Who Supplies OEM Towbars?

[Don Coffey]

I’m looking to put a towbar on my F16 X6. I’d like to look at the electric, retractable one but so far have drawn a blank. Brink do one but not for the M Sport versions of the car, westfelia can only supply the detachable version. TriMotive don’t seem to do one for the X6 at all. So any advice will be greatly received.

Don.

[gmc15]

Think BMW are fitted with Westfalia as OEM.
Here is a link to my local towbar fitting place that I have used many times. It shows the options for the F16.
HTH

http://www.hedley-towbars.co.uk/products.asp?cat=78

[X5Sport]

Factory part number is available on Amazon UK but is only rated to 1,800kgs which seems low.

Realoem shows a retrofit kit - but use your VIN to confirm.  It seems to cost well north of £1k if you want the genuine item from various suppliers in Europe.  I’ve seen the full kit for €1,700 

.......and fitting is extra

[gmc15]

Just been looking at the posts in the F16 part of the forum and one post said their X6 had a factory fitted  Bosal bar, so wonder if these are the OEM ones?

[Don Coffey]

[quote="gmc15"]
Think BMW are fitted with Westfalia as OEM.
Here is a link to my local towbar fitting place that I have used many times. It shows the options for the F16.
HTH

http://www.hedley-towbars.co.uk/products.asp?cat=78
[/quote]
I spoke to westfelia today but their only option is the detachable version. If the electric option isn’t available at a realistic price then this is likely to be the one I go for.

[Don Coffey]

[quote="X5Sport"]
Factory part number is available on Amazon UK but is only rated to 1,800kgs which seems low.

Realoem shows a retrofit kit - but use your VIN to confirm.  It seems to cost well north of £1k if you want the genuine item from various suppliers in Europe.  I’ve seen the full kit for €1,700 

.......and fitting is extra
[/quote]

I did speak to BMW Parts today as well, but the detachable version was £1050 supply only!!

[Don Coffey]

[quote="gmc15"]
Just been looking at the posts in the F16 part of the forum and one post said their X6 had a factory fitted  Bosal bar, so wonder if these are the OEM ones?
[/quote]
I’ve had a look at the Bosal website, and although it looked promising, a quick search however shows only the detachable version available. I’ve emailed them on the offchance they do do it. Thanks for the lead.

Don

[moggyboy]

Bosal are the OEM.
Bosal do not want anything to do with punters direct, they only want to supply BMW for factory fit.
I had a problem with my retractable and tried in vain to get Bosal interested in supplying components or advice but their attitude was very, very F off, we only supply BMW direct.
Westfalia get hit with some of the flak from customers with failed retractables but wrongly as they are not the suppliers. As stated in your post Westfalia supply detachables not retractables.
I believe you can get a fully retractable fitted by a BMW main dealer but for circa £2k but that does include the fancy code work into the canbus trickery.
God help you if a factory fit retractable goes wrong as the only option seems to be a full replacement at a BMW dealership for £2k ish or if you are very lucky getting one off of a front end crash car from a scrappy.
I solved my problem with the latter thankfully.
As a side note, did you know that most police X5's have the retractable tow bar fitted as part of their original spec and go to the scrap yard at the end of the X5's life barely if ever used.
Hope this helps.

[Leslie]

Don't think the dealers will sell many at 2k !

[Jayx5]

I was chatting to a guy who was taking off my tow bar on our vw touran before it went back(lease car) and  he said Witter have bought out westfalia and have moved there manufacturing to romania and quality has dropped so he no longer uses them and reckons tow sure are the best quality and that there made in England.
I don't know how true any of that is.

[Don Coffey]

[quote="moggyboy"]
Bosal are the OEM.
Bosal do not want anything to do with punters direct, they only want to supply BMW for factory fit.
I had a problem with my retractable and tried in vain to get Bosal interested in supplying components or advice but their attitude was very, very F off, we only supply BMW direct.
Westfalia get hit with some of the flak from customers with failed retractables but wrongly as they are not the suppliers. As stated in your post Westfalia supply detachables not retractables.
I believe you can get a fully retractable fitted by a BMW main dealer but for circa £2k but that does include the fancy code work into the canbus trickery.
God help you if a factory fit retractable goes wrong as the only option seems to be a full replacement at a BMW dealership for £2k ish or if you are very lucky getting one off of a front end crash car from a scrappy.
I solved my problem with the latter thankfully.
As a side note, did you know that most police X5's have the retractable tow bar fitted as part of their original spec and go to the scrap yard at the end of the X5's life barely if ever used.
Hope this helps.
[/quote]
Thanks Moggyboy,

Makes a lot of sense about Bosal. Their pictures look like the oem ones but unsurprisingly I haven’t received any reply from my email. I think I’m going to go down the detachable route £2k isn’t going to happen.

Do

[Don Coffey]

[quote="Jayx5"]
I was chatting to a guy who was taking off my tow bar on our vw touran before it went back(lease car) and  he said Witter have bought out westfalia and have moved there manufacturing to romania and quality has dropped so he no longer uses them and reckons tow sure are the best quality and that there made in England.
I don't know how true any of that is.
[/quote]

I’ll bare this in mind. Thanks.

Don

[B5tew]

I have just fitted a Westfalia Detachable towbar on my F15 X5 and the quality is great also fitted dedicated electrics that are plug and play with no coding required Purchased from PF Jones
I did look at used electric towbars on eBay but it all got a bit complicated once you start looking at the electrics side of it
https://www.pfjones.co.uk/tow-bars/bmw-towbars.html