will a 2004 chevy impla tow a 1500# trailer

do you guys think my impla will tow this trailer

thanks Bob

Re: will a 2004 chevy impla tow a 1500# trailer

max tow rating is 1000 pounds... The vehicle itself is capable, the problem with the impalla in particular is a noodle weak unibody subframe. (actually IIRC there isn't even a rear subframe really, more or less slightly thicker sheet metal.) Not at all unusual for a FWD vehicle though, pretty common.

1500# on a trailer will bend the mounting points if you are lucky, if you are unlucky you will rip the hitch completely off.


all that said, if it is an HONEST 1500# pounds, and you aren't going to exceed 25 mph, I'd say tow it. If that is just the rated spec of the boat, all up ready to go weight is probably over 2000 pounds. And at anything above 25 mph, a decent bump in the road or a sudden stop will rip the hitch off.

Re: will a 2004 chevy impla tow a 1500# trailer

The w-body platform could handle small loads, and probably handle yours but you will put a serious hurtin' on the car. I'm not sure of your situation, but maybe find a beater or some sort of truck to do the dirty work.

Re: will a 2004 chevy impla tow a 1500# trailer

well i had the boat wieghted at a scarp yard and fully loaded the boat wieghted in at 1540#s

i didn't think towing it with the car would be a problem since the only hitch i can buy is a class 2

thanks Bob

Re: will a 2004 chevy impla tow a 1500# trailer

Well, you would be placing everyone in jeopardy who drives on the same roads...... automatically at fault in the case of an accident and I doubt insurance companies would cover you.

Very foolish to exceed the tow rating. ......... Please don't tell me you are in VT because I would not want to see you on my road.

Re: will a 2004 chevy impla tow a 1500# trailer

The hitch isn't the issue, it's the structural integrity of the vehicle it's mounted on. Could you do it? Probably could. Should you? Probably not. And if you did run into any problems don't expect any support from your insurance company.

Re: will a 2004 chevy impla tow a 1500# trailer

My 2 cents

The Class 2 hitch won't break. Your car will break

Re: will a 2004 chevy impla tow a 1500# trailer

pmillar said:

The hitch isn't the issue, it's the structural integrity of the vehicle it's mounted on. Could you do it? Probably could. Should you? Probably not. And if you did run into any problems don't expect any support from your insurance company.

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yep, exactly! To the OP... crawl under and see if you see any solid metal framework. Should be boxed in on at least 3 sides if not all four. Last time I crawled under an impalla there wasn't anything close to a solid subframe. without that, the hitch will rip right off the vehicle, damaging it in the process, as well as losing your trailer. Bad part about that type of accident is that safety chains do nothing, they stay attached to your now departed hitch.

Re: will a 2004 chevy impla tow a 1500# trailer

I just rented a newer Impala on vacation, it had 1200 miles on it and it left me stranded with a blown trans. The thing couldn't take a weekend of mountain driving with four big people in it.
The brakes were warped after the first few stops too. There's no way I'd add 1,500 pounds to the back of one of those cars. I took the Impala since they didn't have the Mercury Grand Marquis or any other full sized car.
They somehow now figure that an Impala FWD is a full size car. In my opinion it's no bigger than an old Ford Taurus or any other front wheel drive car. I absolutely can't imagine that car trying to stop an additional 1,540lbs at anything more than about 25 mph.

It might do the job for a couple mile tow, but try to make that car do highway duty with the added weight and a hitch is just looking for a major failure. Their not known for transmission longevity either, the local Police gave a few of them a shot a number of years ago and gave up on them due to the amount of trans and front drive failures.
After driving one for about 500 miles on vacation, I know now to never accept one again.


Do yourself a favor and find a car with a frame or a small pickup.

Re: will a 2004 chevy impla tow a 1500# trailer

I've been working with Impalas at the dealership for 3 years now and all ive seen from them are broken transmissions, engine failures, and messed up suspensions.

Now regarding the towing, that is a -100%. I would never tow anything with that car watsoever.The are not ment to be tow vehicles. So before you injure yourself and others, I recommend you get something that is actually to used as a tow vehicle.

Re: will a 2004 chevy impla tow a 1500# trailer

Don't be scared by the "you're going to rip the hitch off the car" comments. The only way you're going to pull the hitch through the sheet metal is if you install it without the load spreader blocks. The Impala hitch uses 6 attachment bolts, and each is supposed to have a 1/4 inch thick 1 x 3 inch load spreader block between the bolt head and the sheet metal. To rip the hitch off, you need to pull 18 square inches of load spreaders through the sheet metal. The force required to do that will break something else first.

I've tested this on a compact unibody car (a Saturn S-series). I've pulled a 1600 lb boat several thousand km. I've pulled the 2400 lb car out of a snowbank by the hitch (class I, max towing capacity 2000 lb) without damage. I also absent-mindedly pulled my empty boat trailer over a street sign. This wasn't one of those breakaway signs either - I hit it at about 25 - 30 km/h and within a few feet I was at less than walking speed with the trailer on it's side. It bent the sign over, mangled the trailer coupler and bent the receiver, but did not even begin to tear the sheet metal where it was bolted to the car.

As for towing safely and keeping the car from breaking down, the usual advice for towing heavy loads applies. Use top quality (preferably full synthetic) oil and transmission fluid and change at the recommended severe service intervals. Keep the cooling system well maintained. If you have an automatic transmission, install an extra transmission cooler and downshift manually if it can't decide what gear it wants to be in. As for brakes, 1500 lbs is less than 50% of the weight of the car, so trailer brakes aren't essential, but they're still a good idea.

