The Hooks that Look Like Tow Hooks on the Miata

On the front of the vehicle, aren't really for towing per the manual.
Have any of you not knowing that, ever used them for towing??? If so,
what was the result??

On Wed, 6 Feb 2008 17:52:44 -0800, (S K) wrote:

>On the front of the vehicle, aren't really for towing per the manual.
>Have any of you not knowing that, ever used them for towing??? If so,
>what was the result??

These hooks are commonly called "baby teeth". The manual does indeed
say that they are not to be used for towing. This has lead to spirited
discussions of the definition of "towing", whether it means pulling
the car out of a ditch vs long distance towing.

I took mine off just because they were so ugly.

Natman wrote:
> On Wed, 6 Feb 2008 17:52:44 -0800, (S K) wrote:
>
>> On the front of the vehicle, aren't really for towing per the manual.
>> Have any of you not knowing that, ever used them for towing??? If so,
>> what was the result??
>
> These hooks are commonly called "baby teeth". The manual does indeed
> say that they are not to be used for towing. This has lead to spirited
> discussions of the definition of "towing", whether it means pulling
> the car out of a ditch vs long distance towing.
>
> I took mine off just because they were so ugly.

They tie-down hooks, as I understand it. In particular,
they're apparently useful for tie-downs on a flatbed tow
truck.

Dana

Dana Myers wrote:
> Natman wrote:
>> On Wed, 6 Feb 2008 17:52:44 -0800, (S K) wrote:
>>
>>> On the front of the vehicle, aren't really for towing per the
>>> manual. Have any of you not knowing that, ever used them for
>>> towing??? If so, what was the result??
>>
>> These hooks are commonly called "baby teeth". The manual does indeed
>> say that they are not to be used for towing. This has lead to
>> spirited discussions of the definition of "towing", whether it means
>> pulling the car out of a ditch vs long distance towing.
>>
>> I took mine off just because they were so ugly.
>
> They tie-down hooks, as I understand it. In particular,
> they're apparently useful for tie-downs on a flatbed tow
> truck.
>
> Dana

My understanding is that although you aren't recommended to tow with them,
you can probably get away with it in an emergency.

I seem to remember reading somewhere that the one thing you must remember is
to attach a seperate rope to each one, rather than making a triangle through
them with a single rope, which tends to pull them towards eachother under
load.
It's early so I've not attempted to figure out the actual physics involved
here, but it sounds reasonable?!

R.

pws wrote:

> I have not used the hooks to tow, but my main concerns would be damage
> from a chain coming out from that area hitting the body work

I believe that's the reason Mazda don't recommend them for towing. Some
of the JDM Roadsters/MX-5s are pretty slammed compared to UK or US cars,
which exacerbates the problem.

On 2008-02-07, S K > wrote:

> On the front of the vehicle, aren't really for towing per the
> manual.

FWIW, they intended to be used to tie the car down while
shipping.

--
Grant Edwards grante Yow! ... My pants just went
at on a wild rampage through a
visi.com Long Island Bowling Alley!!

"Grant Edwards" > wrote in message
...
> On 2008-02-07, S K > wrote:
>
>> On the front of the vehicle, aren't really for towing per the
>> manual.
>
> FWIW, they intended to be used to tie the car down while
> shipping.
>
> --
> Grant Edwards grante Yow! ... My pants just
> went
> at on a wild rampage
> through a
> visi.com Long Island Bowling
> Alley!!


I removed mine the day I bought the car. I thought everyone did.

pws > wrote:

> Frank Berger wrote:
>
>> I removed mine the day I bought the car. I thought everyone did.
>
> The previous owners of my first Miata left them on for a 3 years,
> I had them off within a week.
>
> I have never seen the tie-down hooks that came with the current
> car, but I see quite a few Miatas around town with them in place.

Mine is one. I have no reason to remove them and no reason to leave
them on. Since the first requires me to do nothing, that fits well
with my policy of "Lazyness Above All!"


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XS11E, Killing all posts from Google Groups
The Usenet Improvement Project:
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XS11E wrote:
> pws > wrote:
>
>> Frank Berger wrote:
>>
>>> I removed mine the day I bought the car. I thought everyone did.
>> The previous owners of my first Miata left them on for a 3 years,
>> I had them off within a week.
>>
>> I have never seen the tie-down hooks that came with the current
>> car, but I see quite a few Miatas around town with them in place.
>
> Mine is one. I have no reason to remove them and no reason to leave
> them on. Since the first requires me to do nothing, that fits well
> with my policy of "Lazyness Above All!"
>
>
Most owners in the UK seem to leave them on. I was lucky - I got one of
the last intake grilles *without* the cutouts for the hooks.

http://www.peeble.com/rubbish/steel3.jpg

The sticky number plates are semi-legal over here; they make it look
very 1960s.

Zog The Undeniable > wrote:

> http://www.peeble.com/rubbish/steel3.jpg
>
> The sticky number plates are semi-legal over here; they make it
> look very 1960s.

I wish they were here, front license plates aren't required in Arizona
so I don't have mine on the car and I don't have the original Miata
mount which is OK, I don't like it! But I would like to have a front
plate, I have handicap plates and use handicap parking, people walking
by the car often get a bit upset. I even had one police officer make a
big detour around the rear of the car to check the plate.

So I wouldn't mind a front plate but I don't want any of the mounts
I've seen so far, particularly the fold down thing that I've seen...




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