Hitch mount for F8x?

[hlothery]

In addition, and I say this from years of towing boats and even a motorcycle trailer with my Goldwing, tongue weight is often critical to trailer stability. If you make the tongue weight lighter than it is designed to be, the trailer can become unstable. My advice is, this car is not the one to use for that trailer. You need a large SUV or a truck. Just my $.02.

[Harveyd396]

I found some great information about a hitch company for the f80 and a UK site that lists the weight of the trailer the M3 can safely pull. I would like to hookup a airstream basecamp for a trip across country. Looks like it is no problem to pull a 3,000lb camper.

http://www.invisihitch.com/hitches/

http://www.uktow.com/towing%20capacity.asp?make=BMW

[Mandi90TT]

It often amazes me how people delude themselves into doing something that is clearly unsafe.

[DVC]

The approach to tongue weight is very different in the UK. They balance trailers so that the tongue weight is much less - which of course indicates that by the UK numbers the same vehicle can pull a bigger load. But this is at the cost of stability at speed! The UK system assumes lower max driving speeds; US numbers accommodate Interstate highway speeds.

[hlothery]

Originally Posted by DVC

The approach to tongue weight is very different in the UK. They balance trailers so that the tongue weight is much less - which of course indicates that by the UK numbers the same vehicle can pull a bigger load. But this is at the cost of stability at speed! The UK system assumes lower max driving speeds; US numbers accommodate Interstate highway speeds.

Indeed. In Texas, 80 MPH, and I've seen folks pulling trailers actually going that fast! I know you can't fix stupid, but one needs to realize that if you push, or exceed the limits of physics, bad things are likely to happen. I've had a pickup truck pushed into an intersection by my 7000lb sailboat when the trailer brakes failed and I tried to stop for a light. I've seen motorcycle trailers so unstable that I was amazed the rider continued on. The list goes on and on. Hope this advice does not fall on deaf ears. It is much better to work well within the recommended standards than to push or exdeed them.

[Harveyd396]

It's so funny in UK they have races with cars pulling large campers to rate which car is the best for pulling. Its hilarious but proves a point. I did pull a 20ft Yamaha twin engine jetboat LS2000 behind my Volvo 1997 V70T5 MT for 10,000 miles, no electric brakes, never had a problem. Boat and trailer weighed around 3500lbs, class 1 hitch.

[Harveyd396]

Just checking in, has anyone installed a trailer hitch on their M3/M4 ?

[horsepower_and_hounds]

http://f80.bimmerpost.com/forums/sho....php?t=1277653

[Mandi90TT]

Originally Posted by Harveyd396

Just checking in, has anyone installed a trailer hitch on their M3/M4 ?

It's like you haven't read anyone else's posts, and are just posting to see your own words...

[Mandi90TT]

Still waiting to hear the story of how this guy put far too much weight on his tow hitch and destroyed his M.

[moonluv810]

Resurrecting this from the past.

I'm a new owner of an F80 and an avid mountain biker.
I would love to hear from those who installed Invisihitch after a year or two of use, any issues, regrets?

I have Curt hitches on our GTI and Odyssey. But never heard of Invisihitch until I read this thread. I'm mostly intrigued with it's stealthiness when the adapter is removed.

Greatly appreciate any feedbacks!

[c6vette088]

look up execuhitch

[Prossx]

Originally Posted by moonluv810

Resurrecting this from the past.

I'm a new owner of an F80 and an avid mountain biker.
I would love to hear from those who installed Invisihitch after a year or two of use, any issues, regrets?

I have Curt hitches on our GTI and Odyssey. But never heard of Invisihitch until I read this thread. I'm mostly intrigued with it's stealthiness when the adapter is removed.

Greatly appreciate any feedbacks!

Great product. Used one on an F30 335i MSport for 2.5 years hauling MTBs no issues and the stealthiness is a huge reason to get this setup. Invisible. Will probably install on my F80 at some point.

[moonluv810]

Originally Posted by Prossx

Great product. Used one on an F30 335i MSport for 2.5 years hauling MTBs no issues and the stealthiness is a huge reason to get this setup. Invisible. Will probably install on my F80 at some point.

