In auto racing, there aren’t very many times you can communicate verbally. For this reason, we use various colors and flags to communicate to the other drivers, team mates, and rescue crews to get the message across. There is one specific color and car feature I would like to go over today.
The aftermarket world has many parts to choose from, which is great for the consumer. Unfortunately, not every company creates the most accurate parts for the application. One of these products are hooks and tie downs for your car. These are great tools, and a must have to either tie your car down to the trailer or have an emergency crew drag your car out of the grass on track. There is a big distinction that needs to be made though, and no one is really talking about it.
Tow hooks are just that, a hook that is easily latched on to for an emergency vehicle to tow your car out of a bad situation. Tie downs, are not the same as tow hooks and should not be used as recovery points. Tie downs are specifically there to tie your car down to a trailer. Because of this, the color of these two “hooks” are very important.
The majority of the aftermarket powder coats or paints every hook, tow strap, or tie down red. Red is the appropriate color for a recovery point only. Tie down points should be colored yellow, because it is a safety point. This is an important distinction that is always missed. If you spin out at a track day event, the emergency team knows to look for red recovery points. It could be very dangerous, or even harmful to the car if they tried to pull it out using a tie down point. Usually tie down points do not have the structural integrity behind them as a tow recovery point does.
Because of this, we are now offering safety yellow tie down hooks for the BMW E30, E36 and E46. These tie down hooks easily attach to your rear shock mounting bolt
and is a great way to hold your car down to the trailer.
In the end just remember, if it is not an emergency, it should not be red.
BMW E30, E36, E46 Rear Trailer Tie Down - CLICK TO BUY