X5 towing experience and fuel economy
 

I don't see a lot of threads on the X5 showing actual towing experiences and I thought I'd start one for people researching the vehicle. I have a 2008 X5 with the 4.8i and I added the BMW hitch. It was a great choice as the hitch system detects when you've installed the hitch shank into the car. It shows when your backing up to a trailer indicators on how to align the car to hitch it up. Awesome feature makes hitching a cinch.

I have a 2017 Flagstaff Micro Lite 21DS which dry weighs 4300lbs and at max weighs 5400lbs well with in the towing capabilities of the car. I use an anti sway weight distribution hitch. The trailer for the most part stable behind the car. The mirrors are perfect and allow a good view around the sides of the trailer. The car was able to keep it going at a steady 65mph-70mph even in very hilly terrain. However I had to keep it in 5th on flat terrain to keep it at 65mph, and manually downshifted to 4th and sometimes 3rd to keep it at speed on hills. Liked that the cruise control didn't kick off when manually shifting the transmission.

I did find that when in drive the car was very aggressive about downshifting on hills and would reluctantly upshift, when it did it would go to 6th and immediately back down to 5th. Found it better to manually shift, to keep the car from hunting and constantly shifting.

Also,now take this with a grain of salt, a lot depends on your trailer, terrain and speed. My micro lite is 8 feet wide and 11 feet tall of brick wall with lots of projections. At 65mph on hilly roads of I averaged 7.5mpg. On flatter ground at 70mph it was about 8mpg. This setup drinks gas.... I'm thinking stops at every 120 miles when I go to glacier next year.... normally I get about 13 around town and about 17-18 on the highway. I'm thinking a tune might help fuel economy if it adds enough low rpm torque to allow me to cruise in a higher gear.

One other bad thing, when backing up the trailer, and only while backing up if you turn the car off. Then back on after backing up, it smokes.... dunno why, I'm going to replace my ccv. It never smokes otherwise. Just when idling and backing up slowly. It's definitely oil you can smell it clearly. Dosent smoke when not towing and when driving forward while towing.

All in all a great but thirsty tow vehicle.

I pull a 3500# boat and 2500# Airstream with my 2008 X5 4.8i. My mileage with the boat is just north of 10 mpg. Just north of 11 mpg pulling the Airstream. The X5 pulls both effortlessly, but I too notice and fight with the transmission wanting to hold gears too long. On level terrain, it is fine. On hilly roads, I too manual shift.

The smoking issue is probably due to valve steam seals. My X5 is at 107k miles and is beginning to smoke (oil) after prolonged idle or when struck in traffic. I have already performed valve stems seal replacement on a BMW V8, so I have the tools and the knowledge...still not looking forward to the very arduous task.

I installed the BMW hitch and wiring harness, but my X5 does not guide me to the trailer tongue. All it does is turn off rear PDC when the trailer wiring is connected. Is this an iDrive setting I don't know about?

http://i979.photobucket.com/albums/a...psuumovriw.jpg

Zoom function on the hitch which must be coded. I also just realized the difference, you guys are all towing with gasers....
The 35d doesn't exhibit the transmission holding the gear too long, and I get 14mpg at 100km/hr towing 6000lbs with the diesel

I have an 2008 X5 4.8i, 2011 335d (tuned) in my fleet along with a Mini Cooper S. The d has the advantage of having more torque at lower rpms than the v8 allowing it to probably run a gear higher. However I'd suspect in my rig under my conditions it would be about 20% better fuel economy, so I'd be in the 9-10mpg range. It really depends on the aerodynamics of the trailer and the speed/Terrain

Once the smoking is fixed on my car, I'll probably get it tuned to see if the extra low rpm torque would allow me to hold a higher gear. But at least with my trailer 6th isn't gonna hold 65mph on flat ground, I lose speed.

2011 35d pulling a 5,000# enclosed trailer Florida to Alaska last year averaged 17.9 MPG. Not towing average 32 mpg at 60 MPH. DPF/EGR delete & tune.

Thats pretty impressive, maybe its time for me to switch? My 2011 335D which is JR Stage 2 tune with EGR delete doesn't do as well as your X5. My D averages about 27mpg around town with mostly highway driving around Houston. Best I've ever gotten is 32.5mpg on the highway driving to Wyoming. Worst I've seen is about 22mpg with no highway driving.

My D Lost in the trailer storage shed.
https://s22.postimg.org/y3pugh2w1/20161102_134156.jpgimage upload no registration

My x5 4.8 best I've seen is 19.5 (more typical is about 17-18mpg) driving on i-10 at 80mph, and worst was 7.3mpg while towing my trailer out of east Texas at 65mph on hilly terrain.

https://s14.postimg.org/w37m7pxfl/20161105_120025.jpgscreen capture tool

I tow 21' Sea Ray and a car trailer, usually with track car on it, with my '12 35D. As a matter of fact I bought it because of the boat. The previous '03 4.6is was doing a brilliant job even with 7k lbs car trailer, but the boat was just too much for it. Diesel, on the other side, is made for this job. When in auto mode in a regular traffic it will hold the gears for too long and i shift it manually, but this is the only complain that i have. On a flat terrain and ~65 mph I can get 15-16 mpg with the boat and up to 19 with the car trailer. And of course i feel angry that BMW omitted the 8 speed tranny from the diesel, it could have been the perfect SUV ever. I am also missing the rear air suspension, but that will be corrected soon.

http://i1362.photobucket.com/albums/...ps6znumto9.jpg

http://i1362.photobucket.com/albums/...ps8a6ffdf8.jpg

http://i1362.photobucket.com/albums/...ps81e4e7eb.jpg

I'll have to admit the biggest reason I didn't buy a diesel X5 is my 335d has had really subpar reliability (or is it bmw typical??). Its had a CBU Cleaning at 21K miles, EGR valve replaced 3x, EGR cooler replaced 4x, MAF 4x, Exhaust pressure Sensor 4x, DPF replaced 1x, SCR metering valve 1x, SCR tank 1x, NOx sensors 2x, vacuum hoses, red boost hose (replaced with forge), etc. The car has only 52K miles on it and has a service record rap sheet like a career criminal ;-) ..... Fortunately all was covered under warranty, no extended warranty on the car, not worth it at the prices I've seen, tune and delete.

