Show me your Hitch Racks

[sonicmn]

Don't go down any narrow one lane roads!

Yea that's the truth, I laughed when I first put the bike on there and it was hanging well past the mirrors.

 

[Intuit]

Are you worried about the hitch rubbing on the frame/body where it mounts, and exposing bare metal? Or the hitch itself rusting?

For the former, I've used fluid film or wool wax spray to protect from rust on my vehicles. It can seep into all the nooks and crannies, and as long as it doesn't get constantly blasted by road grime (e.g. wheel wells) or pressure washed, it lasts for many years.

For the latter, I also spray down any non-touch surfaces of my hitches with fluid film. Inside the receiver tube also helps prevent bike tracks or tow balls from getting stuck. But in the end the hitch receiver rusting is kind of inevitable IMO. The paint/powdercoat on those always seems to flake off eventually.

Thanks for the response. From my understanding a hitch has to be welded on, and those weld point(s) become an access point for rust. Have had stainless exhaust pipes welded for motorcycle, past car and the spray paint did little of nothing as far as protection for both the weld and immediately surrounding metal. I could ask the "hitcher" what they do for it. I'm not concerned about the hitch itself as it's not really part of the vehicle. I've used the FF or hotspots too but the reason I don't personally promote it, is it makes the roads considerably more slippery for two-wheel operators. (and the majority of my miles are on two wheels - motorcycle)

 

[Wiring3826]

Thanks for the response. From my understanding a hitch has to be welded on, and those weld point(s) become an access point for rust. Have had stainless exhaust pipes welded for motorcycle, past car and the spray paint did little of nothing as far as protection for both the weld and immediately surrounding metal. I could ask the "hitcher" what they do for it. I'm not concerned about the hitch itself as it's not really part of the vehicle. I've used the FF or hotspots too but the reason I don't personally promote it, is it makes the roads considerably more slippery for two-wheel operators. (and the majority of my miles are on two wheels - motorcycle)

Interesting point about the FF making roads slippery. I too am a motorcycle rider, but never considered that implication. Quite the dilemma...

As for the hitch, all the ones I've ever installed are bolt-on application. Everything I'm seeing listed for the Fiesta is also a bolt-on:
https://www.etrailer.com/hitch-2016_Ford_Fiesta.htm

 

[Wiring3826]

Ugh, I just realized that the only hitch on eTrailer available for the hatchback is the Curt Class I, and I believe all of Curt's class I hitches require the use of their "stabilizing straps" for cantilevered loads such as bike racks. Does anyone here actually use those stabilizing straps? I had a Curt class I on my Impreza and could NOT figure out a good way to route the straps over the hatchback spoiler, so ditched them right away. But perhaps that's partly what contributed to my unhappiness with the stability of the hitch/rack combo.

It's not listed on eTrailer, but Draw-Tite does offer a Class I hitch that does NOT require the use of the straps:
https://www.draw-tite.com/product/24961_class-i-trailer-hitch

It's a real bummer that Torklift does not offer an Eco Hitch version for the Fiesta. That's the model I had on the Impreza and it was considerably beefier than the Draw-Tite or Curt options.

 

[Wiring3826]

I have the 1up rack and just use an enlarger to go from the small hitch to the 2". Works fine.

Sounds like when you first started this thread, you did not yet have a hitch rack for your FiST. Are you now saying that you installed a hitch rack and are using the enlarger/1up rack with it?

The thing that makes me uncomfortable about using the enlarger is that it increases the leverage the bike rack has on the hitch. So any flexing in the hitch that was already present is now exacerbated. The ability to go with a 2" bike rack greatly reduces flex on the bike rack side of things.

Reading through this thread it seems like many people have complained about flex from both the Curt and Draw-Tite hitch designs, which is unfortunate.

 

[wcnST]

I am not noticing any issues at all with this set up. I have had MANY roof racks and hitch racks. I would never have more than 2 bikes on there anyway.

 

[SPhilli911]

Ugh, I just realized that the only hitch on eTrailer available for the hatchback is the Curt Class I, and I believe all of Curt's class I hitches require the use of their "stabilizing straps" for cantilevered loads such as bike racks. Does anyone here actually use those stabilizing straps? I had a Curt class I on my Impreza and could NOT figure out a good way to route the straps over the hatchback spoiler, so ditched them right away. But perhaps that's partly what contributed to my unhappiness with the stability of the hitch/rack combo.

It's not listed on eTrailer, but Draw-Tite does offer a Class I hitch that does NOT require the use of the straps:
https://www.draw-tite.com/product/24961_class-i-trailer-hitch

It's a real bummer that Torklift does not offer an Eco Hitch version for the Fiesta. That's the model I had on the Impreza and it was considerably beefier than the Draw-Tite or Curt options.

I have the stabilizing strap but there is no way to properly use it on the car due to the wing. Maybe if the wing has risers it may be able to slip under the wing and attach to the top of the trunk but I don't really like the idea of doing that either.

I sometimes carry 2 bikes on a 1.25" Curt hitch, each mountain bike being around 34lbs plus the weight of the bike rack itself is quite a lot at 110lbs about total. I honestly don't like it, hitting bumps and seeing the rack sway makes me nervous and I can hear it rubbing, but I don't really have an option and I don't know if it can be an issue or if I am being paranoid but if others share the same concern then I am not so sure I want to continue moving 2 bikes.

But, I've used the hitch with 2 bikes for a few months and have gotten under the car to check things out. There is no indication that the hitch flexing is an issue, the bolts are properly torqued and all of that. Sometimes my brother takes the 2 bikes on his VW GTI, also with a 1.25" hitch and his sways and moves as well without straps... I know its a different car/ different hitch, but maybe some amount of movement is normal?

 

[thecman02]

I can't say that I desired any more rigidity from my hitch using the drawtite 200lb rated setup. I'm running a Thule T2 Pro bike rack now. I will say that I think fuel mileage when you have bicycles mounted is better with the rooftop compared to the hitch version. My bikes are like parachutes on the back and my MPG's go from 30ish on e30 to about 26.

Link to the hitch I used. I will say that it does move around some, but nothing I would consider out of the ordinary, and I don't have squeaks or any bad noises like some of the others are talking about. The only noise I had was from the stock muffler knocking against the hitch mount. Before I went side exit I used the Whoosh Motorsports poly mounts and bent my exhaust hangers to pull it away from the mount and that got rid of the knocking I experienced.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B073SMR5H3/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Wiring3826]

I appreciate everyone's contributions to this thread so far! @thecman02 interesting note about the gas mileage - I guess I always figured the hitch mounted solution would result in better fuel efficiency. Maybe the cross-sectional area of the FiST is so small that the bikes act like a parachute as you said! I want to say mpg was better with the hitch mount on the Impreza, but can't be certain.

After all the agonizing the over-analyzing, we decided to start with a roof rack setup. Ordered some Rhino cross bars from etrailer and will be mounting up some 1Up roof trays. The nice thing about the 1Up roof trays is that they can be converted to a hitch rack down the line by purchasing a couple extra parts. Love the durability and modularity of this system.

The hitch-mounted 1Up rack was pretty mangled from our rear-end accident in the Subaru, but I managed to move some parts around and salvage a single tray hitch rack that is more or less good to go (couple parts are slightly tweaked, but ehhh....).