Why use a Nudge Bar?

Protect Your Vehicle With A Nudge Bar

Something many people forget is many times you are not even in your car when it gets damaged. Other people can damage the front of your car when parking or reversing theirs, either through lack of concentration or poor judgement. And lets face it, the person who leaves contact details after damaging your car is all too rare these days. This is why nudge bars are really handy, offering you frontal protection from other peoples poor driving.

Different Nudge Bars For Different Vehicles

63MM Series 2 Nudge Bar

The stylish 63mm series 2 nudge bar provides great sports styling together with the height advantage, offering grille protection. Formed from high tensile Alloy tubing, this 63mm series 2 nudge bar is styled to please. Spotlight mounting provisions are standard inclusions together with a choice of finishes.

How Safe are worn Tires?

Tires can lose their footing long before they're worn out. Tests show that tread can give up a significant amount of grip when it's still at the halfway point.

That's particularly worrisome when you realize how many worn tires are on the roads. A recent study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that nearly 50 percent of the 11,500 cars, pickup trucks, vans, and sport-utility vehicles the agency checked had at least one tire with half-worn tread. Another 10 percent had at least one bald tire.

Worn tires—especially bald ones—can be deadly on wet roads, where the grooves aren't deep enough to channel water out from beneath the tread. The result is hydroplaning, where the tread skims the water's surface and the vehicle no longer responds to the steering wheel. Wet-weather braking and snow traction also decrease as tires wear.

Tires are considered bald when one or more of their grooves reaches 2/32 of an inch deep, compared with about 10/32 of an inch for new tires (tread wear is usually measured in 1/32-inch increments). Manufacturers have made bald tires easier to spot by placing a series of molded horizontal bars at the base of the grooves. The bars become flush with surrounding tread when wear reduces a groove's depth to 2/32 of an inch. That's also the point where tires will flunk a state safety inspection—and where tread must be worn for you to collect on a tire's tread-wear warranty.

Unfortunately, 2/32 of an inch may be too late if you drive in rain .

The Humble Towbar

If you were having a towbar fitted around 1950 the chances are you would have visited your local blacksmith!

However, with the passing of the chassis in car construction and the rapidly increasing interest in caravanning and trailers, the towing bracket had to come of age. Tow bars are made from steel or stainless steel. The towbar is an important piece of safety equipment, and if you intend on fitting one make sure it complies with the standards set by SABS. 

Witter Towbar Systems
Witter is the best known towbar brand in the UK. For many years they were based in Chester. In the 1990's they moved to modern headquarters on the outskirts of Chester in Deeside, North Wales.
Witter are best known for the production of the flange style of towbar, however Witter produce swanneck towbars and a wide range of detachable towbars using both the ADS system in their Quantum detachable system and the GDW system which they market as a Stowbar.

  PCT Automotive
PCT Automotive is the second biggest UK towbar manufacture. Based in the steel city of Sheffield, South Yorkshire they list a very wide selection of flange towbars.
These new detachable towbars are called the "PCT Prestige", and the range is growing to include more vehicles.
PCT are the main importer of GDW towbars into the UK.
  Bosal
Bosal are perhaps best known for their exhaust systems which are original equipment on many vehicles, however they are also one of the worlds biggest towbar companies. They produce flange, swanneck and swanneck detachable towbars, which are original equipment in many cases.
They have factories all over the world including Plant 21; the headquarters of Bosal UK Ltd in Lancashire. In recent year Bosal has expanded by purchasing Oris and Autoflex. 
  Thule Towing Systems/Brink
Brink where until recently Europe's biggest towbar manufacturer with a wide range of flange, swanneck and detachable towbars including the Brinkmatic range.
Brink have now been purchased by Thule and the Brink name is being dropped, all new towbar designs will be branded just as Thule.

  SIARR
The Industrial Company of the Attachments Rene Renault or SIARR, is a well established towbar company in France producing both swanneck and flange towbars.
Many of there towbars where type approved by their then sister company Eurobars in the UK. Now that Westfalia has purchased SIARR a limited number are available through Westfalia as well as through Eurobars in the UK.
SIARR is the only company that produces a towbar for the Volkswagen Golf Hatch Mark 5 which does not require a bumper cut.
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  Eurobars are based in Peterborough and until recently where a sister company to SIARR. They contuine to sell a full range of SIARR flange and swanneck towbars including the VW Golf Hatch Mark 5 with no bumper cut.

