I have a winch in my enclosed trailer for use in loading cars, mounted on the centerline. It seems, though, that most cars don't have a centerline winching hook, usually it's located on one side or the other, presumably because it's anchored onto the frame rail rather than the comparatively flimsy structure in front of the radiator. This wasn't an issue with my Miata because I usually drove that into the trailer and only used the winch occasionally when I broke it badly enough. Now I'm taking the M3 to the track, though, and it has a clutch that's not really well-suited to creeping up inclines, so I'm using the winch every time I load it.
The problem is that when winching it in, as the angle gets more and more offset to the right, the winch cable tends not to want to wind upon across the drum but instead starts piling up on that end. This doesn't spool properly (not enough clearance inside the winch) and appears to be making some kinks in the cable. I can usually mitigate this with a bit of fiddling, but it's a PITA and I'm trying to figure out what to change to make it work with less micromanagement.
One person suggested I should be using synthetic rope instead of steel cable. I didn't even know that existed, so I went and looked it up, and while it appears to have some benefits, I don't see anything suggesting it would really help here.
I've thought about trying to add a centerline winch point to the car, but that seems like it probably involves welding a bunch of extra steel (ie, weight) onto the front. Someone else suggested moving the winch over to the right as well, which is theoretically possible, but is a bunch of work and would compromise storage.
Some pictures. Here's the front of the trailer, the winch goes in the cabinet in the center, and pays out through the slot below the door. I didn't pick this mounting point -- that's where the previous owner had installed his winch, and I just reused the existing mounting holes.
The winch cabinet. The winch itself is a Warn 3700. The slot in the cabinet face might be part of the problem, I'm not sure -- it's the same width as the winch rollers, but that means when the cable is angled to the right it winds up rubbing against the edge of the slot.
Here's the car with the offset hook in red:
Any thoughts?