Tow bars

[io1901]

Any recommendations for tow bars and how much do they usually cost?

[X5Sport]

The OEM equivalent is made by Westfalia and an alternative is Witter.  Both are good quality systems.

Have a look at the PF Jones website to give you an idea of the range available.  BMW standard is detachable.  You will need to add the electrics kit too and the vehicle may need coding to recognise the presence of the Towbar.

Approx £400-£450 plus fitting (and coding) would be a good average for the E70.

These cars systems 'recognise' when a trailer etc is connected and modify the DSC to take it into account as well as shutting down the rear PDC and fog lights on the car.

Richard

[io1901]

Thanks,  I take it the dedicated electrics are the way to go?

[X5Sport]

Preferably yes......that way everything that should operate correctly with a trailer etc will.

R

[Don Coffey]

+1, I recently had a Towbar fitted at a cost of £600 including vat and dedicated electrics.  There were other fitters available, but I wasn't happy to have a relay put in place of the dedicated electrics.  I was quoted around £450-500 buy others.  For the piece of mind I was happy to pay the extra.  The fitter I used was recommended by the local BMW Dealership.

Don

[io1901]

Just out of interest asked the local BMW dealer for a Quote £1670 !

Several other companies have quoted £600ish.

[X5Sport]

BMW do everything 'by the book' and the 'book' says something like 12 hours so they will of course charge through the nose for the privilege.  We fitted all of ours at build (still about £600!!) because the dealer retrofit was stupidly expensive.

R

[Sanj]

Lets see how much Jig pays me to fit his!  >:(

If I he says nowt, I'll put it on up-side-down!

[X5Sport]

[quote="Sanj"]
Lets see how much Jig pays me to fit his!  >:(

If I he says nowt, I'll put it on up-side-down!
[/quote]

I thought he charged you for the privilege of letting you work on his car..... >:D

[Don Coffey]

[quote="Sanj"]
Lets see how much Jig pays me to fit his!  >:(

If I he says nowt, I'll put it on up-side-down!
[/quote]

Do you think he'll notice?  )

Don

[Avtar]

I was also looking into getting a tow bar fitted, this site appears good and has some good offers at the moment. Do you have any recommendations on the bars on offer?

I know when i got a quote from BMW it was over £2000 as they recommend the addition of a new fan, etc.

[Tweaky]

Well i phoned 2 BMW dealers and was quoted £18xx from one and £27xx from another.  Having spent some time looking into it, i really can't see that we really need the bigger fan in this climate, even the BMW service guy i was speaking to said as much, BUT if you want to maintain your warranty and have no hassles if your gearbox over heats and imploads you need to have the fan upgraded.  That i am doing is having BMW install the new fan for £707 then getting a tow bar specialist near me to install the removable bar for £565 inc VAT.  this is for the new 13 pin socket.....BMW were talking about twin 7 pin sockets, so not even up to date!!  :blink:  Doing it this way i am saving money and still have a valid warranty.

It is just another option to consider 

[X5Sport]

I thought the fan upgrades were only needed if you go to the 3.5 T capacity.....or is that another fan and radiator too?  Did they indicate which fan needs doing?

You should be able to get an OEM system fitted, but made by Westphalia (who make the BMW one) and dedicated 13-pin electrics for a lot less than that.  The cars come from the factory with 13-pin (and have done for years) so no idea why the dealer is offering a twin socket system to you  ???

Richard

[Avtar]

[quote="X5Sport"]
I thought the fan upgrades were only needed if you go to the 3.5 T capacity.....or is that another fan and radiator too?  Did they indicate which fan needs doing?

You should be able to get an OEM system fitted, but made by Westphalia (who make the BMW one) and dedicated 13-pin electrics for a lot less than that.  The cars come from the factory with 13-pin (and have done for years) so no idea why the dealer is offering a twin socket system to you  ???

Richard
[/quote]

Never planning on towing 3.5T

[Horizon]

How many cars do you see on the roads with towbars. Do you think any of them have extra gearbox oil coolers and extra cooling fans.?????
If a big 4x4 can't tow a caravan without extra bits bolting on, it's time to look at other brands.
I would ask to see where it is written down that your warranty is invalid if you tow a caravan, without a grands worth of extras. These cars are 500 to 600 n/m of torque. Is rthat enough to pull a plastic box up the road.
BMW think everyone has money to burn