Tow hooks grinding away
 

I've got an '87 Targa and a rather narrow, steep driveway. The two front tow hooks bottom out and are grinding away despite all my attempts to enter the driveway on as much of a diagonal as possible. Does anyone make some sort of a hard rubber roller contraption that will attach to the hooks to protect them. I see that bolt on skid plates are available but that doesn't seem like a very sophisticated solution - substituting one piece of scraping metal with another. How do others solve this problem?

Make a cutout with some cardboard of the area around the tow-hooks.

Then take that template to a machine shop or someone who is willing to cut some steel.

Make two pieces of the cut-out. Drill two holes with one hole going inside the tow-hook piece.

Then sandwich the two pieces together around EACH tow-hook and bolt them together with either locking nylon nuts and/or lock-washers.

You will hit the bottom hard when you hit, but it will save your tow-hooks!

Good luck.

I think you should move. Get a better driveway.

that's what they're supposed to do. :)

I think someone should come up with something that replaces the tow hooks with some metal wheels, sort of like a reverse wheely bar. Then instead of scraping the asphalt, the car rolls over the obstacle, ready to face the next bump unscathed.

There is a thread here somewhere showing an erector set wheelie bar solution.

I welded small skid pads onto my tow hooks.

have you tried popping a wheelie before the driveway?

Someone on this board put wheels. Problem is once those wheels hit the ground you are going where they are pointing, and not in the direction your front tires point!

Most "solutions" I have seen acutally block the eye of the hook, making it useless. I weld mine up with fresh metal every year or so before they grind through all the way.

George

Pelican Parts does offer a skid pad for the front toe hooks. I have the same issue and just ordered a pair for my car... About $50. My wrench said it would cost more than to fabricate parts to do the same job.

If you bolt those skid pads on, how can you be towed? Last thing you want is some tow truck gorilla finding "alternative" mounting locations.

If you want more to skid on, just weld a wide plate on the bottom of the tow hook - done.

George

The skid brackets "bolt on" so I assume they "bolt off" as well. My car is lowered. My spoiler and chin rubber is so close to the ground the hooks aren't the best to begin with. It is interesting though. I hadn't considered the possibility of being towed. I'll have to be prepared to jack it up and take a skid plate off if I find myself in that unfortunate spot.
Another Idea might be to add a bale-hook to the front end of the skid plate. It bolts on with three bolts so adding a longer bolt to the front to allow the bale to slip on is probably a good idea.

I remember Jerry (JMPRO) adapting urethane skateboard wheels onto the front tow hook area. You can try a search. Can you fill in the driveway ditch to change the approach angle?

Sherwood

There was a thread pretty recently of an aftermarket thingamabob that fit over the standard tow hook getting caught on a piece of the road and ripping a large portion of the front pan out of the car. Let them drag.

Install air bags. ;)

Here you go:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/153477-front-spoiler-protection-advice.html?highlight=skid

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/196331-tow-hook-brackets.html?highlight=skid

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/140684-spoiler-protection-skid-plates.html?highlight=skid

Solution is easy - Fix the driveway.

Driveway
 

Can you smooth out your driveway enterance with some asphalt?
H. depot sellls it by the bag, I used it to make a speedbump in front of our house and it worked great.

Just bend the hooks 30 degrees to give you more clearance, they will still work as tow hooks and no longer scrape.