Appreciate the insight!

[///My5UV]

I'm glad this thread came back from the dead. I had been wanting to find a hitch that actually fit without needing to get some custom job done by a local shop.
Don't worry, I have no plans to tow a real trailer, just a bike rack when I want to take more than just mine.
Of course, my race car is only 1600lbs so maybe with a lightweight trailer...

[Mandi90TT]

Originally Posted by ///My5UV

I'm glad this thread came back from the dead. I had been wanting to find a hitch that actually fit without needing to get some custom job done by a local shop.
Don't worry, I have no plans to tow a real trailer, just a bike rack when I want to take more than just mine.
Of course, my race car is only 1600lbs so maybe with a lightweight trailer...

1600 lbs plus a trailer big enough to handle that will push you close to the limit.

Edit: why not just use your F8x on the track?

[moonluv810]

Quick update....

MTB season is coming and I finally placed an order from Execuhitch for my F80.

Their website shows $550 for bike rack version with $77 shipping. I called them and they gave me $490 shipped. They have these hitches in stock.

[Prossx]

Originally Posted by moonluv810

Quick update....

MTB season is coming and I finally placed an order from Execuhitch for my F80.

Their website shows $550 for bike rack version with $77 shipping. I called them and they gave me $490 shipped. They have these hitches in stock.

You installing yourself? I've been putting it off but getting the itch as we are crawling out of a couple miserable months of not much MTBing around here.

[moonluv810]

Originally Posted by Prossx

You installing yourself? I've been putting it off but getting the itch as we are crawling out of a couple miserable months of not much MTBing around here.

That's the plan.
They sent pretty good installation instructions, etrailer website also has an install video for F30, which is similar. And a couple guys here already did the installs and I'm sure they could give some help should I run into any issues during the install.

[seis-speed]

Originally Posted by moonluv810

Quick update....

MTB season is coming and I finally placed an order from Execuhitch for my F80.

Their website shows $550 for bike rack version with $77 shipping. I called them and they gave me $490 shipped. They have these hitches in stock.

Is this the invisihitch?

Post some pics/summary when you get it installed. Thanks for reviving this thread.

[eonflux]

Originally Posted by moonluv810

Quick update....

MTB season is coming and I finally placed an order from Execuhitch for my F80.

Their website shows $550 for bike rack version with $77 shipping. I called them and they gave me $490 shipped. They have these hitches in stock.

I had an Execuhitch/Invisihitch (same company) installed on a previous F86 X6M. Worked great.



Wanted the same on my F80 M3.
But when I last spoke with someone at Execuhitch/Invisihitch and also with the local hitch installer who put the hitch on my X6M who I would have install the M3 hitch, to install the F30 hitch on the M3, a heat shield on the M3 would have to be cut or removed, which I opted not to do.

Of note, the Execuhitch/Invisihitch mounted onto the F80 X6M without needing to do anything to the X6M, though my understanding is that for the previous gen X6M, something did need to be modified on the vehicle.

Last summer, the Execuhitch/Invisihitch representative said they were working on a modification which would enable installing on the M3 without any modification to the M3, and they were going to send me a notification when that was available, but I haven't yet heard anything.

If indeed a hitch is now available that can be mounted on the M3 without any car modifications, I'd be interested. Right now using my wife's SUV to get to trails and it's not as fun to drive--half the fun of biking was driving the X6M (and a previous Audi RS4) to the trailhead and back!

Is a F80-specific Execuhitch/Invisihitch now available? I only see the F30 hitch on their website, and there is no info about whether or not the hitch is fully compatible with the F80.

[babraham]

Originally Posted by eonflux

Wanted the same on my F80 M3.
But when I last spoke with someone at Execuhitch/Invisihitch and also with the local hitch installer who put the hitch on my X6M who I would have install the M3 hitch, to install the F30 hitch on the M3, a heat shield on the M3 would have to be cut or removed, which I opted not to do.

That is correct.
I installed a hitch (the Curt hitch) on my F80 last year, and had to leave off the rearmost heat shield. Haven't had an issue in the 8k miles since then, and the hitch is never hot to the touch, even after long drives in the AZ summer heat.