  Monoflex are based in Sweden producing both swanneck and detachable swanneck towbars.
Monoflex is now owned by Westfalia and a selection of Monoflex bars are now available from Westfalia in Germany.
  EECO
EECO are one of the oldest UK based towbar manufacturers. They have been making for all types of car since the early 70's.

From West Yorkshire EECO were carrying out strength tests on towbars and advising car manufacturers about towing stresses on body shells over 30 years ago.
  York Towbars
York had a history of providing premium strength towbars, and were fitting all towbars to the manufacuters specified mounting points long before EC type approval made it the norm. We still have a few York brackets available for sale.
 

It's Special's Time at Towbars Cape

August see's Towbars Cape Presenting some of the best Towbars special offers this side of the equator.

These include
Rubber/Aluminium
Nudgebar
Normal Price R5130
Special Price R3500

Stainless Steel High Nudgebar, no sump guard
With spotlight bracklets
Normal R5130
Special Price R3500




Stocks are limited to get down to Towbars Cape quick to grab yours ...Towbars Cape CC

TEL: 021 595 4010 / 1 / 2 Fax: 021 595 1188 EMAIL: info.towbars@mweb.co.za

Physical Address: 2 Joe Hattingh street N1 City 7460

Opening Hours: Monday to Friday: 8am -5pm Saturday: 8am - 1pm

Monaco Grand Prix 27 May 2012

Today see's the  kick off of the FORMULA 1 GRAND PRIX DE MONACO 2012 the current standings below show how hotly contested this year Grand Prix has been to date.

Race Date:

27 May 2012

Circuit Name:

Circuit de Monaco

Number of Laps:

78

Circuit Length:

3.340 km

Race Distance:

260.520 km

Lap Record:

1:14.439 - M Schumacher (2004)

In a sport such as Formula One, safety is paramount, but on the streets of Monte Carlo – closed for high-speed racing by day, open to the public by night – it is for ever questioned.
Michael Schumacher – fastest in Saturdays qualifying session – earlier this week spoke of the irony that his sport spends much energy promoting road safety yet races on a circuit widely accepted to be dangerously high-risk.
The fact Monaco has the slowest average speed of all circuits on the calendar is largely irrelevant courtesy of the unique and unforgiving set-up that, with minimal run-off areas, allows almost no margin for error.
Ross Brawn, Schumacher's team principal at Mercedes-GP, told The National the risk of racing in Monte Carlo is justifiable.

Formula One Standings brought to you by Towbars Cape

As of: Spanish Grand Prix		+/-	Points	Behind	Wins
1	Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull	–	61	‒	1
2	Fernando Alonso - Ferrari	+3	61	‒	1
3	Lewis Hamilton - McLaren	-1	53	8	0
4	Kimi Raikkonen - Lotus	+3	49	12	0
5	Mark Webber - Red Bull	-2	48	13	0

F1 Update

How ironic was it that in a race that depended on tyre wear and strategy, it should all come right for Mercedes and Nico Rosberg as the young German scored his maiden Grand Prix victory by 20.6s as a fantastic war raged a long way behind him?

Rosberg was in charge all the way, proving convincingly that Mercedes have solved their tyre degradation issues. It was their first ‘works’ victory since Juan Manuel Fangio won the Italian Grand Prix at Monza back in 1955, prior to their withdrawal from the sport.

Thus, after the race of the season, Hamilton leads the world championship with 45 points to Button’s 43, with Fernando Alonso third on 37 after a tough afternoon. In the constructors’ stakes, McLaren still lead with 88 points to Red Bull’s 64, Ferrari’s 37, Sauber’s 31, Mercedes’ 26 and Lotus’s 24.

