I'm new. I'm obsessed. And I got questions

[booyah]

One question I do not see here has to do with a Honda Fit towing a 5x8 sized trailer. A Fit is smaller than a Civic but bigger than say my Geo Metro/Suzuki Swift, but not by much. After towing my 4x8 well over 15000++ miles with my mid-sized PU and no trailer brakes, would I ever try to tow it with my Geo/Suzuki Swift?? NO !! and it has great brakes!! (couldn't care less what others thing of them, am on #7 after 300thou miles of use out most of the others!!) First off it is not even rated to be able to tow anything along I don't even think a hitch is even made for one. My point here is, if I was to even think about towing with a car this small, the first thing I would be concerned with was finding a trailer with trailer brakes (electric brakes). The trailer will weight what is empty but than weighted down with A/C etc. along with whatever you are planning on carrying when traveling, how much weight are we talking about?? Mine starts at about 900 lbs. and ends up at about 1250 to 1400 lbs. loaded along with whatever other weight is added to the car/truck itself when traveling. The trailer-world along with a lot of states say that trailers over 1500 lbs. need trailer brakes (my owners manual for my last 3 PU's states that any trailer over 1000 lbs. should have trailer brakes which is probably written in there to protect the vehicle manufacturer probably just to say - we told you so!). Mine does fine without them but I can tell you, there are times when I could have used them when going some down hills I've been on being I do feel the weight back there!!!! And now to finish, if I can remember these words that someone has written on this website that I have read here before goes something like ....You can go down a hill over a thousand times slow, but the first time fast - could be your last!!... take care and stay safe

So, I don't know what the little guy is rated for weight, but my 5x8 benroy that I built to be light weighs in at 860lbs loaded for war. (quick google check says 1060lbs for the 5x10 ss)

I tow just fine on a 1.8l Scion XD (rated for 2000lbs in the UK, not rated in the US) as long as I am reasonable with it. You don't need a gigantic rig to pull a teardrop. Now I know people go back and forth on this, but the Honda Jazz (same car as the fit overseas) is rated to over 2000lbs as well.

Drive slow, be careful and know you're making your own choices and taking your own chances, and you will probably be just fine.

[rmclarke]

If you're planning to drive anywhere in the west..from the Rockies to the left coast...unless you plan your route carefully, you will encounter lots of mountain passes. And the concern about your Honda Fit's towing and braking ability here, is I think, valid.

Yes, there are lots of flat places in the west where you would probably have no problem, but, there are also many places with steep grades. For example, Mt. Ashland on I-5 at the southern Oregon border is over 7500' high and it has a 6% grade for over 6 miles in both directions.

My trailer is 760lbs unloaded and probably 1100 lb loaded; I used to pull it with a manual, 6cyl 3liter Ford Ranger, and going up Mt Ashland, I would have to shift down into 3rd for much of the way up (sometimes down to 35mph) on the shoulder with big rigs blowing by me at freeway speed......scary! And going down on the other side was no picnic either; Even with the weight of my rig (and I have no trailer brakes), I was always sweating the brakes overheating or just plain failing.

To cut to the chase here, plan your route very carefully and please do consider trailer brakes!

R.

[Vedette]

We have towed over 34,000 miles over the past 3 years with Miss Piggy weighing 1450 lbs fully loaded (which is the way you will always travel) with "NO Trailer Brakes". We have towed with both my 1946 Studebaker PU and our Hyundai Santa Fe over mountain passes as high as 12,000 ft. Never had a worry! of coarse both the Studebaker and the Hyundai have ample power and good brakes.
We also have been known to tow at very high speeds.
My suggestion is, to not over think this??
Good Roads
Brian & Sandi

[gudmund]

Brian, question: would you ever think of using Sandi's old Hyundai Accent for towing say my trailer? which is not much bigger than my Suzuki Swift but just a touch smaller than a Honda Civic - well that is the approx. size of a Honda Fit. A lot smaller than a V6 270HP Santa Fe or a V8 powered PU with a lot Smaller brakes to boot!! Not me. Yes, there are some high elevation/steep hills here in the west but there are also a lot of steep ones in the east, maybe with out the elevation numbers of the west but STEEP!! What I remember most was the hills going east/west though in Maryland though the Appalachian mountains - Steep!!!!

