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Tow bar

Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2015 9:24 am
by Zafrod
Anybody had a tow bar fitted, just had a quote of £2600 from BMW  :)), whilst independent tow bar specialist are quoting £700.
BMW wanted £700 for a fan upgrade any idea why?????

Cheers,
Zaf

Re: Tow bar

Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2015 10:23 am
by X5Sport
BMW will quote you a fortune but you can get it fitted for about 1/4 of that - or possibly less.  Their charges are completely unjustified and just taken off a menu of fitting prices.  Having one added at build is £2k cheaper!

The OEM Towbar is made by Westphalia and is readily available. Have a look on the PF Jones website for the non-BMW badged Westphalia detachable bar.  The bar with  the correct 13-pin electrics is about £475.

The fan upgrade is to the main electric cooling fan which goes from 600W up to a bigger 850W unit.  All factory ordered towbar equipped cars get it.  Whether it is really needed is debateable and depends upon what you are towing.  If the car is under warranty then you ought to fit the fan.  It is to ensure adequate transmission cooling when towing.

What you will need is a different rear skirt on you X6 as there is a panel you need to have added into the existing one.  That will add to your costs.

Parts 10 & 11 on this diagram.  They replace part 9.

If you are going above 2.7T then you need a much bigger upgrade which adds grilles, radiator, fans and valve gear.  It's probably cheaper to find a ready equipped X6 than have that fitted by BMW!

Re: Tow bar

Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2015 10:52 am
by Zafrod
Thanks for the heads, I have a quote for for the tow bar however I did not know about the bumper parts I have asked the BMW dealer for a price.

Zaf

Re: Tow bar

Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2015 6:35 pm
by sid10
Hi try indespenssion.co.uk third of the price or less , they fit for BMW , Mazda , Honda full website to view !

Re: Tow bar

Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2015 9:04 pm
by Barry-C
If you are going to tow a caravan, have in mind that if you get a BMW tow bar with a 13 pin socket, not all of the pins may be present in the socket, pins 10-11&12 may be omitted.  10&11 are the fridge 12v feed and earth. I think pin 12 tells the car to silence the parking sensors if fitted, to turn off the rear car fog lights etc when connected to the car  The socket needs to be wired to ISO 11446-1 to get everything working. ;) ;)

Re: Tow bar

Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2015 2:07 pm
by X5Sport
Pin 12 is not used at all.  It is left unconnected under the ISO standard.  Full wiring diagram:
Image

BMW have a trailer module (should be in the kit) that notes the connection to the trailer socket and modifies the DSC operation as well as changing the lighting/parking sensor config.

Richard

Re: Tow bar

Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2015 9:01 pm
by Barry-C
I stand corrected..
  Barry C. :-[ :-[