So after that I was like, gasoline for my tow vehicle. I still like my D especially with its tune, but damn the thing spends almost 50% of its time in the service bay at the dealer. I'm a big participant on the M57 forms at e90post and my reliability issues are not unusual, though mine may be worse than average. Case in point I have a fellow D owner with 90k on her 2011 335d and she has just spent 6K recently fixing the car; injectors, vibration damper, egr cooler, CBU cleaning.

The 4.8i isn't the most relaxed towing engine, this is where I think the D with its superior torque at around 2000rpm or a 5.0i would be a better choice.. The 4.8i has to be kept revving all of the time at 3200-4500 to stay in the fat part of the torque curve so as keep my speeds constant on hills and on flat stretches. The 4.8i makes noticable noise at full throttle in 5th to make the uphill grades and can't keep a constant 65mph in 6th even on flat interstate. The wind resistance is killer, with my trailer being 10 feet 11" tall and 8 feet wide sail, thats significantly larger than the frontal area on open trailers or boats. Thats what is killing fuel economy for me. I suspect the X5 D would still be about 9-10mpg with my trailer which is about 20-25% better fuel economy then I get in my 4.8i. Boats are better on fuel economy, because of their low profile and hull shape.

Thecastle, what MicroLite do you have? I have a 2015 23LB. Are you using a WDH? Curious how that is working for you.

Oh yeah, back to the post. I tow a 23' 23LB trailer. I typically get about 13 mpg. I get 22 mpg during my typical commute. I have a long road trip coming up and will log the mileage.

-CAD

We have a MicroLite 21DS. Yes, I did get a weight distribution sway reduction hitch. We have blue OX SwayPro weight distribution hitch. Our trailer unloaded is ~4300lbs with ~430lbs tongue weight. Fully loaded its ~5300lbs and from what I had read anytime the trailer is more than 1/2 the weight of a tow vehicle its a good idea to get one. So we purchased the trailer with the blue OX SwayPro.

I can't give a before and after comparison as I never towed the trailer without a weight distribution/anti-sway hitch. But what I can say is that you can most certainly tell you have a trailer. But we tow nice and level (we do have the self leveling suspension) and the trailer isn't bothered by trucks or passing. The only time things got a little hinky is when I passed a lumber truck at 85mph, the trailer began to sway a bit (maybe or learning on how to set it up). Otherwise it seems pretty easy to deal with it, no white knuckles. I like the fact we can backup too with out taking off the anti sway.

How do you like your 23LB?

Thecastle, we love our 23LB. It tows great with no WDH or Sway control. The BMW trailer control SW does a super job of counteracting any sway from wind or trucks. I've thought about the Propride hitch, but worry since its 100+ lbs. weight will push us over the 600 lbs. tongue weight limit on the X5. Do you find the WDH counteracts some of the tongue weight by moving some of the weight to the front axle?

I've been really happy with the overall towing performance of the 35d. Smooth, stable, a little hunting for gears, yes. Never thought to try towing in Sport mode, as a few guys in an Airstream forum have recommended.

The trailer is about 5200 lbs loaded. The pricey Hensley-Arrow hitch (earlier Pro Pride design) adds 90 lbs of tongue weight, but I've appreciated the "no-sway" design with two different medium-sized SUVs towing medium-sized trailers. The X5's towing MPG averages 17, which easily beats the 12 MPG I got with a 4.6L gas V8 Ford.

Have close to 10,000 towing miles on the 35d, (112k miles total) in both plains and mountains driving. The transmission slips a bit when cold, and I still worry it will be the weak link, even if we make it to 150k miles.

http://whizzospace.com/misc/fc23fb.jpg

I towed for years with X3, E53 X5s, and E70 X5, including the 4.8i and X5M. as far as speed, stability, towing comfort, and braking, all of them punched above their weight class. But all of them lost their cool in the mtns (Summer heat, not fall or early spring). The E53s (4.4 and 4.8is) would max out coolant temps (260 if I recall) and go into limp mode, and the E70 4.8i would hit limp mode in stop and go traffic in the foothills out of Denver. The M had a recurring engine malfunction warning and reduced power mode whenever towing; never figured what was going on there. Usually happened towing at altitude and on boost for several minutes. Had to move to a truck to get away from these issues but definitely loved how they tow when they are not heat stressed. I bet I would have had no problems in flat land or low altitudes.

Nice setup there!
It is worth noting that when the engine is cold and ambient temp below 60F the tranny will hold low gear longer and will keep the TQ unlocked for a long time. As a matter of fact even at 50F my 35D will rev all the way to 3500 RPM before it will upshift. The transmission control module is so precisely calibrated that it will detect less than 1% slippage and set a code or limp mode if excessive.
I have ~550ft/lbs torque for over 15 k miles and at least 2k miles towing 5-6k lbs with any negative affects yet to come.

Yup, my 335D does the same thing when cold. I'm running a Stage 2 tune that allows some ear activity on a cold start to speed up engine warm up. Then it switches completely off for improved fuel economy and CBU prevention.

Just an update, I've been working on improving my X5's fuel economy. I just got back from a 500 mile trip towing my Microlite 21DS. Since my last trip I replaced my coolant, alternator (belts and tensioners), CCV, power steering fluid, MAF Sensor, front lower control arm replacement, alignment, oil change to liqui moly, added Lucas oil leak stop, Lucas oil fuel cleaner, increased the tire inflation pressure. So now my car is averaging 8.1 mpg vs 7.3 (towed at 70mph). Which is a 10% improvement in fuel economy. My car already had all diffs replaced with redline, transfer case done, transmission fluid change, spark plugs, air filters, etc. in the last 2000 miles, which happened before my 1st trip.

