Just got my hitch installed over the weekend at Rack & Road in Costa Mesa, CA! Thanks to all the board members for showing off their hitch installations (Westfalia, Curt, and Draw Tite). Pictures of my hitch installation below.....
I chose the Curt model11771 because it is sleek and fits flush under the bumper.
Next step: after calling over a dozen hitch installers all around town, no one would touch the BMW electrical. They said they will install the Curt 11771 hitch but would NOT install the electrical connector & cable which I needed for a single jet ski trailer. Without the electrical hookup, I would not be able to legally nor safely tow the trailer.
So after going outside my county, I located Rack & Road in Orange County on the Internet using Google.
:google:
RACK & ROAD - Costa Mesa
The corporate site Tech guy:
John Bauer -
http://racknroad.com/tech-talk.aspx was very helpful by email and said "yes we can set you up". Sure enough within an hour, the installation manager calls me up and sets me up with an appointment. On Saturday, they did the Curt hitch installation installation in 2 hours as well as the electrical connector which neatly tucks away under the rear cover compartment.
:beerchug:
The folks at Rack & Road in Costa Mesa said they do a lot of hitch installations on European vehicles because they knew about the sensitive Euro sensors that can annoy you with the bulb failure or warning messages. These guys knew to disconnect the battery and installed an isolator (electronic protector) that kept the BMW lamps separate from the tail lights for the trailer and installed it without any error messages. The installer said that BMW E9x was the easiest to install the electrical because the battery was in the trunk! The only thing they had to modify was to trim some of the bottom fascia that is needed to clear the hitch mount. The installer asked me first if I was fine with the cut out before he did the job!
Cost = $430 total including labor and all parts!
:thumbup:
This is how it looks on my E90:
![Image]()
Rack & Road store that installed my hitch including the trailer electrical:
![Image]()
The hitch comes with a class 1/2 receiver with an optional 1-7/8 ball for the jet ski and I also have the optional Class 3 (D170) adapter so that my Thule 4 bike rack can go on for cycling. For winter, I am considering getting a Thule multi ski & snowboard rack instead of using the roof mounted rack....
RATING:
5 stars out of 5!
Very professional and they have other goodies like roof racks, Thule, Yakima, and all the stuff you need to go adventuring outdoors with your BMW!
The only downside, they have 8 stores mostly up north in the bay area and 2 in WA and 1 in UT.
On the upside, they do mail order and this past month they have a 10% discount if you are an Auto Club member.....
I chose the Curt model11771 because it is sleek and fits flush under the bumper.
Next step: after calling over a dozen hitch installers all around town, no one would touch the BMW electrical. They said they will install the Curt 11771 hitch but would NOT install the electrical connector & cable which I needed for a single jet ski trailer. Without the electrical hookup, I would not be able to legally nor safely tow the trailer.
So after going outside my county, I located Rack & Road in Orange County on the Internet using Google.
:google:
RACK & ROAD - Costa Mesa
The corporate site Tech guy:
John Bauer -
http://racknroad.com/tech-talk.aspx was very helpful by email and said "yes we can set you up". Sure enough within an hour, the installation manager calls me up and sets me up with an appointment. On Saturday, they did the Curt hitch installation installation in 2 hours as well as the electrical connector which neatly tucks away under the rear cover compartment.
:beerchug:
The folks at Rack & Road in Costa Mesa said they do a lot of hitch installations on European vehicles because they knew about the sensitive Euro sensors that can annoy you with the bulb failure or warning messages. These guys knew to disconnect the battery and installed an isolator (electronic protector) that kept the BMW lamps separate from the tail lights for the trailer and installed it without any error messages. The installer said that BMW E9x was the easiest to install the electrical because the battery was in the trunk! The only thing they had to modify was to trim some of the bottom fascia that is needed to clear the hitch mount. The installer asked me first if I was fine with the cut out before he did the job!
Cost = $430 total including labor and all parts!
:thumbup:
This is how it looks on my E90:
Rack & Road store that installed my hitch including the trailer electrical:
The hitch comes with a class 1/2 receiver with an optional 1-7/8 ball for the jet ski and I also have the optional Class 3 (D170) adapter so that my Thule 4 bike rack can go on for cycling. For winter, I am considering getting a Thule multi ski & snowboard rack instead of using the roof mounted rack....
RATING:
5 stars out of 5!
Very professional and they have other goodies like roof racks, Thule, Yakima, and all the stuff you need to go adventuring outdoors with your BMW!
The only downside, they have 8 stores mostly up north in the bay area and 2 in WA and 1 in UT.
On the upside, they do mail order and this past month they have a 10% discount if you are an Auto Club member.....
