Car Tie Down Straps for Automotive Vehicle Securement

Car Tie Down Straps are one of the most widely used types of straps in the automotive and auto hauling industries to ensure the vehicle that is being transported to the next destination arrives safely. No matter if the vehicle is going across town to a new owner or if it is being transported across the country for the next project car, our straps can help you have your vehicle arrive safely from start to finish.

No matter if you are a compact car, midsize car, large vehicle, compact truck or SUV, midsize truck or SUV, or a large truck or SUV we have the perfect car tie-down straps to keep your vehicle safe throughout transport. Our straps utilize a polyester tie-down webbing blend that provides a great amount of strength while providing very little stretch which is the perfect solution to keeping your vehicle in place during transport. Excess stretching could cause your vehicle to come unsecured during transport and should only be used in towing applications with webbings such as nylon webbing to reduce stress and strain on the vehicle.

Below we have created a guide to give you a rough estimate of a wide range of vehicle weights taken from the last 10 years (2012-Present) to help make finding the strap to match the estimated weight of your vehicle easier. One thing is important that you should always have a working load limit rated higher than the vehicle in order to not jeopardize the safety of your vehicle during transport. Another thing to consider is that you should always secure a vehicle from at LEAST four different securement points with a minimum of four-car tie-down straps. This provides safety when cornering, braking, rapid acceleration, as well as keeping your vehicle safely in place if a strap were to break during transport.

Vehicle Class	Avg Curb Weight Lbs.	Avg Curb Weight Kgs.
Compact Vehicle	2,919 lbs	1,324 kilograms
Midsize Vehicle	3,361 lbs	1,524 kilograms
Large Vehicle	3,882 lbs	1,760 kilograms
Compact Truck or SUV	3,590 lbs	1,628 kilograms
Midsize Truck or SUV	4,405 lbs	1,628 kilograms
Large Truck or SUV	5,605 lbs	2,541 kilograms
Electric Vehicle	4,647 lbs	2,107 kilograms

Tips for Securing a Vehicle on a Trailer

When securing a vehicle during transport it is crucial to always check your tie-down straps before and during transport. A general guideline we provide our customers with is after 2 miles or 5 minutes of driving after leaving your initial location to pull over when it is safe to do so and retighten the straps as the movement of the vehicle could cause the straps to need adjustment. After the first time of re-tightening and re-checking the vehicle tie-down straps we recommend every 1 hour 30 minutes of driving or 75 miles after the initial stop. This is to be cautious about tie-down straps creating potential friction burns, moving out of place, load shifts, or any potential damage to the straps themselves during the vehicle’s transport to a new location.

Although it may not always be possible you should always attempt to secure your vehicle from equal distribution points such as the front left wheel, front right wheel, back left wheel, and back right wheel. The reason this is so important is so that if you are driving down the road and are required on a moments notice to have a sudden lane change, sudden stop, or if the weight of the vehicle were to suddenly shift the likelihood of the car tie-down straps failing would be greatly reduced as these are fail-safes. What is fail-safe? Fail-safes were created in order to help provide other layers of protection against sudden movements that tie-down straps may struggle to be rated for. Traditionally this is done through the use of the working load limit that allows one-third of the total amount of force before the straps have reached their breaking point.

We also have a wide selection of different Lasso Straps that are extremely easy to use as they are light in weight and easy to store. Lasso Straps are easy to use and are secured by feeding the strap around and eventually back through the O Ring fitting and secured through the use of a Ratchet Handle to tighten the tie-down. Lasso Straps can be used around the outside of the tire or through the middle of the wheels depending on personal preference.

Tips for Loading a Vehicle on a Trailer

When it comes to loading a vehicle on a trailer the number one thing that anyone can do beforehand is to be prepared before you attempt to move the vehicle. You will want to consider grabbing lumber boards if the car is lowered, a friend when it is possible to do so for an extra set of eyes, as well as knowing which side of the vehicle should be loaded first. When it comes to determining which side to load the vehicle first you should first consider where the heaviest part of the vehicle is. Traditionally speaking most vehicles have the engine facing the front and should always be front-loaded to ensure that the weight is on the hitch or the front of the flatbed trailer. If the vehicle has the engine in the back of the vehicle it should be loaded backward on the trailer to make sure the weight of the trailer is on the hitch to prevent load shifts.

Below we have compiled an example of some vehicles that engine bays are in the rear of the vehicle making the rear of the vehicle the heaviest point. If you are unsure of where the engine or the heaviest point of your vehicle is at you can always search for the weight distribution of your vehicle model. A vast majority of vehicles on the road will have the heaviest point of the vehicle in the front.

Vehicle Make	Vehicle Model
Smart	2016 Fortwo
Tesla	2012 Model S
Ferrari	1993 Mondial
Mitsubishi	2011 i-MiEV
Lotus	2009 Elise
Toyota	1999 MR2 Turbo
DeLorean	1981 DMC12
BMW	1959 700
Tucker	48
Fiat	1965 850 Coupe
Hillman	Imp
Chevrolet	Corvair
Chevrolet	C8 Corvette
Volkswagen	Bus

The Different Types of Car Tie Down Straps

Axle Straps – Axle Straps comes with a Cordura Sleeve wrapped around the polyester tie-down webbing that is more resistant to cuts to help extend the life of the tie-down strap. Axle Straps are used with ratchet straps with snap hooks hardware and are the most common method of securing a vehicle to a trailer. These straps are extremely easy to use as you simply loop the axle strap over the axle and attach both of the rings at the snap hook of the ratchet strap. Once you attach the axle strap to the snap hooks of the ratchet strap you can attach the snap hook of the ratchet strap to the trailer and begin to tighten the axle strap until desired securement strength for your vehicle.

Lasso Straps – Lasso Straps is another one of the more popular and commonly purchased car trailer tie-down straps that we supply for the automotive industry. One of the reasons these straps are popular is due to the speed at which you can secure vehicles through the use of tested and proven S Hooks and Ratchet Straps combination. We can completely custom make this strap in order to make the perfect lasso strap or have a variety of in-stock straps that are sold by the individual or by a Pack of Four.

Side Mount Wheel Net – Side mount wheel nets can also be known around the automotive industry as wheel nets or automotive wheel nets. What makes these wheel nets so popular is the ability to fully adjust the net to a wide range of small tires or large tire sizes for a wide selection of different vehicles. Side mount wheel nets are manufactured by using 2-inch polyester tie-down webbing and our heavy-duty tie-down hardware for use on almost any car hauler trailer. Some of the ratchet hardware options can even include chain extensions, flat hooks, wire hooks, and snap hooks just to name a few of the many customization options.

Car Tie Down Strap Bundles

As requested we have created several different car tie-down bundles as a way to quickly find exactly what you need to get started. Some of the bundles include Side Mount Wheel Nets that comes in a set of four and our popular 2-inch lasso straps with 4 included ratchets. Our Car Tie Down Bundles were created by our tie-down experts to become a one-product stop for securing almost any vehicle with small or large tires.

Trucking Depot car tie-down bundles are available at a limited discounted price. If you have any questions regarding any of our tie-down bundles please give our tie-down experts a call at 800-444-0956 and our team will do our best to help answer any questions you may have. If you prefer to contact us by email you can contact our car trailer tie-down experts by clicking the link here.