Best price for OEM X5 hitch in Canada?

[ChrisX5D]

Hey guys, new X5 E70 35d owner here, and I need to get a hitch on my buggy asap.

I've called the local stealership and they want $913.50 CDN for the hitch kit with wiring and module.

ECS tuning has the genuine hitch kit and with exchange, duties, etc. it would be over $1K CDN.

Does anyone know of any good sources for OEM hitch in Canada whether by mail or local pick up? (Ontario).

Thanks!

[Skyline]

DON'T buy the factory hitch. Get an Exechitch; far superior, although a little more costly. Several differences here:
1] It's rated for 7,700 lbs, while the North American factory hitch is rated at 7,000lbs.
2] The standard dealer hitch requires you to cut a good sized hole in the rear lower valence. The Execuhitch requires only a tiny notch on the underside that is not really visible.
3] When your hitch ball is not mounted in the receiver, you can barely tell you've got an Execuhitch installed, all you can really see is a tiny flap on the edge of the cover for the electrical connection.
4] The Execuhitch is THE factory hitch for European BMW dealers. The only reason I could imagine they chose a different hitch for N.A. is that the Execuhitch is a little more tricky to mount the hitch into the receiver; perhaps they felt US buyers were too stupid to figure it out. Perhaps it's just they felt the US market needed a 2" standard receiver. (You can buy a 2" receiver connection for the Execuhitch, if for example you want to install a bike rack. They also sell their own bike rack. I did neither since I just put my bike(s) inside the car.)

BMW Hitches :: BMW X5 & X5M - Execuhitch - Manufacturer and Retailer of Hidden Tow Hitches for BMW, Mercedes, Subaru

[MaverichX5E70]

Hi Skyline, thanks for your reply.

I just picked up a 2011 BMW X5 35d and plan to do the alphabet delete and Malone stage 2 tune as soon as possible, hopefully by the end of September. I also want to delete the swirl flaps and check/clean any carbon build up. The truck has 105,000 miles on it now and it's just had all four tires replaced, new ball joints and front control arms and the brakes are about 70% so I'm hoping there won't be any major expenses for a while after the delete and tune is done.

I like the Exuhitch, but it's a bit beyond what I was looking to spend, especially with shipping, duty, etc.

I ended up purchasing a Drawtite hitch from a place in Canada for just over $300 CDN and will be going with the factory wiring harness from my local dealer ($390 cdn+ tax).

Do you know anything about the Carly BMW programming application by chance? I'm curious if I can program the hitch module with it to fix the PDC when a trailer is hooked up, and also for the camera zoom on the hitch ball feature, or if I will have to have the dealer program this?

Thanks again for your response!

[Skyline]

Originally Posted by MaverichX5E70

Do you know anything about the Carly BMW programming application by chance? I'm curious if I can program the hitch module with it to fix the PDC when a trailer is hooked up, and also for the camera zoom on the hitch ball feature, or if I will have to have the dealer program this?

Thanks again for your response!

An independent shop programmed mine with an Autologic scan tool. I'd find an independent shop that has one of those. Frankly, I'd question the logic of taking a BMW to any independent shop that did not have an Autologic.

I do own one of the Carly things, along with an inexpensive Schwaben scan tool, but I would not trust either to do something like this.

[kcheves]

Originally Posted by MaverichX5E70

Hi Skyline, thanks for your reply.

I ended up purchasing a Drawtite hitch from a place in Canada for just over $300 CDN and will be going with the factory wiring harness from my local dealer ($390 cdn+ tax).

Do you know anything about the Carly BMW programming application by chance? I'm curious if I can program the hitch module with it to fix the PDC when a trailer is hooked up, and also for the camera zoom on the hitch ball feature, or if I will have to have the dealer program this?

Thanks again for your response!

I just installed the same hitch and harness a couple of weeks ago, you can find my post about it here. Link

The OEM harness adds an AHM module to your car, which installs into the fuse panel in the rear hatch area. When you code the car, you need to add this module to the car's build order (VO) so that it will be recognized. Carly cannot change the VO, you'll need to use real programming tools for this. And not doing the coding is not an option, because the brake lights won't work through the tow hitch connector until the vehicle has been coded.

In addition to the dealer or Indys, there are various services that will code your car remotely for you. I was quoted $205, and decided to learn how to do it myself instead. I've been spending the last 2 weeks gathering the information, tools, and cables to do this myself. Getting all the software (which is in German!) is the hard part, but if you are good with computers its all do-able. Go to the beginners lounge at www.bmwcoding.com for more info.

