TowBar for the UK

[IrishBMWGuy]

Hi guys,

Having studied the excellent towbar installation guides on the site, I am planning on adding a Westfalia detachable towbar and dedicated BMW plug-in electrics kit to my ’04 UK Spec 3.0 Sport X5 (with parking sensors).

The installation steps seem to be reasonably straightforward mechanically and electrically for a reasonably proficient DIYer like myself (famous last words, I know), but the inner engineer in me wanted to run it by a pal in the motor trade. His impression was similar to my own - nothing too complicated and all doable *BUT* he did say that he thought it was necessary to bring the vehicle back to the main dealer to reprogram functions such as traction control, auto-levelling etc. to compensate for the additional weight of towing. I would have thought this should already be part of the factory installed trailer stability program (described in a previous posting) invoked once the wiring kit and trailer electrics connection is made. Can anyone shed some light on this, as to whether I do need to bring it back to a dealer to reprogram the vehicle after installation?

Perhaps my pal is just being over cautious, but I don’t want to take any chances as I will be towing a 2000 to 2500kg boat. I would go to the main dealers for the full installation except that they want an extra €950-€1250 (over the price of the parts) for the luxury of peace of mind...and that seems a bit steep for what’s involved (even if reprogramming is required).

Any technical input would be appreciated. Many thanks.