[Vedette]

Ted
My towing experience has always been with a tow vehicle that was adequate for the job!
Except for the time I borrowed my mother's Toyota Hilux PU and a friends tandem axle trailer to move a 1940 Ford Coupe I bought.
Going down bridge hill into Kelowna I realized that the trailer was steering the truck and the speedo was saying 70 mph while I was only doing 50 mph. That is when I realized the trailer had picked the back of the truck up by the ball and the rear wheels where not on the road anymore??? It was quite the ride to the bottom!
I am not familiar with small tow vehicles anymore, but did have a fellow Teardrop Camper here at the farm with his teardrop behind a Mini heading for Alaska.
Our buddy Hans tells me I should have brakes on Kermit, because he had to add them to his build, after towing it over the mountains with his VW GTI.
Good Roads
Brian & Sandi

[gudmund]

I think Kermit will be fine being the Santa Fe probably has as big of brakes as it has wheels & tires which one of the main reasons why in the last 10 years or so we are seeing much larger wheels & tires on the newer vehicles which allows larger brakes for better braking. Now saying this probably includes the Honda Fit in having bigger and better brakes also but my main point here would be to check them out being this car is on the small size and when it comes to brakes it is something to think about.

[mrredrocker]

If you're planning to drive anywhere in the west..from the Rockies to the left coast...unless you plan your route carefully, you will encounter lots of mountain passes. And the concern about your Honda Fit's towing and braking ability here, is I think, valid.

Yes, there are lots of flat places in the west where you would probably have no problem, but, there are also many places with steep grades. For example, Mt. Ashland on I-5 at the southern Oregon border is over 7500' high and it has a 6% grade for over 6 miles in both directions.

To cut to the chase here, plan your route very carefully and please do consider trailer brakes!

R.

Thank you for the cautionary note. I did decide to purchase the 5x8 Silver Shadow and got it home today from North Miss. While folks from the northwest would laugh at what we call "hills" in the southeast, I definitely could feel the difference coming down small hills on the way home.

I have a Curt hitch on my Fit and the Curt website says 2000 lb capacity with 200lb tongue weight. Little Guy's website says the SS is 850lbs dry. I recognize I'll add more weight once packed.

It's the base model, without brakes. I'm open to adding them just unsure of the cost. With my Fit having a manual transmission my hope was to both be careful with route planning and keep the car in a lower gear going down inclines. If anyone has a thread bookmarked with such a project, I'd like to look into it. I have a few months before embarking and I'm going to look at A/C options as it is...

[Vedette]

Congrats on the new purchase!
Welcome to the world of Teardrop Camping.
Hope you both enjoy the ride!!!
Good Roads
Brian & Sandi

[booyah]

Thank you for the cautionary note. I did decide to purchase the 5x8 Silver Shadow and got it home today from North Miss. While folks from the northwest would laugh at what we call "hills" in the southeast, I definitely could feel the difference coming down small hills on the way home.

I have a Curt hitch on my Fit and the Curt website says 2000 lb capacity with 200lb tongue weight. Little Guy's website says the SS is 850lbs dry. I recognize I'll add more weight once packed.

It's the base model, without brakes. I'm open to adding them just unsure of the cost. With my Fit having a manual transmission my hope was to both be careful with route planning and keep the car in a lower gear going down inclines. If anyone has a thread bookmarked with such a project, I'd like to look into it. I have a few months before embarking and I'm going to look at A/C options as it is...

Good on ya!

