towing with the a4

[peta8368]

Cargo + trailer was around 1500lbs, and it didn't feel too terribly scary.


Peter

[Anigro92]

Haha if it worked then good and 1500 seems like a lot

[rnp614]

Haha if it worked then good and 1500 seems like a lot

Seems like it might not be worth it considering how hard it'd be on your transmission and brakes?

[B72.0T]

Seems like it might not be worth it considering how hard it'd be on your transmission and brakes?

x2

[SEXICÄN]

max towing on a A4 is 1000 FYI. But hey, it's your A4, so do what you want....

[redlabel81]

^^I don't get the numbers you get for your cars?? 1000lbs is like 450 kg!! That's insane! Most of the audies here in Norway have tow hooks and plenty of them have mobile homes. My car is a 1.8TQ and my recommended max weight from factory is close to 3000lbs.

[Giantsfan10]

any better pictures of the trailer hitch? i've been contemplating getting a hitch for my bike rack. I want to see how obtrusive it looks.

[WasGTIguy]

Max towing on an A4 is 2000lb on a Class III hitch. But thats if you go by the GVWR of the car in the door. The rating in europe however is diferent. In europe the A4 is rated for a max capacity of 4200lb

[a4dc89]

so magically you can tow more on the otherside of the atlantic? sweet

[WasGTIguy]

so magically you can tow more on the otherside of the atlantic? sweet

Yup, strange but true.



http://www.uktow.com/towing%20capacity.asp#tab1

Select Audi and you'll see

The WHY's don't matter to me nearly as much as the FACT of the US/Canada GCVWR. Legally, a court isn't going to care what the UK/Euro rating is, because the Manufacturer has deemed the car only suitable to carry/tow a combined XXXXLbs here.

Whether they do that for liability reasons, to push people into bigger cars, or just to be difficult I have no idea.

[peta8368]

any better pictures of the trailer hitch? i've been contemplating getting a hitch for my bike rack. I want to see how obtrusive it looks.

http://bigpete.mysite4now.com/a4tow/P2251275.JPG

That's a high res version of the last picture. You can't see the hitch in that shot, which should sort of give you an idea of how far it sticks out. In that shot, the hitch ends roughly flush with the muffler tip.


Peter

[peta8368]

I get how some of you have concerns about how much stress this puts on the tranny and brakes. But when towing a trailer, I drive slowly, accelerate slowly, shift between 3-3.5k so i don't lug the engine, brake lightly over a longer distance. I can't imagine that being more stressful than WOT acceleration that many of us do then braking 100-0, or how some of us toss the car around on tracks.

In any case, I have a need to tow about once a month, and this method will cost me a lot less than buying and maintaining a truck.


Peter

[davis449]

I get how some of you have concerns about how much stress this puts on the tranny and brakes. But when towing a trailer, I drive slowly, accelerate slowly, shift between 3-3.5k so i don't lug the engine, brake lightly over a longer distance. I can't imagine that being more stressful than WOT acceleration that many of us do then braking 100-0, or how some of us toss the car around on tracks.

In any case, I have a need to tow about once a month, and this method will cost me a lot less than buying and maintaining a truck.

Peter

Actually, I see it the opposite. The car is engineered to throw around it's own weight under most any condition. What you do when you tow is add another 1500 lbs. of weight the car wasn't intended to haul around. I would say it's less abusive to beat on the car as it would be to drive extremely conservatively with extra weight on the back. FYI, these engines shouldn't be driven conservatively in the first place. You've seen all the carbon buildup threads in here. Much of that is due to the cars being driven conservatively.

[vacsimile]

I get how some of you have concerns about how much stress this puts on the tranny and brakes. But when towing a trailer, I drive slowly, accelerate slowly, shift between 3-3.5k so i don't lug the engine, brake lightly over a longer distance. I can't imagine that being more stressful than WOT acceleration that many of us do then braking 100-0, or how some of us toss the car around on tracks.

In any case, I have a need to tow about once a month, and this method will cost me a lot less than buying and maintaining a truck.


