arudeone

I'm doing Atlanta PEC delivery and planning on towing my GT4 home. I figured I should make sure I don't show up and not have what I need to strap the car down, so I was reading through some older threads on tie downs and found folks were either using wheel straps or buying some Rennline connection points that they attached to the car.

I use t-hooks and snap hooks on my other cars and was hoping I could just keep using what I have. I did a field trip to my dealer to have a look under a GT4 they have in their showroom and low and behold the car does have the same frame holes at the jack points like my other cars.

So, FYI, if you tow your car to the track like me, this is another tie down option.

Links below on the hardware I use:

https://www.truckntow.com/vulcan-t-h...-4700-lbs.html

https://www.truckntow.com/vulcan-sna...king-load.html

grue

Asking as a newbie that has never trailered a GT4, why not use straps through the wheels?

LehmanZ06

I’m thinking the best way would be a j hook into the hole by the jack point behind each wheel. Cross the fronts and cross the rears. That how I’ve towed every car I ever had, with the exception of an Elise which I used the wheels. Personally I wouldn’t want to put star apes around the wheels.

arudeone

Some is personal preference and such. There is a school of thought that using wheel straps is better to allow the car to move on it's suspension normally. Conversely, some may be concerned with damaging/scratching the wheels, etc.

I've always used the method described in my post, so stubbornly continuing...

arudeone

Agreed, I believe you are describing my precise method.

Bill Lehman

I used wheel straps crossed front and rear on my Cayman S and GT4 for the last 6 years doing at least 6 events a year with no issues. I did have a winch and left it hooked with some slack to the tow ring.

sobiloff

Someone on another forum turned me on to Mac's Custom Tiedowns. Fantastic quality, and the smoothest working ratchets I've ever used—no more binding. I'm a fan of going through the wheels, or using wheel nets if I'm concerned about the wheel finish, and Mac's caters to both options. Wheels don't bounce as much as the body does, and bouncing can cause open systems (J hooks) to detach. Admittedly not often if you're doing it right, but I prefer the additional safety of a closed system (snap hooks).

ExMB

You will find proponents for crossing and straight tie down. The same for a loaded or unloaded suspension tie down. I prefer going through the wheels straight and leave my suspension unloaded. I also check my tie downs after leaving home and before entering the highway to verify tightness and no chance of stretch.
IMHO opening crossing strap could allow for the load to be pulled sideways if one strap loosens even a little. With the little room the trailer affords on the side of the car I'd rather not take that chance.
$0.02

Nickshu

I'm a big fan of the Rennline tie down system, but they have not yet figured out a rear tie-down bracket for the 718 GT4, only the 981. The front they make for the 981 does work on the 718, I bought a set and confirmed it. Hopefully they will come up with a rear solution soon. All the aero panels on the bottom of the 718 GT4 make it difficult.

hf1

Wheel straps to allow the car's suspension to soak up the bumps. Trailers' suspension is stiff and basic. Tying the car's frame directly to the trailer adds extra stress and acceleration for both the car and the tie downs which are more likely to loosen up from those forces. No crossing, parallel is just fine.

m3bs

I towed an M3 with crossed straps and T-hooks for 20 years, never had one loosen. I bought a ZL1 1LE early this year and had to switch to wheel straps, straight connection. Macs sells a padded fleece wheel strap to protect the wheel finish that has worked well for me so far. They have a tendency to loosen as the padding settles, so I’ve learned to stop and snug the straps after a few miles. No sign of strap damage damage to the wheel finish after five trips to the track. I’ll probably use the same setup when I upgrade to my GT4.

http://www.macscustomtiedowns.com/pr...ap/Axle-Straps

Nickshu

Reviving this thread as I'll be tying down my 982 GT4 in my enclosed trailer for a DE event next weekend. Doing a trial tie down a day early this weekend. I have found on the front, because of the large/low/flat splitter (much lower and longer than the 981's), that through the wheel tie downs hit the splitter even if your trailer attachment points are somewhat wider. I guess if they were really wide then it would work, but in most enclosed trailers you could not get wide enough to miss the splitter.

I tried some over the wheel tie downs (with rubber blocks) and the blocks were difficult to fit into the gap between the tire and fender especially on the rear, not to mention it's pretty tough to get access in an my enclosed trailer on the side without the door to get these on.

So what I am planning on is installing the Rennline front tie down brackets and going under the car to the front with those as the long angle should clear the front splitter. On the rear Through-The-Wheel tie downs work fine. Eventually once Rennline comes up with a rear tiedown solution that fits on the 982 I'll switch to that, but for now the TTW tie downs should work.

ExMB

Have you tried axle straps into which you hook? I found those placed properly will not hit the splitter but run flat under it.

enduro

Thanks for this thread; considering driving out and trailering my new GT4 back home; dealership is about 16 hours from here.

Just ordered both the rennline and the t-hooks, going to try the crossed method and the front Rennline hooks first. Rennline now has 718 rear hooks, however they indicate 'trimming is necessary for GT4'. Going to see how much trimming is necessary before installing.

I've run the straps through wheels in the past on my other cars, but I don't really like the method and given the low profile of the car and current placement of my tiedown locations, I think it'd get into the splitter for the fronts. For my UTV, I run a set of vulcan tire loops, but those will be a bad idea for this car.

The way my trailer is built, I think the crossed method will work best for the GT4, though I may ultimately set it up with different tiedown points, so that's what I'm planning on running. The axle straps would be optimum, but that's for a different style trailer.

lnirenberg

When I used to tow car to track I had e-track installed on the trailer and e-track wheel straps that go over the tires.