Re: will a 2004 chevy impla tow a 1500# trailer

Titanium48 said:

I'm such an experienced towing expert that I tow my trailer over a street sign...... the company that made your car knows NOTHING about structural integrity.... They only limit the car to 1000 lbs because they are lazy and don't want to build them for folks with boats..... Definately take my strict testing procedure over those fools with the fancy computer simulations and structural torture tests

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Failure doesn't require the mounting points being ripped out but rather just a little too much flex over a period of time.... metal fatique does the rest....

Wanna test it? Find an old metal coat hanger and try your best to rip it in two..... Get 3 or 4 friends to help ... You can't pull it in half to save your life..... Now bend it sharply a dozen times at the same point and you will have two halves.... flexing can do the same thing but over a longer time with many more cycles

Re: will a 2004 chevy impla tow a 1500# trailer

^ Yes, I pulled a "stupid human trick", but I think the list of what broke and what didn't is relevant here. It's also not just the engineers who set tow ratings - the marketing department that wants you to buy a new truck to go with your new car has a say as well. Look at the tow ratings for the same vehicles sold in different markets. GM North America says a Chevrolet Aveo shouldn't tow anything, but GM UK says the same car can tow 400 kg (900 lb) without trailer brakes and 1000 kg (2200 lb) with trailer brakes. Obviously the North American rating is pure marketing BS.

Re: will a 2004 chevy impla tow a 1500# trailer

Two things you will hear almost everyone on this forum say...you can't tow with a car because it will rip the hitch off, and if you get in an accident insurance won't cover you.

Two things you will never hear on this forum is a single example of either.

Re: will a 2004 chevy impla tow a 1500# trailer

You're not going to "rip" the hitch off the car unless you put 1,500lbs of tounge weight on it. I installed a class I hidden hitch on an '04 grand prix (same platform), it was solidly mounted to the unibody with 6 mounting points.

I can't speak for the transmission life though, I'm not a fan of fwd cars and their tiny transmissions.

Re: will a 2004 chevy impla tow a 1500# trailer

98Shabah said:

You're not going to "rip" the hitch off the car unless you put 1,500lbs of tounge weight on it. I installed a class I hidden hitch on an '04 grand prix (same platform), it was solidly mounted to the unibody with 6 mounting points.

I can't speak for the transmission life though, I'm not a fan of fwd cars and their tiny transmissions.

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how about when you have to stab the brakes in a full emergency stop? Pushing straight down on the mounting points with tongue weight is easy. Twisting force via the 1500# load is what will bend the unibody.

I've personally seen it happen. Yes it didn't rip the hitch off, but the hitch was facing down at a 45 degree angle. A combination of too much tongue weight and a very hard sudden stop. (by brakes alone, not an accident). The owner had to do alot of hammering to try and get it straightened out. Keep in mind that legally any significant damage to the unibody structure means automatic salvage title. (it was an grand am, I want to say around 2000 or so)

Insurance... Used to work in insurance. We didn't deny a single claim because of overloaded towing conditions. You might get dropped after the claim depending on your record, but not denied for it though. I doubt anyone could post proof of that.

I own a handful of various watercraft, and tow every single one of them with a car, as well as utility trailers and my double snowmobile trailer. I don't advocate towing with a car without any rear subframe to bolt to though.

Re: will a 2004 chevy impla tow a 1500# trailer

smokingcrater said:

how about when you have to stab the brakes in a full emergency stop? Pushing straight down on the mounting points with tongue weight is easy. Twisting force via the 1500# load is what will bend the unibody.

I've personally seen it happen. Yes it didn't rip the hitch off, but the hitch was facing down at a 45 degree angle. A combination of too much tongue weight and a very hard sudden stop. (by brakes alone, not an accident). The owner had to do alot of hammering to try and get it straightened out. Keep in mind that legally any significant damage to the unibody structure means automatic salvage title.

Insurance... Used to work in insurance. We didn't deny a single claim because of overloaded towing conditions. You might get dropped after the claim depending on your record, but not denied for it though. I doubt anyone could post proof of that.

I own a handful of various watercraft, and tow every single one of them with a car, as well as utility trailers and my double snowmobile trailer. I don't advocate towing with a car without any rear subframe to bolt to though.

Click to expand...

Sorry, but stabbing the breaks is not going to twist the hitch like that with only a 1500lb trailer.. Even if the tounge weight doubles, that still isn't enough weight to twist that hitch.

Re: will a 2004 chevy impla tow a 1500# trailer

Nobody said you can't tow with a car.... I see nothing wrong with it at all.... What was said was to tow within the manufacturers specs. In this case 1000 lbs there are plenty of cars rated for more. This is not a hatred for vehicles with a trunk but rather it is the same safe advice that we give to folks wanting to tow with trucks. Weigh the load and check the tow rating. Make sure the load is the smaller of the two numbers.


There are folks who can modify vehicles in a manner that increases their safe capacity but those people don't ask questions like this on forums.

Re: will a 2004 chevy impla tow a 1500# trailer

I know this will be a debated subject until the end of time.. There will be "advice" from both extremes, from "it'll rip your hitch off because it's 500lbs over the tow rating and you'll kill people" all the way to "you can tow 8,000 lbs with a civic and get 30mpg". The bottom line is, arguing about this on the internet is wasteful and doesn't help. Hopefully the OP has gotten the input necessary to make his decision.

Re: will a 2004 chevy impla tow a 1500# trailer

thankyou for all the info

i think i will look for a blazer



thanks Bob