than others.
I’ll make sure I take lots of photos once I find the time and energy to remove our bumper to see what’s in there…

 

[JumpShip]

Bumper removal is a 10 minute job and then you'll know for sure what you've got

 

[DMcCook]

I wish my 10 minutes were as long as yours.
It could have taken maybe 30mins if I didn't have to deal with a crazy mix of broken, missing or different clips holding the bumper on.
I've spent about 3-4 hours just taking it off and cleaning it and then trying to replace some of the missing clips.
We use ours on Australian dirt roads so there was several kgs of dirt attached in all the different nooks and crannies.
As best as I understand, we have the support bracket (Part number = 7H0 807 723) but that's barely strong enough to hold the bumper to the car - it's entirely non-structural and I now understand with horror just why our bumper is so flimsy.
The bumper was installed by the dealer before delivery in 2022 so there's no point asking about the support channel to see if I can reuse it.
I'm going to have to design my own support channel to span across the ends.
We have racks on our back doors that supposedly get supported by the bumper bar, like the Thule bike racks do, so I'm keen to fix this pathetic design.
I'll have to work out what the gap is between the Towbar and top skin of the bumper so I can work out what I can fit...
Yay. Lets fix a dodgy design again...