OK, there have been several good postings about hitches and towing with the X5. The question about OEM vs aftermarket remains open to dicussion (and personal opinion).

I read that many of you towed a boat or trailer of xxxx pounds. this is great. Did any of you have trailers with brakes? Did you install the brake controller?
If so- tell us how you did that- since that is the larger techinical problem.
I have read the 2 articles on the subject and still feel the aproaces are a little, too technical (e.g. building a switch on the break pedal)

My stealer says he will install the wiring for a brake controller, but he does not know how much it will cost, nor how long. He says the real problem is running the wires front to back and side to side for the controller.

Do you guys with heavy loads assume the BMW brakes are adequate by themselves?

I can do the hitch, easy enough, but my tandem axle enclosed motorcycle trailer has breakes and I think I need them.
Thoughts? Comments? all welcome!