Next Race

Sakhir

Race Date:	22 Apr 2012
Circuit Name:	Bahrain International Circuit
Number of Laps:	57
Circuit Length:	5.412 km
Race Distance:	308.238 km
Lap Record:	1:30.252 - M Schumacher (2004)

 F1 update brought to you by Towbars Cape

2012 Australian Grand Prix

The 27-year-old F1 motor racer from Hertfordshire claimed pole position around the Albert Park street circuit in Melbourne this morning (Saturday).
Hamilton’s Vodafone McLaren Mercedes colleague Jenson Button was second quickest in Q3 to complete the team’s first front row lock-out since Hungary 2008.
While there were celebrations in the McLaren garage, there were glum faces in the Red Bull paddock after double world champion Sebastian Vettel could only qualify sixth behind Mark Webber, who will start from the third row in fifth spot.
Things were even worse for Ferrari, with both their drivers, Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa, failing to reach the top 10 shootout in qualifying.

Will Lewis Hamilton win the 2012 world title in the McLaren MP4-27?

Following the capitulation of both the Red Bull and the Ferrari cars, William Hill make Stevenage-born Hamilton the 11/10 favourite to win the Australian Grand Prix, with his team-mate Button second in the betting at 11/4.
Vettel has gone from being the 11/8 favourite for the race to 8/1, while Michael Schumacher, fourth on the grid, could get his first podium finish since returning to F1.
The German Mercedes driver is 12/1 for first place and 2/1 for a spot in the top three.
Romain Grosjean qualified third for Lotus ahead of Schumacher.

Hamilton is 8/13 to beat his team-mate, while Button is 6/5 to finish ahead of Lewis.
If Vettel’s drift in the race odds has been alarming, then his drift in the Drivers’ Championship has been more so.
At one point 5/6 before the season had even started, Vettel is now 9/4 second favourite, with Hamilton 2/1 and Button, in from 8/1 to 3/1 third favourite.
“Sebastian Vettel has been so well fancied and that is highlighted by the fact that he was odds on before a wheel had been turned in anger.

 

Lewis Hamilton in Melbourne [Picture: Vodafone McLaren Mercedes]

 

“That the Red Bulls were so far off the pace indicates that this season could be the closest yet,” said Hill’s spokesman Joe Crilly.
The poor Australian GP qualifying for Red Bull has also seen them overtaken for the Constructors’ Championship, with McLaren 8/11 and Red Bull 2/1.
Mercedes GP are in third for the first time at 5/1 with Ferrari out to 20/1.
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F1 Australian Grand Prix

It's F1 time again. Towbars Cape will be blogging all the latest updates on the F1 2012 season for our fellow petrol heads, keep an eye on our Facebook page for our blog posts or follow us on Blogger.

Ferrari doubtful of a podium finish in Australia 

Ferrari technical boss Pat Fry has conceded that the team are unlikely to finish on the podium at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix later this month. After wrapping up the final winter test in Barcelona on Sunday, Fry admitted the new F2012 had failed to meet expectations and that they must work very hard back in Maranello to extract more performance from the car before it’s too late.

“In the hunt for the podium in Melbourne? At the moment I’d say no,” Fry told Ferrari’s official website. “We are disappointed with the performance level seen at these tests and I think we have a lot of work ahead of us.

“In testing, you can only make assumptions regarding what fuel loads the other cars are running and it will only be in Melbourne that we will get a clear answer as to whether we have to be very disappointed or just a little, how far we really are off the front runners and consequently how much ground we have to make up to get there.”

Drivers Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa have laboured at the three pre-season tests to find a consistent level of performance from the F2012, but have topped the timesheets just once. With the new car full of radical solutions, including innovative front pull-rod suspension, both have found it a difficult charge to master.

Midway through testing Ferrari also introduced a new exhaust position to boost rear downforce but, according to Fry, the solution appears to have hindered rather than helped progress.

“Clearly the decision relating to the exhausts that we took last week meant we took a few steps backwards in terms of development,” Fry continued. “How much? Difficult to say right now. We have been working on the current configuration for really just two weeks. We found a bit of performance but there’s no doubt that the original solution is the one that gives the most.

“I think we can claw back, at best, at least 25 percent of the downforce we had last year, even if we need to see what that costs us in fuel consumption and corner turn-in stability. At the moment it’s still causing us problems, but it’s the most obvious way to try and improve performance and increase aerodynamic downforce. We will continue to work on it, as indeed will all the others.”

