# A3 8P trailer hitch options - pre-facelift



## ceese (Jul 2, 2011)

I'm well aware that this has been discussed before but it's time in the next month for a trailer hitch install on my prefacelift 08 3.2 and I have a couple questions I haven't seen answered. I see two hitch options for my car - the westfalia hitch from Eurohitches and the Curt trailier hitch.

I'm leaning towards the Westfalia mostly because of the increased towing capacity and the fact that it is invisble when I'm using it to tow. Although the Curt will allow for accessories such as bike racks.

Westfalia = $1000 not installed for the hitch, pull up to 3900lbs with the 3.2 - tongue weight 200lbs, is invisible when the hitch is removed.

Curt = $167 not installed for the hitch, pull up to 2000lbs - tongue weight 200lbs. always visible.

Anyone have either of these hitches installed. What did it cost to install? What wiring issues should I be aware of?

Anyone with a prefacelift have the Westfalia installed? What bumper modifications do I need to make?


Westfalia hitch



Curt hitch


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## BritBulldog (Feb 6, 2009)

I'm pretty sure that you can tow more than 2k lbs with the curt, as long as you are smart about how it is loaded. Plus they always underrate those things. And $1000 for the other one is just outrageous.

My 2c is go with the Curt, i am going to be getting that one myself in a few months and i had a Curt on my Tacoma. It could haul WAY more than it said it could.


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## Bull_D (May 28, 2012)

ceese said:


> I'm well aware that this has been discussed before but it's time in the next month for a trailer hitch install on my prefacelift 08 3.2 and I have a couple questions I haven't seen answered. I see two hitch options for my car - the westfalia hitch from Eurohitches and the Curt trailier hitch.
> 
> I'm leaning towards the Westfalia mostly because of the increased towing capacity and the fact that it is invisble when I'm using it to tow. Although the Curt will allow for accessories such as bike racks.
> 
> ...



i made my own that is much like the curt, but it is invisible like the westfalia. i cannot imagine how they say you can tow 2000 pounds with the curt. that hitch is laid across parts of the rear bumper and bolted in. then a couple small bolts are bolted near the "down" part of the hitch, through holes drilled in the unibody. the "bumper" of the A3 are held to the body with 6 bolts. about 5/16 in size. how the he** you can pull 2000 pounds when all of it is held on by a total of 8 5/16 bolts is beyond me. i only use mine for a bike rack, never even consider towing with it. at least the westfalia bolts to some frame. audi has a replacement for the rear bumper assembly that has some "arms" that extend into openings in the unibody and bolt along the arms...then they use a similar set up to the westfalia. i tried to get one while in europe, but the part numbers don't show up for u.s. vin's. assume the bolts may not be there for the arms. over the next day or two i will try to post some pics of my setup if you like ceese.


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## mike3141 (Feb 16, 1999)

FYI:

http://oooo-a3.blogspot.com/2006/11/custom-trailer-hitch.html


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## a3333 (Aug 30, 2012)

*Hitch*

Ceese,

I bought the Curt Hitch on Amazon for around $155 with prime shipping.
The directions for the curt hitch was a difficulty scale of 9.5/10. I took it to a auto body shop and he quoted me $210 to install it.
Instead, I took it to garage that had a lift and tools for me to use. Paid $45 for about 5.5 hours of work with a friend.

The part that took us the longest was drilling holes into the bumper frame.
There are 2 holes already on the bumper frame. Don't use these.. First measure the hitch onto the bumper frame and mark it. I enlarged the two holes and drilled two more. Only to put it back onto the back of my car and the hitch was too far in. Had to take it off and drill 4 new holes after realizing my mistake.

Also there are 2 nuts you need to take out using an extender from inside your trunk. Mine dropped and had to use a magnet head tool to fish it out. Let's just say, I'm still fishing. They're very small and not sure what it holds to. 

One of the plates where you have to bolt 2 screws to the the hitch to the frame after drilling the holes was bowed and my screws couldn't fit straight in. So I had to break that in half and screw each plate individually inside the bumper frame.

https://picasaweb.google.com/116705876949677538162/August192012#5778581996037389730

I have a 2013 A3 TDI and I was somewhat hesitant in doing this myself, but having a friend who was profecient with power tools I was ready to do this instead of dropping $210 to have someone do probably the same mistakes I did.

Putting everything back together was easy minus the 2 nuts I dropped.

Hope this helps


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## JRutter (Nov 25, 2009)

It has been a while since you saw mine, but it is not obnoxiously obvious if you put a rubber plug cover into the receiver when not using it. Get whatever you are comfortable with. 

