Tow Bar - Australia

[Nedlands]

Picking up mine in a couple of weeks. I asked about a tow bar and was told it was a $2600 option. Has anybody in Australia gone aftermarket? If so, where from and what did it cost?

[frayedsheet]

Originally Posted by Nedlands

Picking up mine in a couple of weeks. I asked about a tow bar and was told it was a $2600 option. Has anybody in Australia gone aftermarket? If so, where from and what did it cost?

Dropped mine of at Pedders this morning actually for a Hayman Reece Bar to be fittted. Had a look at it before it went onto the car and its a very smart design. The hitch receiver slides in from below so that when you take it off there is absolutely no sign of a towbar being installed. Cost is <$1K.

[frayedsheet]

Towbar is on... unfortunately the electrics are not all sorted. Parking lights wont work. Everything else does. Hopefully its just a problem with the relay box which Hayman Reece are changing out tomorrow.

The 23d is a great tow vehicle... tried it yesterday with close to the max rated 1400kg and its light years better than my old 3.2 i6 Freelander2.

[Nedlands]

Nice. I tried Pedders in Perth (2 of them) and they both said that they do not do the X1.
Rang Auto Extra. $950 installed. 24 hrs notice. No thanks $2,600 BMW Acc

[Nedlands]

Mine will be a space Grey 23; so I guess it will look like that.

[BMWDave]

Hey frayedsheet, do you have idrive/reverse camera? I'd like to get a tow bar on my 23d when it arrives and was reading that when you have a tow bar connected, the camera zooms wider or something so you can see the towball. Wondering if these aftermarket ones do the same thing?

[niknik]

Originally Posted by BMWDave

Hey frayedsheet, do you have idrive/reverse camera? I'd like to get a tow bar on my 23d when it arrives and was reading that when you have a tow bar connected, the camera zooms wider or something so you can see the towball. Wondering if these aftermarket ones do the same thing?

It's quite the opposite: with the BMW reverse cam, what you get is a zoomed in view so you can easily maneuver to attach the tow bar to your "trailer".
(you can then select from the normal view or zoomed tow bar view in the iDrive menu.)

[BMWDave]

Quite right you are NikNik. I misread the BMW website where it says "the image is enlarged".

So back to my original question, I take it you can zoom even without the towbar, so there isn't any additional electronic trickery involved if fitting an aftermarket (non-genuine) towbar?

[BMWDave]

Digging this one up again as I've just got my car and am interested in getting the tow bar. Been quoted $1,150 fitted by Offroad Equipment here in Perth.

Frayedsheet, wondering if you've had your electrics sorted out and whether or not you have the reversing camera and if that's all been integrated nicely?

[jag1]

The BMW towbar cost is high due to a dedicated wiring kit , that gives auto stabilisation when towing i.e. the car will automatically stop swaying and adjust the engine etc, I e-mailed Westfalia in Germany to ask about high costs , they had agents in the uk who supply and fit, might be worth a try to contact Westfalia for advice and any suppliers.

[manicm]

I ordered the factory towbar for my X1, but more to attach a bicycle rack to it than towing. The option was expensive, but I wanted an easily removable one - don't want it sticking out when not in use - no woman is as vain as me

Will give feedback when my car comes - anyday now!

[brettnosse]

Hi how did it go? After market no dramas?

[BMWDave]

Mine's on order. Was hoping frayedsheet would have seen this thread and provided some insight. Will update when my arrives but I've gone aftermarket with a genuine reese hitch.

[mario486]

Originally Posted by BMWDave

Mine's on order. Was hoping frayedsheet would have seen this thread and provided some insight. Will update when my arrives but I've gone aftermarket with a genuine reese hitch.

Just PM him, if he used his personal email address to register it will notify him that you have a question.

[manicm]

Originally Posted by brettnosse

Hi how did it go? After market no dramas?

Still getting my car, hoping this week, will let you know. Cos the first thing I'm gonna do in the showroom is make 'em show me how to detach and attach! God help them if they don't know

[brettnosse]

Originally Posted by jag1

The BMW towbar cost is high due to a dedicated wiring kit , that gives auto stabilisation when towing i.e. the car will automatically stop swaying and adjust the engine etc, I e-mailed Westfalia in Germany to ask about high costs , they had agents in the uk who supply and fit, might be worth a try to contact Westfalia for advice and any suppliers.

The DSC controls that, soon as you plug in the loom, it registers that it has a trailer. Our X5 does that it isn;t genuine!
The BMW might though inclue the LED kit

[BMWDave]

Just picked mine up today from Off Road Equipment with my aftermarket Hayman Reese hitch attached. It looks exactly like frayedsheet's one (funny that given it's the same product). It really is a good design. I've got no warning lights or anything when I hook up to a trailer and all my lights seem to work. With respect to the reverse camera + pro nav, I can confirm that I DO NOT have the tow bar view working with the aftermarket system. I spoke to my bmw dealer and they said that quite often they have to go into the car management system and turn on that function upon installing a tow bar. Will get the dealer to check it out in due course. I can "just" see the tow ball in the rear view camera without this extra function anyway.

[AusX1]

Is the tongue able to be removed for this hitch? It looks like it has a 10-15mm locking pin 90 degrees to the tongue insert, much like a regular Hayman Reece towbar. Is that right, it seems that way in the photos?

[BMWDave]

That's correct. It is a genuine Hayman Reese hitch and acts in the same fashion. However, for the X1, the tongue goes in vertically, rather than horizontally. There's also a locking screw (silver thing on right in pic 2 above) holding it in as well as the regular locking pin (gold bolt in pic 2) so you will need a crescent to unwind the locking screw to get it off as well as removing the regular locking pin. When you pull the tongue off to remove the tow ball section, there is no visible evidence of the tow bar installation from behind the car.

[AusX1]

Now I understand the orientation of the photos. Great design and really neat when the tongue's not in.
I did wonder if the elctronic gagetry with the BMW towbar that stops the car swaying when towing would be safe and if it was worth the extra money. I guess thier engineers should know. When the trailer starts swaying behind I always try to speed up to stop it , the BMW system might slow you down and stop the car sway but increase the trailer swaying?

[Austin7777]

Originally Posted by BMWDave

Just picked mine up today from Off Road Equipment with my aftermarket Hayman Reese hitch attached. It looks exactly like frayedsheet's one (funny that given it's the same product). It really is a good design. I've got no warning lights or anything when I hook up to a trailer and all my lights seem to work. With respect to the reverse camera + pro nav, I can confirm that I DO NOT have the tow bar view working with the aftermarket system. I spoke to my bmw dealer and they said that quite often they have to go into the car management system and turn on that function upon installing a tow bar. Will get the dealer to check it out in due course. I can "just" see the tow ball in the rear view camera without this extra function anyway.

Did you get the reverse camera thing fixed up by BMW ?, I want to have a tow bar fitted when my car arrives but want to make sure the aftermarket setup will give me the zoom in function on the reversing camera. I love the look of the Hayman Reese hitch.

[BMWDave]

Originally Posted by Austin7777

Did you get the reverse camera thing fixed up by BMW ?, I want to have a tow bar fitted when my car arrives but want to make sure the aftermarket setup will give me the zoom in function on the reversing camera. I love the look of the Hayman Reese hitch.

I haven't yet had time, nor have I had the requirement to. I don't do a lot of towing but I would like to get the issue sorted. As I can see the tow bar without the zoom, the one time I towed anything, it was still easy to reverse up to the trailer so I've not been too bothered in trying to get it sorted too quickly. Sorry I can't be of more help just yet.