Most Popular Locks Not Included for 2008 Volkswagen Passat

So far so good.

Not great. Slightly dented my car on the first use with only two bikes on it :( Was hoping it would be easy and work well

I installed this on a 2008 Volkswagen Passat Sedan. The etrailer reviews, and videos are really what sold me on this rack. This rack is well built and feels solid. It is easy enough to unbolt, fold it up, and toss it in the trunk when not in use. Having a threaded bolt securing the rack to the hitch may sound like a pain, but it really is not. Keep a ratchet in your car, and it unbolts quick enough. The trade off is that the rack does not move while driving. At ALL. The rack is easy to adjust for different bikes, and you can take off the parts if you only bring one bike. On the passat I needed a bungee to secure my pedal when using the inner position so that the pedal did not come in contact with the paint. The rack has plenty of clearance, and curves up. My car is lowered with sport springs, and the rack is nowhere near the road. If I had more cars, I would buy more of these swagman racks.

Installed and worked as advertised. We have two 29" Giant MBs that play well together on the rack. They don't touch or rub at all.

The good: I like the way the bikes are held in and the ability to add the upright adapters to the bike frame holders. The straps are quality too. For a jeep with a spare tire, this is the perfect length to clear it. This rack is 5 stars from the bike holders to the base of it. The bad: the 2"receiver adapter and bolt are insufficient. I wish they made this in a solid 2" hitch. The entire setup is held into the receiver by a very short bolt. It only goes about half way into the receiver tube. So your hitch is only "secured" on one side. A hitch pin or bolt should go through the receiver tube completely imo so it can be secured on the other end with a retaining clip or nut. Because this only goes in the one side, the entire weight of the rack plus bikes are held tight to one side of the receiver by the undersized bolt and washer. A few bumps down the road and that bolt loosens. Now instead of distibuting the weight of the rack and bikes on the receiver and post, it's completely up to the bolt to keep you from losing the rack. The bolt threads get damaged too. I took this down a dirt road and nearly lost everything. I had to buy my own bolt with hd fender washers and lock washers to correct this. Thule should've provided this from the start. The current short bolt design where only one side of the receiver secures the rack is unacceptable. This rack is 1 star at best for the connection to the receiver.

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I bought this bike rack back in April but wanted to make sure I used it to give the best review. First I want to say I did a lot of research on bike racks and found this one to be the best one to fit my needs. The best price I found was on etrailer.com, at the time it was When I called the customer service to place my order, I spoke to Dan. He was very pleasant on the phone and took the time and listened to what I needed and understood my concerns. I ordered the bike rack and also ordered the Thule Snug Tite Hitch Lock and Anti-Rattle Device and the Thule Cable Lock w/ One Key System Lock. Dan suggested I also get the Thule Bike Adapter Bar, which I never even thought of getting. Delivery was in about two business days, which was really fast and at the time of order they were running a special free delivery over $99. When I went to put it together I noticed I was missing the flat cap screw M6 x 16mm, part number #853-5787-02. I emailed Dan and within 24 hours received an email that the part was sent out and also in the email their was a link to track the order. After I received the part I did notice that the flat cap screw was actually in the 2 inch adaptor sleeve. The instructions were very easy to read, and it took me about 20 minutes to put together. I did have an issue when I positioned the stinger into the cradle, with the 8mm locking nut, it was not staying tight and when I took it off I noticed the threads inside were gone, so I ended up going out to Lowes and buying a new one and its holds perfectly fine. I also had a question about that part because it is not a locking part and was worried someone would try to steal the rack. I contacted etrailer.com to find if they make a locking device for this and they said no but I can contact Thule to double check, I'm still waiting for an answer back from Thule. The weather finally broke and we installed the rack onto my hitch, tightened it and it doesn't rattle. When I finally used the rack and put my bike on, it did sway a little but at 50 mph I was very happy with it. The trailer comes out just enough away from my car that I do not have to fold completely out and I can open my trunk with no issues. I am very happy with my purchase and had a great customer experience with Dan. Would highly recommend ordering from them to anyone.

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Not great. Slightly dented my car on the first use with only two bikes on it :( Was hoping it would be easy and work well

So far so good.

It works great! Easy, quick, you know. One needs to screw in the hitch bolt, for some reason, before latching it. Other than that, it makes going bike riding way easier.

I like the overall design of this rack, but unfortunately after hauling a couple bikes around for a while the point where the crossbar connects has apparently rounded off so the rack swings back and forth. I've used rope to tie the ends of the rack to the car to stop this from getting worse, but it's inconvenient. Note: the hitch connection itself is good and solid, but the point where the crossbar connects to the bar coming from the hitch has gotten loose and there's no way that I can see to tighten it.

This is a very solid product! I have used it for over a year now and love it! I have had up to 3 bikes on this without a problem and have traveled over 8 hours in the car one way with absolutely no issues. Many other bike racks like this one that I see on other cars look unstable this is not unstable in anyway. I did have to file some of the paint off of the rack to get it to fit in my 1 and 1/4" hitch but once that was done it has been perfect. I also bought the locking hitch bolt which is awesome too.

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Quick and reliable shipping and was able to take to my mechanic to get it installed and it works perfectly with my bike rack!

Everything about the hitch itself is as-advertised. Installation was straightforward, and the end result looks great on the back of the car (2015 Passat). It is tucked in and not intrusive. The 4-bike rack, based on our bikes, does not really hold 4 bikes at a time. It has straps for 4 bikes, and they adjust, but with adult size bikes, it unfortunately is not enough room. I could imagine them working if a couple of the bikes were small child size, but our youngest is now over 5 feet tall, so we are all on adult size bikes. Also the bike rack when installed drags the pavement backing out of our driveway, which is not steep, even when not loaded with the bikes. The bottom of the bike rack should angle up from where it inserts into the hitch more steeply, instead of coming out square from the hitch as far as it needs to to clear the bumper. The rack does seem to hold 3 bikes securely, though, and it tips out of the way while installed on the car to allow for trunk access, so while not perfect, is reasonably useable.

Nice bike rack ! Saddles are well made and none of the ears that hold the straps in place have broken like they have with other brands I've owned. It came with 1 strap for each saddle and the straps seem just a tad stretchy. I looked on line and found that Home Depot has a good price for the straps so I now have 2 straps on each saddle. I've got it on a 1&1/4 hitch, but it came with an adapter for a 2 inch. It holds 3 road bikes. I used it all the time.

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