I'm going to try a tune next since I've now replaced every fluid in the car. I'm hoping with an engine tune which advances timing, and is optimized for 93 octane like we have here, I might break into the mid 8's- 9 mpg range. My next trip in 3 weeks will be a drive to big bend national park which is about 1200 miles round trip from our house.

My friend also went to the same camp ground towing his 35 foot travel trailer with a ford f-150 ecoboost 3.5L and averaged 6.5mpg, so I'm doing okay. My father in law towed his travel trailer which was 14 feet long and 8 feet high with his 2016 Chevy duramax and achieved 12mpg on the same trip. Vs is my 21ft trailer that is 10 feet high and 8.1mpg on a gasoline v8. Granted his trailer was considerably smaller and lighter. It was a custom made converted cargo trailer with no projections out the sides (awnings, etc.).

Two points of comparison

Trailer: 20x8.5" enclosed car hauler, approx 9.5"high by 25' long and 4500lbs with race car. It has a 4ft v-nose.

Our ML350 (W164, wimpy 3.5l gas) towing this trailer got 13.5mpg (Danby CT-Boston ) at 65mph (45mph on the bigger hills). Without the trailer we get 24mpg on the highway at 70mph.

My 2011 X5-D get 27-28 without the trailer at 75-80 mph (Knoxville to Boston thru the Blue Ridge mountains). Haven't towed with the trailer yet but expect to get in the mid-teens this summer.

I can't imagine the load that would drop mileage to 7-8mpg!

"The trailer is about 5200 lbs loaded. The pricey Hensley-Arrow hitch (earlier Pro Pride design) adds 90 lbs of tongue weight, but I've appreciated the "no-sway" design with two different medium-sized SUVs towing medium-sized trailers. The X5's towing MPG averages 17, which easily beats the 12 MPG I got with a 4.6L gas V8 Ford."

Whizzo, Can you post a few pics of your Hensley setup hitched to the X5 and a few pics of your X5 hitch? I would like to see how you set it up. Thanks!

Sorry, this is the only image I have of the hitch. Straight dealer install, with factory trim piece and cutout. I can no longer take a picture of the Hensley hitch setup, as I've sold the X5.

http://whizzospace.com/misc/IMG_1207a.jpg

Whizzo, Thanks for the picture. I am still trying to figure out if adding a 3P/Hensley Arrow WDH would put excessive tongue weight on my hitch. There are a few instances of the 2" hitch tube being rotated due to excessive tongue weight.

If your worried, weigh the tongue then. The maximum hitch weight is 600lbs on the X5. You can measure it using a 2x4 some blocks and a bathroom scale. https://www.etrailer.com/faq-how-to-...ue-weight.aspx

Adding weight to the trailer tongue does not translate into pure additional hitch weight, unless its directly over the hitch. Some of the weight is taken by the rear axle. Also adding weight behind the rear axle reduces hitch weight, so its a balancing act. Frankly with my trailer, I don't find it tows well with he X5 unless is at least 10% of the trailer weight. I added batteries to the tongue and water to the fresh water tank to increase hitch weight. Basically having a 9 year old kid standing on the a-frame aint gonna make your hitch fail.

In general you want at least 10-15% of your trailer weight on the hitch. I've never heard of a hitch being rotated because of excessive weight, but they can fail and they can detach from the car. A class IV 2" receiver hitch should be able to handle 1200lbs in tongue weight, well in excess of the vehicles suspension and GVW.

Thecastle, Thanks for the input. I have measured my tongue weight using the beam and scale format and I am very, very close to the 600 lbs. limit. The additional weight of the 3P hitch would be directly on the hitch ball and that is one of my concerns. The other concern is the extended torque arm induced by the longer WDH system. FYI, BMW has a specification that spicifies where your hitch ball should sit with respect to the hitch pin in your receiver. I believe they do this to "control" the length of torque arm on the vehicle's receiver with respect to the tongue weight.

I do also agree that some weight is shared by the TT axles, but it is very minimal when adding weight to the trailer tongue. And, placing cargo behind the axles does reduce tongue weight depending upon the beam length using the axle locations as the fulcrum(s).

I am just trying to determine how much of the WDH weight is actually added at the hitch ball and how much is transferred to the front axles of the vehicle and to the TT axles before I invest $2K+.

Seems to me that anything which significantly lengthens the effective distance between the trailer axles and your hitch receiver has the effect of reducing tongue weight thru the simple principle of a longer lever arm. If there is a WD that does this, it might help you with t-weight. My solution is going to be loading my race car backwards (engine toward the rear), and keeping the tools and spares to a reasonable amount.

This is what i do.

Thought I would share a photo too - D loaded down with an apartment full of stuff ready to head from TX to CA - will be driving down around the 30th

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/..._1542_crop.jpg

Nice! Hide all your "assault weapons" well :lmao:

They will have to work to find'em!

Towing a 16' Toy Hauler with 2 ATVs & gear
 

I regularly tow my 16' toy Hauler loaded with 2 ATVs and/or 2 dirt bikes, loaded with a full water tank, and gear. We have towed up 8,000 ft. Mountains and out onto the sand dunes. The 4.8is has performed perfectly. I use a weight distribution hitch and calculated approximately a 10mpg. avj. Trailer + all gear is probably around 6,000lb.

I'm going to add my 2 cents. As some of the previous posters have suggested, you are going to use more gas when you tow something, there is no "magic" way of getting around that. Towing your load safely and comfortably is the main thing, difference in economy will be a drop in the bucket no matter what your towing vehicle choice. In the end, it takes a certain amount of fuel to overcome the weight and wind resistance of what you are towing. period.

Can anyone recommend a tow package/kit? I have a racecar I will need to tow to the track this summer. It will probably be 3,500 lbs fully loaded. Few hills.

I would go OEM, home-install and pay to have your SW updated. The hitch package itself can be had for $470 from online OEM sources.
Your labor is free and I don't know
what the coding costs but it should be quick and simple

Do you have to have the vehicle coded once the hitch is installed? I've read the coding is just for the backup camera zoom or is there more that the coding does? Any details about this would help. I just picked up my OE BMW hitch kit for $409.00

Who sells it for $409?

