Hi all - thanks to the responders to my last post I finally took the plunge and pick my 10 plate TDCI Mondeo Estate up next week, soon after that I'll be after a towbar:
Thanks to stevelolly he suggests a Bosal detachable, has anyone any experience with a Mondeo estate (especially ones with 'Sport Packs') and the effect this may have on the towbar fitting.
I'm not going to fit it myself but I'd like to know some questions to ask when I'm ringing around for quotes, both CDF and TowEquipe are local to me I think,
Hi pootle06, I had a tow bar fitted to my ST220 estate no probs at all, it was fitted by a local guy, "suffolk towbars", the original one he fitted was a Witter and the I changed the ball to a Alko one when we got our new van as it had the Alko hitch,
I suggest you have a guard fitted as well because the ball is quite close to the bumper, don't want to scratch it!!
Grampian91, I don't have the car any more so I guess it's someone else's problem now!! But yeah he fitted it without question! It had plenty of power but I wasn't happy with the way it towed so now we have a Discovery
Thanks for the replies - I've read a fair bit re. suspension tyres etc and I'm quite happy for a rough but stable ride when towing (test drive was fine on a pot holed filled road in leicester).
Has anyone advice on noseweights when choosing which bar etc ? The caravan has a mtplm of around 1430
getting our towbar fitted to our 57 plate mondeo this thursday...18" wheels with 40 profile tyres , sports tuned suspension.seems smooth enough to me solo,we`ll just have to see how it deals with the van on. if its harsh , so be it , its damn good fun to drive solo which i do 80% or more of the time.
Hi Pootle , can't really help you re the sport pack question but have found Towequipe to be very helpfull in the past so i'm sure they'll be able to help . Also found this on the Ford website
If you read the text at the bottom it states the max nose weight as 90kg . As i think i mentioned before , i found that of the many different detachable bars i looked at only the Bosal matched this figure . The others were all limited to 80 to 85kg .
Thanks for all the replies, very informative, amusingly I picked the car up yesterday and as I went through the handbook etc. out dropped a towbar receipt !
It looks like it's had a Brink (Thule) towbar fitted a year a go by a company called Indespension, but, and maybe this is where people can help - the actual ball/neck is missing (as it's a detachable).
I have had the towbar electrics enabled by the supplying dealer so if I manage to source a towball/neck (ideas) I should be ready to go ?
Maybe a daft question but have you had a good look in the boot , in the spare wheel well and any storage compartments on the side panels ? Could also be worth trying to contact the previous owner maybe ?
if you are yet to tow , fear not about the towing capabilities with the lowered sports suspension , just towed up to Pickering , first time with this car , not an issue the ride is no harsher than any other towcar we`ve used , no grounding issues on speed bumps , and very stable indeed.
averaged 31.7 mpg towing which was better than i expected , hitting 34 mpg at 50 mph on the flat in 5th gear at one point, and 55.0 solo running about ( computer figures)