[ard]

Originally Posted by kcheves

I just installed the same hitch and harness a couple of weeks ago, you can find my post about it here. Link

The OEM harness adds an AHM module to your car, which installs into the fuse panel in the rear hatch area. When you code the car, you need to add this module to the car's build order (VO) so that it will be recognized. Carly cannot change the VO, you'll need to use real programming tools for this. And not doing the coding is not an option, because the brake lights won't work through the tow hitch connector until the vehicle has been coded.

In addition to the dealer or Indys, there are various services that will code your car remotely for you. I was quoted $205, and decided to learn how to do it myself instead. I've been spending the last 2 weeks gathering the information, tools, and cables to do this myself. Getting all the software (which is in German!) is the hard part, but if you are good with computers its all do-able. Go to the beginners lounge at www.bmwcoding.com for more info.

Well done post!

[kcheves]

Thanks. I just got my K-DCAN cable today and will be doing the coding this weekend. When I'm done, I'll update my install post to add comments about installing the wiring harness and using NCS Expert to do the coding.

[blue dragon]

Originally Posted by Skyline

DON'T buy the factory hitch. Get an Exechitch; far superior, although a little more costly. Several differences here:
1] It's rated for 7,700 lbs, while the North American factory hitch is rated at 7,000lbs.
2] The standard dealer hitch requires you to cut a good sized hole in the rear lower valence. The Execuhitch requires only a tiny notch on the underside that is not really visible.
3] When your hitch ball is not mounted in the receiver, you can barely tell you've got an Execuhitch installed, all you can really see is a tiny flap on the edge of the cover for the electrical connection.
4] The Execuhitch is THE factory hitch for European BMW dealers. The only reason I could imagine they chose a different hitch for N.A. is that the Execuhitch is a little more tricky to mount the hitch into the receiver; perhaps they felt US buyers were too stupid to figure it out. Perhaps it's just they felt the US market needed a 2" standard receiver. (You can buy a 2" receiver connection for the Execuhitch, if for example you want to install a bike rack. They also sell their own bike rack. I did neither since I just put my bike(s) inside the car.)

BMW Hitches :: BMW X5 & X5M - Execuhitch - Manufacturer and Retailer of Hidden Tow Hitches for BMW, Mercedes, Subaru

Prove that execuhitch is the OE manufacturer of the Euro factory hitch. I'd say you were wrong there. Westfalia is the OE manufacturer in Europe. Their hitch is rated for 3500 kg or 7700 lbs
https://www.westfalia-automotive.com...273900113-200/

The NA OE hitch is also rated for 6000 lbs as well, not 7000 lbs

[Skyline]

Originally Posted by blue dragon

Prove that execuhitch is the OE manufacturer of the Euro factory hitch. I'd say you were wrong there. Westfalia is the OE manufacturer in Europe. Their hitch is rated for 3500 kg or 7700 lbs
https://www.westfalia-automotive.com...273900113-200/

The NA OE hitch is also rated for 6000 lbs as well, not 7000 lbs

I can't prove it...it's just what I read when I researched the thing years ago. The Westphalia hitch that you posted is a VERY similar design BTW to the Execuhitch.

Still, it's odd that they use a different hitch for Europe and NA. From looking at the Westphalia web site, it may offer another explanation. What I don't see on the Westphalia web site are different size hitch balls, OR an adapter for a 2" receiver; all of which are available from Execuhitch. (Obviously, just because they are not on Westphalia's web site does not mean they don't exist.) Perhaps BMW felt these things were essential for the NA market and just wanted to sell a hitch with a 2" receiver? Are trailer ball sizes more standard in Europe that the US???

[ard]

Originally Posted by Skyline

I can't prove it...it's just what I read when I researched the thing years ago. The Westphalia hitch that you posted is a VERY similar design BTW to the Execuhitch.

Still, it's odd that they use a different hitch for Europe and NA. From looking at the Westphalia web site, it may offer another explanation. What I don't see on the Westphalia web site are different size hitch balls, OR an adapter for a 2" receiver; all of which are available from Execuhitch. (Obviously, just because they are not on Westphalia's web site does not mean they don't exist.) Perhaps BMW felt these things were essential for the NA market and just wanted to sell a hitch with a 2" receiver? Are trailer ball sizes more standard in Europe that the US???

BMW doesnt give a crap about the NA towing market- in fact, from a litigation/corp risk perspective they want to be as far away from that as possible. Hence you will see very little engagement.

Once you factor in "BMW wants to avoid all risk in the NA market" it may provide an explanation as to how we see variations between USA and ROW.

IMO