Loading Nissan Z on the back of a flatbed tow truck

[Ray74]

Hi there just looking for some advice, RACQ collected my car as I ran over something large and the tire deflate very quickly had to have the car towed to the nearest tyre centre inserted toe hook at front of vehicle but was advised by tow truck driver that he was not going to load it on the truck using the tow hook, instead he tied two nylon straps around the lower control arms to pull up on to flatbed truck very slowly, was wanting advice to know if that was a safe way to do it or possibly could damage the control arms, thank you in advance for any information

 

[Who.Am.Eye.2716]

That is standard towing procedure. Thats how they all do it. Some cars have hooks under the left and right front subframe, behind the front bumper that they can use. Our cars do not have that option

Tow hook would have been nice, but some tow companies will not use it. Its can be a liability if the tow hook breaks and flies and hits a person, or damage property

 

[Ray74]

That is standard towing procedure. Thats how they all do it. Some cars have hooks under the left and right front subframe, behind the front bumper that they can use. Our cars do not have that option

Tow hook would have been nice, but some tow companies will not use it. Its can be a liability if the tow hook breaks and flies and hits a person, or damage property

Thank you so very much for your reply .

 

[MacCool]

I agree that hooking up to the control arms for a flatbed tow is SOP, but one common concern regarding loading onto most flatbeds is the front air dam/lip. For the same reason that these Z's are not shipped from the mfgr with those things installed. They generally need to be removed before loading onto a car carrier/trailer or you risk them being torn off as the vehicle tries to make to angle from road to ramp.

 

[Ray74]

I agree that hooking up to the control arms for a flatbed tow is SOP, but one common concern regarding loading onto most flatbeds is the front air dam/lip. For the same reason that these Z's are not shipped from the mfgr with those things installed. They generally need to be removed before loading onto a car carrier/trailer or you risk them being torn off as the vehicle tries to make to angle from road to ramp.

Yes we were very concerned The bottom of the tow truck had a strap that was able to hold it down very minimal pressure on that lip at the bottom also thank you for your reply great advice.

 

[Ray74]

Might be a dumb question because I know they're pretty strong but is the lower control arm strong enough to support the weight of the car pulling it up onto a flatbed truck.