For $100 why worry what the coding does (trailer anti-away, PDC off, maybe different shift map, backup zoom, ...). Just do it .

Ebay has them. I got mine last week form a dealer in Maryland. I wish my dealer only charged $100 bucks.. They charge a min $150 for anything now.. needless to say they own the only 2 bmw dealerships around me. I still have to have it done regardless, but seriously I'm sure it takes them 15 min to do it.

Very different shifting map that i hate even more than the regular. In city traffic I drive it in manual mode because the engine revs over 3000 rpm for no apparent reason.

So your saying that X5 models with hitches have (or could have) different shift patterns than the non-hitch models? Can you elaborate on this? If the vehicle had a "tow mode" I could understand delayed shift patterns when towing.
Or does the vehicle sense when a trailer is hooked up and changes shift patterns.. I appreciate your response, but it is very vague.

It senses when it's hooked up.

That makes more sense that the shift pattern changes when it's hooked up to a trailer.
I'm sure the trans shift patterns have been mapped for the best combination of hp/tq for towing.
Thanks for all the info!!

Ah, thanks. I paid $470 from a reliable long time supplier. Best price I found from a dealer was also $470. Nice work getting it for $409.

Fwiw I think many good BMW-focused independents have coding software.
You do not have to go to the dealer

I would mention that the transmission mapping in tow/haul mode is not very good. I run my car in manual mode for several reasons. I have a 2008 4.8i BTW, generally towing a ~5000lbs travel trailer as loaded.

1) My trailer is heavy and the car still starts in 2nd gear, which is fine if you want to creep along, but too tall to move at least close to traffic speeds
2) The transmission has a real tendency to hold on to low gears for what seems like forever once you've reached your cruising speed.
3) The transmission hunts on highways. 6th gear is generally too tall for me to maintain 65-70mph on flat terrain. So I get a slight downgrade it shifts to 6th, level out loose speed and back to 5th. This constant shifting is hard on the transmission.

So I find it best to leave it in 5th for cruising its able to maintain speed on most interstate grades (sometimes needs 4th for hills).

Around town in city traffic below say 45 I find D to be okay, but I've pretty much stopped using drive and just manually shift.

So I wanted to give an update on my experiences. I traded my 2008 X5 4.8i in for a 2011 X5M... This weekend I had a chance to do my inagural tow with my 2011 X5M. I took my travel trailer the same as before to Martin Dies JR. State Park in east texas....

So when I did this drive with my 2008 X5 4.8i in November of last year I averaged 7.3mpg round trip. Towing at an average speed of 65-70mph.

This time same trailer, similar weather conditions (temp, wind, maybe more humid). The 2011 X5M averaged 8.2mpg (indicated by computer). So it would seem that even though the EPA rating of the X5M is slightly lower than the 4.8i. The fuel economy while towing is better. The trailer is nearly the same as last year, maybe slightly heavier because of more batteries, but less water. Went the same route at the same speeds (X5M touched 85mph once or twice while passing)

What I can say is that the X5M can tow the trailer in 6th gear (top gear) and rarely has to drop out of 6th on hills. The 4.8i was always in 3rd-5th gear. It could not tow the trailer at 70mph in 6th.

I will also mention that the 4.8i averaged 8.2mpg driving form houston to big bend, so I can't say conclusively that the 4.8i is always worse. But I can say their isn't much difference it would seem in economy between the 4.8i and S63 engines. What I will say though is that the S63 certinally tows in a more relaxed manner staying in top gear and not needing to be manually shifted.

Good thread going here, folks. Figured I'd add my experience so far. I have a 2012 X5 xDrive 50i. I installed an Invisihitch/Execuhitch because I was either told, or read somewhere on one of the forums that it has a higher towing capacity than the OEM hitch, however this is not in writing from Invisihitch. As I understand it, the e70 X5 chassis is rated for 6000 lbs in the USA. In most overseas countries its rated for 7700 lbs. It's the same vehicle, but the hitches are different. I believe BMW outsources the hitch design/fabrication to something in-country. Whoever makes the OEM hitches for the USA market either didn't design, or didn't test to the full 7700 lbs (700 lbs tongue weight), but only to the 6000 lbs (600 lbs tongue weight), hence the reduced USA capacity.

I purchased the hitch with the factory OEM wiring harness, and did the install myself. Nothing outlandish if you're the type that knows which end of a screw driver to hold. Install can be done in about 4-5 hrs. I then had it coded for the hitch, along with a few additional features that are handy. The zoom feature on the rear camera is worth its weight in gold.

I regularly tow an open steel trailer with an e46 M3 track car. Trailer, car, and extra wheels/tires are around 5400 lbs. With proper tongue weight, the setup is very stable and easy to drive long distances. The torque of the twin turbo V8 is fantastic and the 8 spd transmission is also great. One of my longer routes is going from the Boston area out to Watkins Glen, about 400 miles each way, with some pretty long hills along the highway. The 50i will pull at 75-85 mph all day long like this. If I'm taking my time with cruise set at 75 mph, I'll get high 12.? mpg, I think I even saw 13.1 mpg once when I was babying it a bit. If I'm running late and pushing closer to 85 mph when traffic allows, I'm closer to low-mid 11.? mpg.

Other options that seem to help.....I have the air suspension, which is nice. I've also recently upgraded to the factory 20" staggered setup wheels/tires. The low profile and stiff sidewall tires definitely help stability a bit. You'd be surprised how well this setup takes the corners while towing.

What I'm learning is that my trailer tires are likely not up to the task of towing at those speeds.....I seem to chew through them like water with the failure mode of a sidewall bubble. Now as a tire goes bad, I'm replacing them with a heavier duty model to see if that solves the problem.

