E53 X5 OEM BMW Ski Racks Don't Lock?!?
 

A graphic designer I work with just bought an E53 X5 for her and her husband, and since they ski/snowboard/bike quite often they got the OEM BMW ski racks for it.

Now here's the weird thing she pointed out to me:

Even when the ski attachments are locked down to hold the skis on the rack, you can simply grab the ski holders and pull them off the ends of the roof rack.

The roof rack has a plastic end cap, but that just pops right off when the ski holder presses against it and...voila. You're the proud new owner of an (expensive) set of skis...

Anyhow, has anyone else noticed this? Is there a fix for it? She's a bit worried that her favorite skis are going to come up missing if they leave the car for a few minutes while driving up to the mountains...

The plastic end caps on either side of each crossbar have built-in locks so they can't be lifted up without using a key. The OEM cross members should come with a set of locks and keys.

Mine didn't come with locks either. Its a bad design.

Yeah, her endcaps definitely don't have locks. Is that a newer feature on the OEM crossbars?

Yes I have their latest racks and they have locks.

Interesting. Here's what I found...

This is the crossbar system she has. Notice, no locks:

Link To The BMW Base Support System

This is the "BMW Ski & Snowboard Holder, Lockable":

Link To The BMW Ski & Snowboard Holder, Lockable

Interesting.

I got my bars a few months ago, did they sell me older cross bars then?

Hi Ben and Stalker,

These are the older crossbars and as you can see you can't lock them up:

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y24...tonX5/rack.jpg

I got these newer ones (below) and if you look closely they have locks on the endcaps. They look more streamlined than the older version:

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y24...X5/rack2-1.jpg

Thanks for the pics. I bought them a month ago!!!! Im pissed, cause they totally need locks.

One Q, you are suppose to mount the rear bar ahead of the middle support portion on the roof rails right?

Why don't you ask them if you can exchange for the newer bars? They are useless without locks.

The answer to your other question is no you don't have to mount the rear bar infront of the middle support section (although you do see this setup from BMW like in the pic above). In fact it's better to mount right behind as this increase in distance will give better support and balance for whatever you are carrying.