Peter

Higher load puts considerably more stress and wear on a motor than high rpms. The amount of load you are adding to the drive train, especially by running the engine at lower speeds, is about the worst possible operating conditions for the drive train. What engine/tranny are you doing this to? If it's a 3.2, it's not as bad. But if you're running the 2 liter, you're seriously damaging your motor every time you tow with it. How far are you towing, anyway? What's the road like? Lots of accelerating/decelerating, mainly cruising on freeways?

And yes, it may be less stressful than tracking a car all the time, but just listen to yourself for a sec... It sounds like you're justifying cutting off a finger because it's less painful than cutting off your hand, when you don't have to cut off anything to begin with. Sorry, weird analogy, but I'm sure you get the point.

[EMAXX]

I don't understand why this guy is getting so much grief of towing with his A4.

It's his car and he should be able to use it the way that he wants. If he's only towing once a month, not that big of a deal. It's much cheaper than having to go out and buy a truck to use once a month.


OP, props to you for using your car! Keep it up.

[DocJ]

dont kill your car or clutch! our transmissions cant take TOO much. good luck!

[Hyphy]

Besides the fact of having a tow hitch sticking out of the rear bumper, i think it's neat to tow shit (trailers, jet-ski's, etc) around w/ the Audi! Good stuff!

[peta8368]

thanks to the guys who support me. To the nay-sayers, although the trailer is 1500 lbs, the tongue weight is only 150lbs, plus the weight of the hitch, it's like adding 180lbs to the trunk. Of course I understand that it's added stress to the drive train, that's why I don't push the car while towing, and I take everything easy (and try to keep the rpm above 2500). I manually pulled the trailer by hand before hitching it on, and it really isn't that hard to push/pull. I only need to overcome the rolling resistence (plus wind resistence when at speed), and if I can do it by hand, it really isn't asking the car to do THAT much.

to those wondering, this is mainly on level terrain, through maybe less than 1 mile of local and 15 miles highway (each way).

And to those who say launching the car at WOT is less stressful than towing 1500lbs trailer gently, good luck to you and your tranny. I am probably generating 100lb of torque slowly accelerating, while you chipped guys are generating 250lb-300lb of torque launching, let alone BT guys pushing 400lb through the drivetrain.

also, to the guy with the analogy, I see it more like blistering my fingers because it's cheaper to work with my small gardening spade than to spend money on a shovel.

ANYWAYS, all arguing aside, it was a neat experience, and if it saves me $150 per month, i'll be more than happy to spend the 1k to replace a clutch every 5 years instead of 8 years.



Peter

[carguy138]

You're more than fine towing with the A4 as long as you don't grossly exceed the tow rating/tongue weight.

Just for reference, 4 200 pound adults carrying along several hundred pounds of ski gear would put a similar stress on the engine and drive train as pulling a small trailer. The car is just a sedan, not a sports car...

My experience towing- Used to tow a 400 pound trailer with 3 dirt bikes weighing 220 pounds each with a 165hp subaru outback. Total gross towing weight was well over 1200 pounds plus the weight of a fully loaded car/gear with a few other people with distances as great as 200 miles. If that thing could tow it on a consistent basis and never did any damage, I don't see how that could damage an A4. I love how people think they need a loaded subarban or something of that nature to tow a measly trailer a few times a year; it's really not that bad.

OP- ignore the naysayers, you are fine.

[Zebman]

Where'd you get the hitch? I'm going to need something similar when I pick up my GSXR.

[peta8368]

I got the hitch from ebay, the seller's name is carparts. The trailer was shipped directly from Curt warehouse in Fresno, CA(probably because that's the closest one for me). The part number is Curt Mfg 11640.

I do wonder whether the avant hitch will work tho, since that one does not require drilling, and mounts to the exhaust hanger bolt. If anyone can take a picture of the avant exhaust with the hanger visible, I would like to compare them.


Peter

[srsly]

Was gonna use mine to tow a single jetski trailer but decided to go with my moms truck instead.

[Danne_gg]

The Audi's with quattro are exceptional towing cars! Are very liked by horse ppl over here to pull around these kind of things



Or for us snowmobilers quattro cars are perfect for this:)


It's not any problems if you just keeps some rev... but the diesel cars are better for towing... no doubt about it! 3.0tdi is love!;P