That being said, I've now upgraded to a full racecar without any real windows, per se, so I'm now in the process of upgrading to a 24 ft enclosed aluminum trailer. My rough calculations put the fully loaded weight at around 7400 lbs including, car, tires, tools, fuel jugs, nitrogen bottle, etc. We'll see how this performs once I actually pick up the trailer. When test-towing this trailer, I noticed that extended mirrors are absolutely necessary for the enclosed trailer at 8.5 ft wide. I suspect that the X5 will perform just fine with the new setup, but with lower mpg.

Anyhow, this has been my experience so far.

My ¢¢: I noticed that the tire weight capacity was right near the max rear corner weight and when I inadvertently went over gross weight by about 560# on a trip I was very impressed with the handling. I've also had the car at max weight (about 3 tons) and towed a 1600# trailer. I think I got about 13-14 with the 3.0i in this situation. Just like you mentioned the lower profile tires will give you improved handling, I have run on flat tires that give me 500# per tire more weight capacity and with air suspension I notice almost no difference in handling from 500-1500# load in/on the back (I have a folding trailer hitch rack).

All vehicles are built with a safety margin in the weight capabilities so your logic is sound in my opinion.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

@Bahb7, you might try running the maximum pressure in your trailer tires to get them to last longer.

I'll also add a bit of info on trailer tires.

Make sure they are not bias ply tiers on the trailer, they won't hold up against the speed. Most stock trailer tires ST rated are designed for a maximum speed of 65mph. Which is possible reason your getting sidewall bubbles, the tires are degrading because of heat.

https://www.etrailer.com/question-124195.html

Anyway, there are higher speed rated tires available for trailers, that are rated up to 81mph. Of course a popular swap is also to use automotive or truck tires with the right weight capability. Inflation pressure makes a big difference too, you might want to stop your car occasionally and use an infrared thermometer to measure the tire temps to see if they are getting too hot. Typically they should be below ~157F, and begin fail around ~180. But this varies from tire to tire and is only a rule of thumb.

The other thing to watch is UV rot, as this will also cause the tire to fail.

With all of that said, my trailer has tires rated up to 81mph, and I've towed it as fast as ~90mph while passing without issue and a steady 75-80mph without any sidewall bubbles. Trailer weighs about ~5000lbs as loaded.

This is a great thread. The woman made me sell my ole 6.0 powerstroke when she got preggo. And I took he opportunity to try my hand at a 4.8iS. I've always loved them and can't afford an X5M at the moment.
Anyway, I've got a OEM hitch sitting in the garage and will hopefully buy a small enclosed trailer soon and start doing more trackdays again.
So I shouldn't be pulling more than 3k lbs.

I just have to do the transmission seals and fluid and hopefully it will be ready to tow.
That ZF 6sp auto tranny is pretty sketchy. I think it's probably the weak link in the tow setup of the E53.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I towed a 16 foot enclosed trailer from MN to TX. Trailer weighed about 7400 pounds on a truckstop scale. I use manual shifting when I tow something heavy. Averaged 16 and above mpg on the trip. Diesel and rear air suspension.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...539/VHYePr.jpg

Did you weigh all axles separately and do you recall the weights?

When I've been "loaded for bear" (gross weight 6600#) I usually lose about 100# per front tire. I'm curious if you know the tongue weight and what the difference in the rear axle weight (I usually do a before & after with my heavy duty loads) especially since it's only like $2 vs $12 for a re-weigh


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

I have a 2012 35d with the Invisihitch/Execuhitch and no air springs. It tows my car & open steel trailer well. I've seen 18 mpg or better on the highway. My loaded trailer weights about 5200 to 5400 lbs with spare wheels and fuel.

https://imgur.com/a/1RC75

Installed a Curt hitch with BMW harness wired in and coded. We pull my wife's horse trailer. Trailer weighs in at ~ 1500 lbs and horse goes for ~ 1000 lbs plus 100 lbs misc horse stuff..

Usually get ~ 22 MPG with the 3.5i which drops to ~ 12-13 pulling the trailer mostly on the highway doing average 65 MPH. The trailer has surge brakes and handles very easy behind the X5.

I was getting 16-17mpg with an aluminum open trailer and car that weighed 5000lbs. Therefore i think highway mpg is dominated by aerodynamic drag. When I have 5000lbs of trailer I adjust the tongue weight to 600lbs (12%). This caused the rear of my ML350 to sag about 4 inches. That's why I bought an E70 with rear self leveling.

With an enclosed trailer (5000lbs total load), I only get 13mpg at 65mph with an X5d (2011 model). Not great but acceptable.

+ 1 in drag. I got better gas mileage towing an F350 on a flat bed at about 9k lbs than I did towing my M3 in an 18x8 box trailer at 7k lbs, obviously this wasn't with an X5.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Nice work. I like that hitch because it doesn't require cutting into the bumper. I may have to pick one up this summer when I'll be towing my E46 around.

If you don't want to cut the bumper, why not get an Execuhitch?

http://execuhitch.com/tow-hitches/

Rather than the standard 2" receiver, there is one mounted vertically in front of the rear valence. So you insert a U- Shaped hitch ball mount. When not in use, you see nothing. OK, perhaps just a glimpse of the tab on the flap covering the electrical connection. No big cut out in the bumper, although you do need to make a tiny cut-out about the size of a quarter on the bottom edge of the rear valence to clear part of the electrical connector.

I have used one for several years on my X5 with great results. As a bonus, its rated to 7,700 lbs with the V8 X5 4.8i, slightly more than the factory hitch. The downside is cost; it's one of the more costly options. Also, you can buy a bike rack from them that goes directly into their round vertical mount. You can also buy an adapter which gives you a 2" receiver, so you can use some other bike rack. They will also sell you the factory harness if you want.

That's a clever idea but doesn't the bumper valence already have a cutout for the bumper?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

The wifes E53 does but I don't think my E70 has a cutout back there. Its to cold or I would go look :)

I'm curious to know thanks in advance for checking when it's warmer

Went out and looked and there isn't a hole for a hitch on the e70 at all.

