So a quick reprise of the tasks
1) Take off boot trim inside. More to install the wiring needed to power the trailer socket. More on this later though as the passenger side boot trim also is required to be removed.
2) Take off black bumper trim just above/in front of of the silver trim strip. I have found lifting a non clipped part is easiest and then using a small flat head screwdriver to push the clip lock mech forward towards the front of the car then releases it.
3) unscrew the hex head screws that sit underneath the trim in item 2 above.
4) Now take all safety precautions, jack the car up and remove both rear wheels and put on axel stands.
5) Now remove the rear arch liners. There are some hex head screws the same size as those on the bumper (there is a sneaky one by the strut also!) and some plastic poppers. Press the centre of the poppers in slightly and they should then be released. Do not push the centre in all the way as you need this to refit them. There are some hex head screws underneath the bumper at the corner that attach the bumper to the arch and some attaching to the liner, these also use the same hex head, remove these too. Once the screws and poppers are removed jiggle the arch liner to release and ensure you lift over the bottom dome next to the strut.
6) With the arch liners out you will now see the same hex head screws along the trailing edge (inside) of the arch closest to the bumper mating surface. There are 3 that may be fitted these are the heavily recessed ones so key you have a longer hex bit to reach it. Take these out.
7) There are now two smaller hex head screws under the centre rear of the bumper attaching the bumper to the rear underside plastic trim, remove these now.
8) Now with all of the above complete you are ready to remove the bumper. I used a small flat head screwdriver double wrapped with a microfibre cloth to lever off gently the pointy corner of the bumper where it leads up to the top of the rear wheel arch. With this gently levered out I then use my fingers and gentle pressure to release the bumper. The other side is simpler to release as the majority of the bumper is now free and can be used gently to extract the other side. The bumper can break/crack so be careful and if in doubt use a screwdriver as per the other side.
9) Removing the rear safety bar - The safety bar is held on back of the car in the same position as the Towbar so is required to be removed. There are 2 separate bars that make up the overall piece. The first is the one you can see initially with the bumper off. It is a large light silver piece, it is relative light weight and is held in with 2 bolts the go top-down through each end of the bar closest to the car. Remove the two bolts and "gently" entice it to come off. The second bar is now more visible and is the part that is mounted directly into the chassis legs where the Towbar will eventually go. It has the same 3 bolts per side as the Towbar. Be careful however as this bar is much heavier than the first piece. Remove 2 bolts from either end (leaving 1 at each end to hold the weight) then slowly back out one side until it pops off, be ready to take the weight, ideally by putting something underneath the rear of the car close to the height of the bar that it can rest on, such as a plastic box or similar. Once one side is done repeat with the other.
10) Adding the Towbar - without chassis mounting hats and then with these also - Mounting the Towbar without the hats (the pieces that are either welded into the chassis legs from factory, or require to be cut into the chassis leg with a 40.5mm holesaw and mounted with pop rivets) here is the info on these I have found from the German A2 site, which is awesome (-
non factory Towbar mounting hat info -) is relatively straight forward at this stage. The 3 hex head screws/bolts at either side that were removed in step 9 are now used in the same position to mount the towbar. Firstly offer up the Towbar legs to the chassis leg openings (which are now easily visible following step 9) and slide them in, this will line up the mounting parts of the Towbar with the 3 mounting holes. Simply use the screws/bolts from the previous step to mount the Towbar in position, following the usual good practice of tightening each one up to 90% whilst locating the whole unit and then finishing off each one in turn with spread the load.
11) Adding the electrics - the official Audi electrics and also the Jaeger plug and play item - (I've not tackled this yet) - I did manage to find an official A2 Towbar electric kit on Ebay
which is very lucky which I shall get on Monday (12th Aug) and then have a go installing from there. If anyone has done this before I would appreciate any advice on installation.
Photos will be added to the above along with a better video as soon as it's stopped battering down with rain or is dark, or both!
Regards
James
then get some nice photos (weather permitting)
