Hey guys,

Just wondering, those who've had their car towed on a flatbed truck (So this question is aimed for people like Ego), did the towing operator have any issues trying to get the car on the truck and avoiding any damage to the front bar? Any idea if they have to be more careful loading it on the truck?

I had to get my towed yesterday and the operator managed to scuff my bar (see pic). The operator did tell me what happened and is offering to pay for the damage, but I've been thinking of letting it go since its just more trouble for me to see a mobile paint repairer etc. I just want to know if this could have been avoided if the operator is more careful, or its the cars fault for having the tow hook hidden under the bar and the operator didn't have much choice but to cause marks from the hitch.

http://www.4tran.ath.cx/~tecodan/gallery2/d/2310-2/IMG_7081.JPG

Hey guys,

Just wondering, those who've had their car towed on a flatbed truck (So this question is aimed for people like Ego), did the towing operator have any issues trying to get the car on the truck and avoiding any damage to the front bar? Any idea if they have to be more careful loading it on the truck?

I had to get my towed yesterday and the operator managed to scuff my bar (see pic). The operator did tell me what happened and is offering to pay for the damage, but I've been thinking of letting it go since its just more trouble for me to see a mobile paint repairer etc. I just want to know if this could have been avoided if the operator is more careful, or its the cars fault for having the tow hook hidden under the bar and the operator didn't have much choice but to cause marks from the hitch.

http://www.4tran.ath.cx/~tecodan/gallery2/d/2310-2/IMG_7081.JPG

Hey,

I have had a lowered car towed before and the tow truck driver placed a plank of wood on one side of the tow truck extending the ramp out so the car would go up on an angle far enough for the front bar to clear the ramp of the tow truck.

He did the same thing when he was taking it off.

Craig

When i had my ground effects kit on i just managed to get up the back of a flat bed with help from planks of wood.Know with my new front bar i have buckleys of getting up, i cant even get into my local shopping centre at all

Planks a wood are no good with mine.. They actually have to use ramps.. Rav might even have a pic from the weekend when it got towed in ACT on Magna Meet. My front bar hits but also my rear is more of an issue than the front..:)

Hmm ok. Mine being not that low, the issue is more to do with the tow hook hidden behind the bar.

In my case, it looks like the tow hitch/rope that they hook up to the tow hook has made contact with the bar and caused noticeable scuff marks now. Do you guys think this could have been avoided?

could of been if they would have put some cloth foam over the rope

I thought they were technically tie down hooks for being on a truck/barge, and if they happen to be convenient for towing then so be it.

Hmm ok. Mine being not that low, the issue is more to do with the tow hook hidden behind the bar.

In my case, it looks like the tow hitch/rope that they hook up to the tow hook has made contact with the bar and caused noticeable scuff marks now. Do you guys think this could have been avoided?


I've had this problem with 3 really low cars I have had over the years. Certainly you need a guy who carries ramps or planks of wood to just get the car up the ramp without scraping.

But you can help this by carrying a couple of small blocks of pine in the back of the car. While waiting for the tow guy to come, just use your car jack to jack up each front side in turn and insert a block between a couple of the spring coils. When you drop the car back down again it a will sit higher and make it easier for the tow dude to do his thing without buggering your bar/spoiler. This was a standard trick HDT used on all the cars they shipped in the 80's.

As someone else has pointed out, the other thing to stop rope damage to paint is to carry a soft cloth in the boot of your car which can be tied around the winch rope.

Careless towie operators...... My car is low my mate uses his truck to see wat ramps to use and leave on board the tray. A good tow truck op will take about 5 to 10min to get it on and off without damage. But they dont care if the damage your car they just want your money.

But you can help this by carrying a couple of small blocks of pine in the back of the car. While waiting for the tow guy to come, just use your car jack to jack up each front side in turn and insert a block between a couple of the spring coils. When you drop the car back down again it a will sit higher and make it easier for the tow dude to do his thing without buggering your bar/spoiler. This was a standard trick HDT used on all the cars they shipped in the 80's..