X5 30d
 

Towing a double horse float with 2 horses with horse gear and 5 people. We average 14.5 L/100km. Mostly open road driving at 90km/hr

Wow. So BMW just said screw the hitch cutout on the E70s on?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It's no big deal to make the cut-out neatly. But as I mentioned earlier, there's no need to make a cut out at all if you get the Execuhitch.

Seems pretty spendy compared to the Curt Mfg hitch?

The extra $332 to not spoil the looks of the car with a big hole in the bumper cover were worth it to me. Since I'm only towing a small percentage of time, the hitch is fully hidden when not in use. You make your own call.

Also, I don't know the actual rating of the Curt hitch, but the Execuhitch is the BMW dealer installed option in Europe, and they rate it at 7,700lbs. The hitch that's installed in the US dealers is rated at 7,500lbs. Why there's this difference, I have no clue, but it's not uncommon in Europe to see compact cars towing seemingly impossibly large caravans, so maybe they just have different standards. When you buy from a third party, do you have any real assurance as to the actual rating of the hitch? Granted the car has a certain tow capability declared, but that assumes the hitch is properly designed for the car. The factory hitch available in the US from BMW is much closer to the price of the Execuhitch. I can not explain why BMW uses a different style hitch in the US and Europe, but the Execuhitch is a little more tricky to mount the ball assembly, (easy once you get the hang of it,) so maybe they figured they could not trust stupid Americans to do it right. It also requires you to reach under the car to get at the receiver lock and hand lever; so perhaps this was a consideration as well.

Jesus, you keep saying that and its not so. Westfalia makes the BMW hitch in Europe
https://www.westfalia-automotive.com/en/company/

That's the one Im going with.

X5 towing experience and fuel economy
 

Yep. Looks just like the OEM one sitting in my garage waiting to get mounted, for the most part.
https://www.westfalia-automotive.com...111-303137.pdf

Thanks for the link. I now have instructions. [emoji4]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The Curt hitch sits below the bumper. No cutout, but you can see the receiver hanging down below the bumper.

To be precise - Westfalia and Oris make EURO hitches for BMW. Appears that Oris merged with Bosal?

Towing this trailer on cruise control 60 mph the average mpg is 15 (between 14 and 16 mpg).

https://i.imgur.com/7Mm4Fn4.jpg?1

The biggest 2 advantages of the Execuhitch (which I like) are (1) cosmetically clean, (2) no ball mount receiver rattle/clunk. But if you want a system that is compatible with standard American-style 2" receiver parts then you should go with something else (OEM is pretty good and cheaper at around $425 for the whole package). with a bit of reinforcement you can use a WD hitch (if you don't have rear self-leveling), or a tongue weight scale integrated into the ball mount (great if you tow a variety of loads/cars).

I chose to go the latter route, but regret not cutting off and redoing the loops for the safety chains because they prevent you from using those cheap devices to eliminate receiver clunking. I usually leave a cheap ball mount in there when I'm not towing, as this greatly reduces the amount of rear bumper damage you will get from park-by-feel drivers in parallel parking situations (often here in Boston). I'm one of the guys that did a very tight cutout of the bumper, so it's visually not a big deal. Besides it's a utility vehicle and I think a hitch is part of the look.

What reinforcement you can do to use a WD with Execuhitch?

I've got an OEM. the drop arms should be reinforced, and some folks add a torque arm that attached just aft of the rear differential.

I don't have an Execuhitch.
Sorry but I can't help you. Just call them and ask.
The only reason to go with a WD is if you plan on having a LOT of tongue weight AND you don't have self-leveling or aftermarket airbags inside the springs.

If you keep it reasonable (under 400lbs), you should be fine. Anything above that and the extra weight becomes noticeable in the steering and handling. The only time I felt WD was really necessary is when I was towing a trailer with over 1000lbs of tongue weight.

Sorry, I thought you were referring to reinforcement of Execuhitch to use WD. I reread you post and this was my mistake. I have OEM hitch and have Can Am type of reinforcement. My tongue weight is between 700-850 lbs.

Just one remark - self-leveling or aftermarket airbags do not transfer the weight. Therefore, if you have significant tongue weight, you want to use WD, regardless of the suspension.

That was my point too. But air bags or self-leveling are still nice to have.
If I needed to go over 600lbs on the tongue, I'd have my OEM hitch reinforced an get a WD setup. When I towed that monster trailer (over 1000lbs on the tongue) it was equiped with WD. Otherwise no frickin way it'd be safe.

WD on a unibody? How is the weight transferred to the front, there is no ladder frame?

Unibody is stronger than body-on-frame. The most challenging part are the mounts point for the hitch. Many unibody manufacturers require WD to achieve full tow capacity.

I don't know that this is true. Depends on the vehicle.
I'll bet an F350 is stiffer in bending (fore aft) than an E70.

The point is, WD works if there is any longitudinal stiffness. But of course, the stiffer the better. BMW unibodies are generally very good on bending stiffness. I took my E70 to a CAT scale once with the big trailer and WD hitch. The WD was putting an extra 250-ish lbs on the front tires and taking about the same amount off the rear tires.

There is even youtube videos showing this - no problem with opening doors / tailgate in X5, when the car goes off road. Truck frames are flexing in similar situations. This is pure engineering, any car engineer will tell you that unibody is more rigid than body on frame.

It would make sense. The unibody, the entire thing is a stressed member resisting the forces. On a truck with box on frame. Only that narrow ladder frame is really resisting. Seeing it's narrower and longer. I wouldn't be surprised it's stiffer.
I'll tell you what. I had an 06 F250 before this 04 X5 and the X5 feels more solid and stiffer, structurally than any other vehicles I've ever owned.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I think you're kind of comparing apples to oranges. You're comparing the body part, as in door, tailgate, road feel which will definitely fare better in a unibody. You're not comparing what the physical frame is doing while loaded.

I am not comparing anything. The question was about unibody and WD hitch. From a technical perspective, there should not be a problem with using WD on unibody, due to general chassis stiffness.

Ok






Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk

That's fine. I do not care about trucks, will never own one, etc., but since many people are using them with WD, I mentioned trucks which are body on frame. Again, the question was about unibody and WD.