Having had a bike come loose on the roof rack of a previous car and gouge my roof, then having a wheel fly off on the highway another time, I am reluctant to use roof carriers. So I use the Curt hitch with a Thule rack attached to haul bikes now. As for towing capacity - the bolts are used for tensile strength, not shear strength, so I'm not terribly concerned that they will fail as long as they are not over torqued. Curt must have an engineer who can look at the leverage involved and make a somewhat conservative recommendation for capacity. I pull a lightweight trailer multiple times per week, and use the bike rack a lot over the summer. IMHO, the bike rack puts more leverage on the hitch than a trailer does when it bounces around with 2-3 bikes on it. My wife has a crappy hitch on her A4 that has bent because of the bikes. The Curt has stayed solid.

I had a shop install the hitch and then did the wiring myself. It was pretty easy once you get the trim off. I would not bother routing the wires through underneath the back of the trunk like OOOOA3 did - that was the only PITA.


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## VWAddict (Jun 12, 1999)

I put the Curt Hitch on for a friend a few weeks ago.

















-barely visible in the end:










The trick when drilling the holes is to put masking tape on the bumper supports and test-fit the Curt Hitch, mark the holes on the masking tape with a market pen.

Drill with a Uni-bit. Use a corded drill.

Cutting the lower edge of the bumper: Do it in three or four steps... a little bit at a time, marking with masking tape and a marker s needed.

Once finished it can be SUPER-neat.

If I was installing a hitch on mine, it would be the Curt. -I did it in my driveway, no lift needed. Need help from one buddy. Use a blanket to protect bumper from scratches etc.


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## JRutter (Nov 25, 2009)

Might not fit under the bumper, but there is a ton of stuff like this around to cover the receiver.


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## skramer (Jun 23, 2012)

I have the westfalia...and I wouldnt consider anything else. I was not a fan of the curt design, and I most certainly did not want the hitch showing....similar to the photo shown above. I find that tacky at best on a car. 

Mine's a 2012, so different rear bumper 

Install was easy (did it myself)
Wiring was simple




















As for accessories....pfjones

I have a bike rack made for the euro style hitches, it works like a charm


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## hgrail (Nov 21, 2002)

Good info on the hitches - thanks.

I installed a Curt hitch on my MKIV and was very happy with it. Towed up to 1000lbs a few times - and never had a problem.

Considering the same for my new A3..


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## Trisix (Dec 15, 2012)

*Custom made hitch*

Hi guys, 

I just finished building and installing a hitch on my 2006 A3 3.2 quattro S-line. I used all the information I could find online including this forum, the 0000-A3 blog, the Westfalia and Curt designs. I considered doing a completely hidden design, but chose not to for strength reasons. I'll be towing 1,000-1,500 pounds, which is not that much, but I think the solution I came up with is the right combination of looks and strength.

http://imgur.com/a/oh8FE

Have a look at the album and let me know if you have any questions. My design basically sits on the bumper support tube like the curt design, but then I added an internal square tube inside this support which inserts into the holes in the subframe when installed. I did this to take the load off of the bumper support tubes, since they are only attached to the frame with a total of 6 small bolts.

I bought the 1.25" hitch receiver tube online from Curt, the cross tube is 2"x3" 3/16 wall stock from a local steel supplier, and all of the plates welded to form the hitch are 0.25". I work at Hobie Cat, and had one of my coworkers do the welding, he is very good.

I finished installing the trailer light wiring this weekend, but I have yet to tow a boat.

Cheers
Phil


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## Trisix (Dec 15, 2012)

I hooked the boat up and took it for a spin around the block and the car drives really nicely. I know it looks big, but the whole set up is around 1000lbs. Before the A3, I was towing it with a 1998 Subaru Legacy for 10 years. I'll also occasionally pull trailers with 2-4 kayaks and other small sailboats.

Cheers
Phil


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## Ponto (Jan 11, 2012)

Every car i saw when I was overseas had the westfailia style hitch - my host family had it on their ford mondeo and A3 and it worked great, love how you can't even seee it when not in use. 

I may consider a hitch at some point in time... yeaa 3.2 pulling power baby hahah


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## Trisix (Dec 15, 2012)

I think the Wesfalia hitches are a really nice set up. I use a few different trailers with my company, and they are mostly 1 7/8" ball, so it wasn't really an option to get the 50mm, and I couldn't find a conversion kit.

The engine/transmission handles the towing very well. It holds the gear on uphills, sensing the extra torque from the weight of the boat. I would assume the 3.2 makes more sense for towing that the 2.0t, but I've never had a turbo tow car.

Phil


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## ma2kster (Jun 4, 2010)

skramer: You mentioned "I have a bike rack made for the euro style hitches, it works like a charm ". I looked around, but can't find a specific brand/model. Can you tell me what I should search for? Many thanks.