With just 10 days to go before the Australian race weekend gets underway, Ferrari have returned to their Maranello factory to continue work. But with their rivals doing just the same, Fry doesn’t hold out much hope of noticeable improvement before Melbourne and is instead waiting for May’s multi-team test at Mugello - four races into the season - to enact greater change.

“We must improve in general the level of aerodynamic downforce on the car, but we are well aware that the pace of development is more or less the same for everyone,” he concluded. “We will have a few updates for Melbourne, basically aimed at readapting the car to the exhaust configuration we have chosen to run for at least the first four races of the season. (But) the Mugello test will be useful to try new parts, because it is always difficult to introduce major developments during a race weekend.”

The 2012 Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix takes place on March 16-18.

All about Towing

If you ever plan to involve yourself in activities such as boating, camping or some sort of automotive pastime, such as auto crossing or drag racing, then chances are you'll need to do some towing. While it may seem scary, towing an average-sized trailer is really easier than it looks.

Two of the most important things to have when you tow are basic common sense and the ability to adjust your driving. In other words, when towing, everything you do while driving needs to be done at about half the speed when compared to driving without a trailer. When you turn, go much slower. When you accelerate, do it much easier. When you brake, allow yourself a great deal more space to stop. And when you change lanes, allow room for your vehicle and the trailer.

The types of things you are likely going to tow are a boat, a camper of some sort, or a car trailer that's usually home to a race or show car. The following information on towing basics applies to just about any type of towing application whether the trailer is carrying a boat, a car, or any other item that needs a lift from point A to point B. The universal nature of this information is due to the fact that how much you can tow and what you tow with are mainly based on weights and capacities.

Once you know how much weight you'll be towing and that the weight doesn't exceed the maximum towing capacity of your tow vehicle, you're ready to determine the proper towbar. Many pickups and SUVs come factory-equipped with a Class III towbar, which is the most popular class of towbar. Most hitches bolt to the vehicle, and while some are welded, a bolt-on installation is the method preferred for attachment. For hauling any load (car, boat, camper, or whatever) a Class III towbar can handle up to 5,000 pounds. For heavier boats or campers, a Class IV hitch (up to 7,500 pounds) would be required, and you might want to consider a three-quarter-ton truck at this point as well. We'd recommend (especially on a compact or half-ton pickup if not already equipped) going straight to a Class III towbar, which is enough to tow most campers, car trailers and small- to medium-sized boats.

Safe Towing

If you ever plan to involve yourself in activities such as boating, camping or some sort of automotive pastime, such as auto crossing or drag racing, then chances are you'll need to do some towing. While it may seem scary, towing an average-sized trailer is really easier than it looks.

Two of the most important things to have when you tow are basic common sense and the ability to adjust your driving. In other words, when towing, everything you do while driving needs to be done at about half the speed when compared to driving without a trailer. When you turn, go much slower. When you accelerate, do it much easier. When you brake, allow yourself a great deal more space to stop. And when you change lanes, allow room for your vehicle and the trailer.

The types of things you are likely going to tow are a boat, a camper of some sort, or a car trailer that's usually home to a race or show car. The following information on towing basics applies to just about any type of towing application whether the trailer is carrying a boat, a car, or any other item that needs a lift from point A to point B. The universal nature of this information is due to the fact that how much you can tow and what you tow with are mainly based on weights and capacities.

Once you know how much weight you'll be towing and that the weight doesn't exceed the maximum towing capacity of your tow vehicle, you're ready to determine the proper hitch. Many pickups and SUVs come factory-equipped with a Class III hitch, which is the most popular class of hitch. Most hitches bolt to the vehicle, and while some are welded, a bolt-on installation is the method preferred for attachment. For hauling any load (car, boat, camper, or whatever) a Class III hitch can handle up to 5,000 pounds. For heavier boats or campers, a Class IV hitch (up to 7,500 pounds) would be required, and you might want to consider a three-quarter-ton truck at this point as well. We'd recommend (especially on a compact or half-ton pickup if not already equipped) going straight to a Class III hitch, which is enough to tow most campers, car trailers and small- to medium-sized boats.