So I've measured the weight of our tow rig on cat scales.... 2011 X5M + 2017 Microlite 21DS

Front axle 2740lbs
rear axle 4080lbs
trailer axel 4840lbs
gross weight 11660lbs

I have a weight distribution hitch.... I did not weigh the vehicle properly to determine tongue weight. But I estimate its about ~950lbs, and we had probably 500lbs in passengers + items in the car. Our estimate is 435 lbs dry tongue (trailer sticker), 40lbs propane, 217bs of batteries behind propane (242*.9). 43 gallons of water near front axle (43gallons x 8.5lbs x .70 apparent weight) 255lbs... + items in the trailer. We had a generator in front of the axles inside...

The axel measures seem to indicate all the hitch and passenger weight went to the rear axel. Curb weight should be 2640lbs on the rear (empty).

So it would seem that our weight distribution hitch was not forcing weight onto the front axle. receiver flex? too weak spring bars (max 750lbs), way off on tongue weight guess, not setting up the wdh correctly? whats interesting is the front axle weight is nearly what I would expect stock..

Anyway I'm learning so don't make any conclusions from this one-setup, and our 1st time weighing..

I typically weigh 2400/3200 with a fair amount of tools in my truck. If you have 2700 front you are definitely getting the distribution effect from the hitch. When I'm fully loaded I lose weight on the front axle. I've seen 2100 front for example.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

You maybe right. We'd need to weigh our car without the trailer which we didn't do.

X5 towing experience and fuel economy
 

It's only $2 for a same day reweigh totally worth the effort. I've used re weigh to weigh left vs right by parking half off the scale also.

WD hitch won't push as much weight to front wheels with auto leveling suspension since the back of the truck will lift itself reducing force in the leaving torque bars.

Your tongue weight appears to be too high and I would try to go down. You do not need more than 10% TW, unless you tow 80 mph.

I agree it would seem that tongue weight is too high, but we didn't directly measure it. I purchased a tongue scale this weekend and we're going to measure the trailer, as is on Sunday. Not loaded with water, stuff or a full set of propane tanks. Ideally we'd like to keep it below 750lbs.

We've made a lot of modifications to our trailer to make it an ideal boon-docking trailer. As we camp off grid a lot, namely a big battery bank on the tongue 4x6V golf cart batteries 60.5lbs each, plus 2/0 wiring, etc. for the inverter. Which was added to the tongue. The trailer actually towed better after the mods.

In order to actually measure tongue weight we would need to way the tow vehicle by itself, and the trailer with wdh on and off. We only measure the rig with WDH on. We did weigh more than 1x that day mainly because we were learning how to weigh, then moved on.

So all of this may be inaccurate.

I've weighed disconnected before. Ask first. We needed to weigh the force on the front feet of a 5th wheel.

If you weigh with and without the distribution bars stressed you will get the tongue weight also of course weigh truck without trailer.

I would get the tongue weight down you are over rated weight I think about 6000 gross is limit but not sure if you are allowed to go higher by adding tongue on top since it's low Cg. I've weighed in at 6600 myself but my run on flat tires are rated 500# each more than my previous tires.

I am only boon-docking. My mods include: lithium batteries 400Ah, 2800 Magnum inverter, 640W solar panels. I ordered the trailer with two 20 lbs tanks instead of 30 lbs and relocated the batteries to inside the trailer to keep the tongue weight lower.

If you want to lower tongue weight you need to relocate batteries. You can use AGMs and put them in the trailer, if you do not want to spend $ on lithium.

Over 14k towing miles later, X5 is great tow vehicle. We towed through Rockies, many times in Tahoe, Yosemite, etc.

https://i.imgur.com/BxzrhRs.jpg?1

my first trailer had a WD hitch and it could transfer 250-300 lbs from the rear to the front axle without any problems. But the real solution was to get a trailer which took me from 8500lbs to under 6500 fully loaded, and to arrange my load so the tongue weight is always 10-12%. I also setup the trailer for different loads and made notes so I don’t have to use my weigh scale unless it’s a completely new-to-me cargo.

The BMW hitch isn’t very beefy in terms of how it mounts to the e70 or how the receiver is attached to the cross bar. So I’d not use a ton of WD long term, but once in a while is probably ok.

I think that the mounts to the unibody are strong with significant margin. I agree that the long drop plates between the cross bar and the receiver are the weakest point. Therefore, I reinforced the hitch, including adding a metal strut between the receiver and the axle carrier (Can-am type of mod, if you want to google for photos). I am using ProPride hitch, which probably generates more stress on the receiver than usual WDH. No problem so far.

The BMW hitch design is not as good as other German SUV's, and I have less confidence in its design for overloading or WD. I say this even though I've had no problems in 2 years of towing a 5000lb rig and a few trips with a 9000lb trailer with a big arse WD setup. Everything remains tight and the hitch has not shifted or bent even 1mm.

But while our old SUV (W164) has a similar tubular hitch but it's overall stronger in construction plus it has 2 cast iron torsion arms that extend almost 2ft up into the uni-body bumper reinforcement tubes. These help both with distributing the tension load away from the 8 bumper mount bolts and provide support for rotational or torque loads due to high tongue weight or WD.

Mercedes instructions to us did not exclude use of WD but BMW does. So, depending on what and how you tow, I'd be careful about assuming how much safety margin you have in the hitch and the attachment to the vehicle body.

Of course you are right that all OEM's design in safety margin and validate OEM parts/designs with very rigorous testing that goes beyond the recommendations in the official user documentation. But unless you know the specifics of the test, I'd err on the side of caution.

If you are going to regularly tow 20-30% over the rated limits and use 1500lbs of WD torqe, I'd highly recommend you have the hitch and it's attachment scheme strengthened. Any good automotive custom fabrication shop should be able to help with this work.

Lol, very easy to do with the X5M, to tow too "fast." Generally I like to go depending on weather (wind) and traffic around 65-75mph.

Though I was watching someone tow their 5th wheel montana at a constant 85mph on my recent trip to kentucky.

