Tow bar fault

[Kugaman1]

Is your car air suspension or mechanical?

Im wondering if this is not a towbar issue, but a suspension issue.

I have an air suspension xc60 and do get an occasional thud, but everything seems rock solid so I put it down to the wooden board that is the boot floor moving under certain loads/positions. You could maybe empty the boot, remove the floor and fold down the seats to see if its clearer where the sound is actually coming from?

It could also be the hatch itself flexing a bit? Maybe the towbar is taking you down the wrong route and its something else that is only happening with the extra load on the back of the car?

[Scotia64]

Update that might help others with a thudding noise when towing.
The service manager at volvo Glasgow was brilliant, he booked my car in FOC to have the tow bar checked, the mechanic took the bumper off & checked all the bolts , unfortunately for me everything was ok. That was a couple of weeks ago..
Basically I gave up trying to find the cause of the thudding noise (only happens when towing) as we don’t tow every week.
It was a nice day last Saturday & I decided to was the car as it was filthy, I always start at the back of the car & work my way forward as my drive is on a slight downhill slope.
I start off with the hose at it strongest setting to get the “big” dirt off of the car , as I was hosing the rear of the car down the jet of water went over the number plate … thud thud went the plate . Turned the water off & tapped the number plate & it was springing against the car ( my plate isn’t screwed on, but held in place with double sided tape).
I got the wife out to tap the plate while I sat in the car, to me it was the same sound as we had been getting. We swapped places & she confirmed it was the same sound.
The next day I stuck some blue tack to the inside of the number plate to stop it moving & hitched the caravan up & took it a blast down the motorway … not a sound apart from the normal towing noise.
I would never have found the problem any other way, as the van must make a vortex at the rear of the car to draw the number plate away from the car. With the car having an electric tail gate it shuts seamlessly, not like the old days when shutting it by hand I would have probably heard the number plate rattle off the car.
When I think about the sequence of events it all makes sense, on the way home from Southport last august we got stopped on the M6 for over an hour as there was a lorry fire up ahead , it was roasting hot , the glue on the sticky pads the dealer had used must have given up the ghost. It was only once we got up to speed that the thudding noise started.

[Whyman]

Glad you got it sorted and at little cost to fix.

[Philip Fisher]

I use 3M VHB to attach my number plates. You can buy an A4 sheet for a bit over a tenner. It has loads of other uses too.....

[Scotia64]

Originally Posted by Philip Fisher

I use 3M VHB to attach my number plates. You can buy an A4 sheet for a bit over a tenner. It has loads of other uses too.....

It was 3m the dealer used 🤷🏻*♂️

[Kugaman1]

Nice one, its amazing how things turn out isnt it!

[Scotia64]

I should have added, obviously I didn’t leave the blue tack & sponge in the gap of the number plate.
I took the plate off & cleaned it with spirits to get rid of the old glue, the same with the car. I then applied 18 1 cm2 scotch exterior stick pads to the number plate. Time & heat will tell if it falls off.

[watto64]

Well who would have thought it was that - we are currently sitting in our caravan in cornwall and the thudding noise we have is the 50+mph gusts hit the side of the caravan.

[watto64]

Well who would have thought it was that - we are currently sitting in our caravan in cornwall and the thudding noise we have is the 50+mph gusts hit the side of the caravan.

[Towhitch]

I have an xc90 on a 2017 plate with a semi electrice towball. On occassions it does not release when the button inside the boot is pressed also sometimes when trying to put it away into its housing I have to stand on the towball whilst pushing the button to release it. This does not happen all the time. Do I need to lubricate swivel part of the towball which is under the car? I have also noticed a knocking whilst towing but not all the time. The towball seems rock solid.

Any suggestions?

Towhitch