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## Trisix (Dec 15, 2012)

Here is a link to the Westfalia hitch mount bike rack

Westfalia Cycle Carrier/


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## skramer (Jun 23, 2012)

ma2kster said:


> skramer: You mentioned "I have a bike rack made for the euro style hitches, it works like a charm ". I looked around, but can't find a specific brand/model. Can you tell me what I should search for? Many thanks.


http://www.pfjones.co.uk/cycle-carr...cle-carriers/thule-hangon-cycle-carriers.html


I have the 970 Xpress...Purchased from these guys, just email about shipping for a cost. I received the package the same week, and shipping from UK to my house was about what I would pay to get a similar product across the US.


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## skramer (Jun 23, 2012)

Trisix said:


> I think the Wesfalia hitches are a really nice set up. I use a few different trailers with my company, and they are mostly 1 7/8" ball, so it wasn't really an option to get the 50mm, and I couldn't find a conversion kit.
> 
> The engine/transmission handles the towing very well. It holds the gear on uphills, sensing the extra torque from the weight of the boat. I would assume the 3.2 makes more sense for towing that the 2.0t, but I've never had a turbo tow car.
> 
> Phil


The TDI works great as well....peak torque around 2k rpms 

I've had almost 2k behind it when towing double ski's, they are almost 900lbs w/ fuel, plus trailer and other stuff. I'm actually adding coil rites soon as they get off national backorder, I've had them on order for roughly 4 weeks now


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## usna2k (Nov 28, 2012)

skramer said:


> The TDI works great as well....peak torque around 2k rpms
> 
> I've had almost 2k behind it when towing double ski's, they are almost 900lbs w/ fuel, plus trailer and other stuff. I'm actually adding coil rites soon as they get off national backorder, I've had them on order for roughly 4 weeks now


 Hey skramer - I have the same color TDI - love it! I bought the OEM base carrier bars to carry a roof box and thinking I could carry two kayaks up there up to the 150lb limit, but apparently the OEM bard are only rated for 110 lbs total :-/ 

This is prompting me to look at the Westfalia solution like you've got. Doesn't the owner's manual say not to tow with the DSG tranny? Maybe I'm mistaken there, though. I hope this is not going to void the warranty if something happens. 

I doubt I'd be taking more than 500 lbs with a kayak trailer. 

How hard was the installation? I've seen your post on another board about it, but I don't know if I need to lift the car to do this or not.


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## skramer (Jun 23, 2012)

usna2k said:


> Hey skramer - I have the same color TDI - love it! I bought the OEM base carrier bars to carry a roof box and thinking I could carry two kayaks up there up to the 150lb limit, but apparently the OEM bard are only rated for 110 lbs total :-/
> 
> This is prompting me to look at the Westfalia solution like you've got. Doesn't the owner's manual say not to tow with the DSG tranny? Maybe I'm mistaken there, though. I hope this is not going to void the warranty if something happens.
> 
> ...


 On the tow ratings...IIRC the owners manual states class 1. In the US towing with anything other than a truck/suv is "frawned upon", we are so drilled that a car cannot do this. Personally its a way for manufacturers to relieve themselves of any possible lawsuits (you know the lawyer jokes) because of a mishap while towing. 

In UK Audi A3 Sportback 140 TDI DSG tow ratings= 1600lbs unbraked/ 3527lbs trailer brakes BY AUDI. The westfalia hitch is the factory hitch, unlike Curt you are not drilling into the brace frame for support. I've had a double jet ski trailer behind NO issues towing, just watch the weights (like any tow setup) on the tongue. When towing I use M mode more often so I can control the RPMS for shifting. 

You do not need the car on a lift, it may make things easier but I certainly did not. Installation was a easy, the hardest part is removing the rear bumper and installing the wiring kit. 

Btw..Nice car


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## Ponto (Jan 11, 2012)

Good info, and so true when I lived overseas everyone towed things with cars. My host family had a Ford Mondeo and an A3 and both would pull a decent sized trailer.


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## BeeAlk (Jun 3, 2013)

usna2k said:


>


Well, hey! Those roof bars look familiar. I hope they're working out for you 

Reviving an old thread here.. Looking to install a hitch to tow my bike to the track, but wanted one that isn't visible when not in use. There don't seem to be many options with that :thumbdown:


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## ...um (Apr 15, 2011)

usna2k said:


> Hey skramer - I have the same color TDI - love it! I bought the OEM base carrier bars to carry a roof box and thinking I could carry two kayaks up there up to the 150lb limit, but apparently the OEM bard are only rated for 110 lbs total :-/
> 
> This is prompting me to look at the Westfalia solution like you've got. Doesn't the owner's manual say not to tow with the DSG tranny? Maybe I'm mistaken there, though. I hope this is not going to void the warranty if something happens.
> 
> ...



what kind of box is that?


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