Anybody have a hitch rack on their GTI?

Excellent, thanks folks. I hate the last gen's hidden hitch (which isn't at all hidden- bottom bar is very visible) but these ones seem much better designed.

Bike is a Santa Cruz Blur classic ('03). Getting replaced this winter with something in the 5" trail bike category... Maybe a Blur TRc, Trek Fuel ('12 model), or Pivot Mach 5.7. All of which would be thru axle fork.

1upUSA:

I've got the hidden hitch. was rattling pretty bad. I propped up the exhaust and put some high temp silicone gasket on the contact area and let it dry for 24 hours. She's a beauty now. No sound, other than exhaust tone.

I have a Thule rack for my skis. Do any of these hitch racks have any attachments for skis? Is it even possible because obviously our cars aren't as big as SUV?

Good info here, these look great. Although I do think roof racks look cool, this is definitely a better solution. For now, I'm going to keep carrying my bikes with my roof rack on my Civic whenever I get the chance to ride again.

DBESTGTI said:

Ground clearance is not a problem, if you bottom it out you fucked up your car in the process.

http://www.etrailer.com/Trailer-Hitch/Volkswagen/GTI/2011/24851.html?vehicleid=2011302482

http://thule.com/en-US/US/Products/Bike-Carriers/Hitch/916XTR-T2

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I like your setup A LOT! :w00t:

I saw some guy on youtube with almost the exact same setup except that he's using the Thule 917 T2 and possibly a different hitch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bem__QR4T5o

For his setup, he had to cut a piece off his inner bike rack wheel rest so that it would not touch his bumper when he flipped the rack up.

Did you have to modify your rack the same way or is your hitch long enough to provide clearance?

The hitch is far enough under that I can't fold the bike rack up. I take it off when I'm not using it, I have in the past (when I was out of town) just unbolted the front wheel cups, all you need is a flathead, and taken them off so I could fold it up.

After having this setup for a while now there is only 1 disadvantage over the Thule roof rack setup I had on my last hatchback and that's storage. The bike rack is heavy, cumbersome, and big, it's not easy to store when not in use. But, with that said it is better the roof racks in every other way. It's a fair comparison to because I had 2 Thule Sidearms on the roof, it's basically the same as what this hitch mount uses except they are individual and mount to the roof. I had ski carriers for the roof racks but that became a moot point when I stopped using the ski carriers completely. My drive to the closest skiing was an hour and half drive so by the time I got home from skiing the edges on my skiis were rusting up from all the salt and shit on the roads. I started carrying them in the car.

I responded before watching his video. The thing he cut I just unbolt. But yes that's the same setup I have, the rack is identical, the only difference between the 2 models is what size receiver it plugs into.

I do disagree with one thing. On my cross bike I don't like this rack. I use it almost exclusively for mountain bikes, with disc brakes you put the front arm on the tire all way up touching the fork. If you don't have disc brakes you can't do that, you have to mount the arm farther down, on just the tire.... the potential issue with that is that it's not as secure, it doesn't hold the bike as tight, and if someone deflated the tire they could then just slide the arm over out of the way, that's actually the reason Thule added the cable out of the head of the arm, they found most commonly on big volumed MTB tires you could deflate it and slide the arm away and walk off a bike from the locked rack without a single tool in the matter of seconds.

Would a hidden hitch interfere with a UB stiffening Brace if both were installed?

DBESTGTI said:

I responded before watching his video. The thing he cut I just unbolt. But yes that's the same setup I have, the rack is identical, the only difference between the 2 models is what size receiver it plugs into.

I do disagree with one thing. On my cross bike I don't like this rack. I use it almost exclusively for mountain bikes, with disc brakes you put the front arm on the tire all way up touching the fork. If you don't have disc brakes you can't do that, you have to mount the arm farther down, on just the tire.... the potential issue with that is that it's not as secure, it doesn't hold the bike as tight, and if someone deflated the tire they could then just slide the arm over out of the way, that's actually the reason Thule added the cable out of the head of the arm, they found most commonly on big volumed MTB tires you could deflate it and slide the arm away and walk off a bike from the locked rack without a single tool in the matter of seconds.

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That's helpful to know that the rack is not as secure for road bikes and non-disc brake bikes. I see what you mean about the arm not securing the tire if the tires were deflated. In my case, I would be using the rack for mountain bikes with disc so it probably wouldn't be that big an issue.

I noticed on etrailer.com that there are 2 hitch systems for the GTI that look almost identical in design from their website pictures; Draw-Tite & Hidden Hitch. I'm assuming that you are using the Draw-Tite hitch because you linked the page earlier.

With the Draw-Tite, do you notice any rattling from contact with the exhaust that people are talking about with their Hidden Hitch? Also, if the wheel cup was modified like in the youtube video, would your rack be able to fold up?

I was thinking that maybe the wheel cup could also be modified in a way to be clipped on/off without a screw. That would be sweet!

By the way, I have a 2012 GTI so I'll have to confirm with etrailer that this hitch will work.

DrawTight Hitch with Thule T2. Hitch Bottoms out when pulling in and out of my some what inclined drive way. So it looks like I will only be leaving it on when I'm riding alot.

Has anyone confirmed that a hidden hitch will not work with any aftermarket exhaust?

I have a Yakima hitch-mount bike rack that was mounted on our Honda Accord until we recently traded it for a CRV. I was planning to move the mount to my Golf, until the local trailer hitch shop told me that all hitch mounts are basically custom. They told me it would cost about $350 to put a mount on my Golf, compared to only $200 for the CRV. So now I am hesitating on installing the mount on the Golf because I have another bike rack that will attach to the hatch. It's hard justifying the $350 cost when I usually just fold the rear seat down and put my bike inside the Golf and will probably need the rack only a few times a year.

That said, the Yakima hitch rack is very nice and convenient. It folds down so you you can open the trunk/hatch without removing the rack or your bike. I have also owned Yakima roof racks and I strongly recommend getting a hitch rack over a roof rack. Roof racks create a lot of wind noise and decrease your gas mileage. Hitch racks will affect mileage but not as much as roof racks, and don't make any wind noise that I can detect. In addition, you don't have to worry about running into a garage door or other obstacles that will destroy your bike and damage your car. Many, many owners of roof racks have learned this lesson the hard way.

Thought I would post here, can't really find another good thread on hitches. I got a Swagman XTC Cross-Country 2-Bike Hitch Mount Rack and Classic Hitch both from Amazon. In reverse I do hear the exhaust rattling against the hitch, but it is not as loud as you would think. Overall, I am pretty pleased.




Swagman's anti-wobble bolt does as advertised. When tightened down, the rack is nice and firmly mounted to the car.


I also want to point out that Draw-tite, Hidden Hitch, and Reese are all the same hitch.