Holden & HSV still use this trick with the VE Range.
theres a story floating around that in at least one car, they forgot to take the orange plastic spacers out of the springs to be able to get thier cars on and off the car carriers..

resulted in very poor handling and one very pissed off car owner too..

just remember to take the spacers out when your done with the gtrying to get it on and off the towtruck..

Hmm ok. Mine being not that low, the issue is more to do with the tow hook hidden behind the bar.

In my case, it looks like the tow hitch/rope that they hook up to the tow hook has made contact with the bar and caused noticeable scuff marks now. Do you guys think this could have been avoided?
it really depands on the tow truck man. there are some flat bed trucks who extend their trays a fair bit and at times this avoids the fronts from hitting. only way this would have been avoided was if you would have told them you have a lowered car send a truck that can get the car on without damaging it. sounds kinda silly asking them but they do have trucks that are equipped with ramps to prevent damage. when i had my magna with the kit and springs it sat fairly low and when got it towed i requested for a truck that had ramps as my car was low and they provided me with one. now that you know if you need one next time you can request for one with long ramps and this will avoid damaging your car

as for getting the tow truck dude to fix your bar its really up to you. cant really tell with those pics if its damaged bad but if the scuff marks are deep then get it fixed if not id just leave it. its a white car so just touch it up

I've had this problem with 3 really low cars I have had over the years. Certainly you need a guy who carries ramps or planks of wood to just get the car up the ramp without scraping.

But you can help this by carrying a couple of small blocks of pine in the back of the car. While waiting for the tow guy to come, just use your car jack to jack up each front side in turn and insert a block between a couple of the spring coils. When you drop the car back down again it a will sit higher and make it easier for the tow dude to do his thing without buggering your bar/spoiler. This was a standard trick HDT used on all the cars they shipped in the 80's.

As someone else has pointed out, the other thing to stop rope damage to paint is to carry a soft cloth in the boot of your car which can be tied around the winch rope.


funny u say that ford use them on xr5/6/8 !!!

theres a bloke from narrabeen towing that does a really good job.

he has these ramps which extend the tray, plus he also got the owner of the car to stand on the winch cable to push it down and stop it rubbing on the front bar.
he also took it really slowly and carefully

but i have to say, any car that is even lowered a bit will need some sort of ramps to get it on the tray without scraping. just because of the angle of the tray.

I swear when I had mine towed the guy put 2 hooks on one on each side on the axles. I never thought their was a towing hook. I guess I better go have a good look! lol

I've been towed a few times.. never any damage..

All of you are forgetting that the front air dam on the ralliart hangs over the hooks thus make them pretty much useless.

If the car is no go, then there is not much that can be done, even covering the cable may result in scuffing of the front lip.

Planks a wood are no good with mine.. They actually have to use ramps.. Rav might even have a pic from the weekend when it got towed in ACT on Magna Meet. My front bar hits but also my rear is more of an issue than the front..:)
actually, the rear of his car did pick up some of the grass off the side of the road, and wen the towie operator was gettin the car off the flat bed, the exhaust and the towbar scraped the road a bit... but coz there was no kit on the rear i was paying a bit more attention to the front and saw that there was barely mm's of a gap between the car and the bed- to be honest, i was praying for my life that nothing went wrong... alas, something did go wrong and i got half flamed

If you want severely lowered cars, this is the price you pay.
Carry your own planks in teh car, a 50mm step up is all it will take most of the time, something you could fit on top of the spare wheel out of teh way (they only need to be long enough to get the bumper clear of the tray, say 700mm), but ready to go.
Don't blame the tow truck driver, sometimes, some cars just can't be put on a tilt tray without damage. Interestingly, the true high performance cars like Porsches and Ferraris are fairly easy to get on a tilt tray, their manufacturers thought about it being an issue and designed them properly.

Regards, Andrew.