Aftermarket towbars

[Ashley]

Get the E70 being delivered on Thursday from the other end of the country. However I need to get a towbar fitted to carry around my bike racks (4 bike heavy duty ones).

A couple of local fitters (Bournemouth/Dorset) have recommended Witter ones – which I believe was the brand of my factory fitted one on the old E53. The cheapest quote was £375 inc VAT fitted.

Has any one else had one fitted and any recommendations?

I am not planning on towing anything bigger – I know BMW suggest having the bigger fan added, but I think that is for heavy old caravans & the like.

Or is it better to go back to the dealers to get it added by them at over £1200??

[NewX5]

BMW also make a bike carrier for the rear without the need for the tow bar which I believe is around £450 all in, please verify with dealer price as not exactly sure.

[Philb]

Yep my dealer fitted tow br was £1500 all in with new rad fans etc.

I see in the accessory brochures that a bike rack is vailabel forthe E70 it screws into the tow eyes.

[Ashley]

Alas that rack can only carry 2 bikes. I often carry 3 or even 4, plus I have the racks already.

The guy is suggesting a normal 7 pin plug - would I need some sort of bypass as well to avoid alerts comign up on the dashboard?

[Philb]

Alerts do come up and include

Non activation of near side mirror when reversing,
Non activaton of parking sensors
Also warns if bulbs are out

Bmw supply the 15 pin socket with a 7 pin adaptor

Hth

[X5Sport]

I think the OEM ones might be made by Westfalia - you can get one from about £400 fitted (though not by a BMW Dealer at that price!). No doubt electrics are on top of that too!! The OEM version was a removable swan-neck type and also includes an additional control module that modifies the vehicle handling characteristics and emergency stability program when the towbar is in use. Standard OEM wiring is as above - 15-pin with an adapter to 7-pin

[mcgroa]

hi - i got the OEM removable one fitted to my e70- i think its westfalia.

i used http://www.towbarexpress.co.uk/

it was quite expensive (700quid) but they came and did it in driveway in about 2 hrs. they completely replace the rear steel strut behind the bumper, with one containing the mount. they cut a tiny little bit out of bumper base and its completley invisible.

I got no errors on electrics, and its the proper wiring kit etc so lighting integrated, sensors switch off when reversing etc.

Main stealer wanted 2100 gbp. They claim that you need to get the front slats removed from radiator, and an upgraded fan to be compliant with warranty, and to prevent overheating. I will never tow a 2 ton van so didnt care. since i fitted OEM, as far as I'm concerned it hasnt affected my warranty.

only downside is i dont have the little plastic cutout in the boot compartment to put the towbar....minor point really.

[Ashley]

I had mine done some time ago -

Got one of these - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BMW-X5-E70-Jun-20 ... 2a0d70e899 which like yours required a very small amount of cutting under the bumper, but can't be seen.

I only went for 7 pin electrics as that is all I needed for my bike rack and got my auto electricion mate to wire it up. All in was under £250 including labour and has been perfect so far for lugging bikes aroudn on short journeys to the local country park, or longer to Wales. I thought about proper BMW wiring, but that was another £120. Keeping the reversing sensors on helps me, as it reminds me I have bikes out the back there when I go backwards