Hope you get lot of miles and stories out of it. Hopefully not the scary stories

[gudmund]

Now, being I am the guilty one for bring up the issue about brakes - I will now pass on a suggestion you could check into about your front disc brake pads. I do NOT know if this is even a option for your Honda Fit and this will take some research to find it out. Most-almost all "cars" today coma with Ceramic front brake pads which they are using now to eliminate the black brake dust we used to see on our wheels - there still is dust, its just that ceramic just leaves a white dust, not the black. Well, ceramic pads do not stop as well as the old semi-metallic pads of yesterday which are still being used on large pick-ups for towing being they stop better. (in fact. when I was researching I found some of the ceramic pad info that said - "NOT recommended for towing" with their pads.) My Chevy Colorado, being it is just a small PU came with ceramic pads when new, well I did not like them at all when towing and made the change to the old tried and true Semi-metallic pads of yesterday and yes they were a big improvement over the stock ceramic pads!!(but also, YES I now get black front wheels in between car washs!!). A lot of after-market brake manufactures offer many different variations of brake pad versions and there probably is someone out there that makes pads for you car that could give better brake response for towing. Just a suggestion. Take care and enjoy the new trailer!!!!

[mrredrocker]

A lot of after-market brake manufactures offer many different variations of brake pad versions and there probably is someone out there that makes pads for you car that could give better brake response for towing. Just a suggestion. Take care and enjoy the new trailer!!!!

This is a fantastic suggestion (possible compromise on the trailer brakes?). I already had on my to-do list to proactively put new brake pads on the Fit and I didn't consider the possibility of beefing up with something aftermarket. Thanks!

[gudmund]

I checked the website that I bought my brake pads from and there are different versions of brake pads being offered by the many company's selling brake pads for Honda Fits. I just bought the pads and installed them myself and what a difference they made over the stock/OEM ones that came on my vehicle (Mine are now the 'EBC' brand one) The company's name is "Place for Brakes" phone #1888-512-7253

[gudmund]

NAPA Auto Parts (along with other, I'm sure, auto parts stores) also offers different brands of brake pads and usually can give you the make-up of what the pad is made of.

[Redneck Teepee]

Ted
My towing experience has always been with a tow vehicle that was adequate for the job!
Except for the time I borrowed my mother's Toyota Hilux PU and a friends tandem axle trailer to move a 1940 Ford Coupe I bought.
Going down bridge hill into Kelowna I realized that the trailer was steering the truck and the speedo was saying 70 mph while I was only doing 50 mph. That is when I realized the trailer had picked the back of the truck up by the ball and the rear wheels where not on the road anymore??? It was quite the ride to the bottom!
I am not familiar with small tow vehicles anymore, but did have a fellow Teardrop Camper here at the farm with his teardrop behind a Mini heading for Alaska.
Our buddy Hans tells me I should have brakes on Kermit, because he had to add them to his build, after towing it over the mountains with his VW GTI.
Good Roads
Brian & Sandi

I've posted this before but I could not help myself after reading about tow vehicles not up to the task at hand.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyXgMal3C1U

[Metaxa]

The brake pad suggestion is brilliant and one many of us won't have thought off.
The black brake dust issue is almost negated if you wax your wheels and hose them off once a week.
Use real wheel wax not regular automotive body wax.

further, to make a smaller vehicle more tow friendly you can (over time and one by one if budget necessitates) have a shop add both a stand alone transmission and oil cooler to your vehicle.
Both increase your fluid capacity a bit and definitely increase your ability to shed heat on those long pulls.

I'd also ask you to ponder on replacing your brake fluid with silicone fluid. definitely more expensive but any normal driver in a non track prepped vehicle is not going to be able to boil it.

We camp/tear drop because we don't want to go 500 mph in an airplane or even 60 mph in an RV. I want to putter along, seeing things, stopping at neat stuff. So simply make sure that thought goes to your driving style. You aren't a zippy little in town vehicle any more, you are a tow unit and pulling at near manufacturer's limits.

Make sure your tires are properly inflated, make sure your struts/shocks are working properly, make sure your coolant is fresh and up to snuff, make sure every single thing you pack into the vehicle or tow behind it is needed, not just wanted. Every pound costs you either in fuel mileage or in wear and tear on stuff.