Make sure you have trailer tires with the appropriate speed rating. I threw away a nearly new set of Carlisle ‘s and put on a set of the new Goodyear Endurance tires. Tread wear doesn’t look like it’ll be phenomenal, but between my friends and I no blowouts in 2 years, and yes one guy tows a fifth wheel at 85moh cross country. But then again he has 900ft lbs of torque. As good as the X5 is, his makes an X5M feel gutless when pulling up steep hills.

E53 (predecessor of E70) had those torsion arms as the hitch assembly. E70 unibody is significantly stiffer than E53 and maybe this is the reason why BMW came to the conclusion that arms are not required. Also, other German brands do not use the arms in the hitch assembly and they are OK for WDH.

Anyway, I have done robust reinforcement, so I am not concerned about the hitch.

“other German brands do not use the arms in the hitch assembly and they are OK for WDH.”

Thats true, our Mercedes SUV (which has the longitudinal tow bar reinforcements) isn’t a German brand. I think one of the Chinese company’s bought them a few years ago, Geely right?

It appears that you do not know that German automotive industry is not only BMW and MB, but that's fine.

Anyway, if I were you I would stop glorifying MB hitch, which was known for weak welds and the recall.

I weighed the tongue weight on my trailer instead of guessing like most do. My trailer lists itself at 438lbs tongue weight.

I have 4x 6v golf cart batteries and two 30lbs propane tanks on the tongue. One tank was full and one was about 1/3 full. Plus misc crap that always stays in the trailer and an empty water tanks. The actual measured tongue weight was using a sherline scale;

618lbs +/- 2%. Which incidentally would be about 13% of our trailers estimated weight of about 4700lbs as it sits. So about what you would actually want, which is generally 10-15% of trailer weight as tongue weight.

So it wouldn't surprise me when I drove to colorado and back with a full tank 43 gallons of fresh water and a 100lb generator and other gear that I was pushing ~950lbs of tongue weight. Car performed just fine btw with this load, no issues, no bending or breaking of anything. However we were clearly overloaded and exceeded the rear axel weight on the car, and max payload weight which is 1100lbs for the X5.

Were leaving on a trip friday and will hit some cat scales. We'll redistribute some of the weight in the trailer and not go with a full tank of water to keep the tongue weight down. Next trip we'll have lithium batteries to cut about 180lbs of weight on the trailer a-frame near the tongue.

Nice mods!

We are seriously considering lithium for the weight savings. We're running 430ah of golf car batteries which weigh 242lbs+case (4x60.5lbs) So for that weight we have a usable 215ah+/-. Going to 200ah of lithium would cut our weight by 180lbs.

I've also wired in an inverter and an auto transfer switch, so all my outlets are powered by the inverter and the auto transfer switch automatically switches between shore / inverter power.... With no smoking or suicide cords.

How/where did you relocate your batteries?

Since I have a murphy bed on our trailer, we're going to test and see if lowering the murphy bed which is right at the very front of the trailer cuts tongue weight. When its folded up all the weight is right near the hitch.

We planning to spend 5 days boondocking in Guadalupe National Park leaving friday. So getting the hitch weight down so we can take on more fresh water has been a priority without significantly exceeding the 600lbs hitch maximum on the X5M. We do have a weight distribution hitch, which probably helped us quite a bit when we were so overweight without knowing it.

1,100 lbs payload is just standard value BMW is using across all E70 engines. Check your approved gross vehicle weight and the actual weight, the difference would be the real payload. Anyway, IMO payload is just reference point. You should realy care about the axle and tire limits. But this is just me.

I have bunk beds in the back. The inverter and batteries are under the bed.

I just towed about 6k lbs with my N55 X5. I was burning a quarter tank of fuel for every 50-60 miles. That equates to 11-12 mpg. I was cruising about 75 for a period of time with the trailer. However when I slowed down I could tell the tank of gas was getting me farther. I would say it towed fine, however braking was tough.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...129ac49fa6.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

No comment on towing, but what are the plans for the salvage model 3? You watch rich rebuilds on YouTube?

I have seen some of his videos a while back. I’m rebuilding for myself right now. Might drive it for a year and resell

Very cool. Best of luck with the project.

MPG: my diesel x5 got 14-16mpg towing an enclosed v-nose at nearly 9k lbs. pulling a flat nose enclosed at6k lbs I only get 12.5mph. So you are within reasonable on gas mileage.

BRAKING: those Uhaul trailers have surge brakes which may or may not be adjusted well. But at the end of the day you’ve doubled the weight of the moving package but not doubled th braking capacity x5 brakes are vastly better than the trailer brakes). You should expect/assume degraded braking performance when towing anything.

SPEED: And IIRC the trailer itself is not supposed to go over 55mph. This might be for your safety depending on what tires were on that trailer. Nice that you didn’t get pulled over for towing too fast for the trailer.

With that much weight the trailer should have brakes. Most states require trailer brakes for trailers greater than 3500-4500lbs. I've towed that much 5K without trailer brakes on my X5M, and it hardly notices it. That fuel economy seems about right for an open air trailer and car. Expect less the bigger the trailer.

But I have to say, that air suspension is nice!! I wasn’t complaining about the fuel economy, merely stating the facts. I believe the U-Haul trailer should have surge brakes. i don’t know if they worked. I just know that I had to give myself more room to brake.

You were brave towing uhaul trailer @75 mph. Did you check the speed rating of the tires? I expect they were rated to max 65 mph.

Uhaul trailers suck.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Agreed, self leveling suspension is great!

The one issue I've noticed though is it can mask any visual indicators of overloading the car. I had a recent trip to Colorado where I had about 850lbs+ of tongue weight with a weight distribution hitch. The rear of the car doesn't sag, but I know I overloaded the rear axle when I hit the scales and measured about 4K lbs on the rear axle (max rating is 3.5K).

My observation is that when you need air suspension due to sag, you actually need weight distribution and then you may not need air suspension.

Forgot to add... This is not even due to rear axle overload (axle has safty margin built in) but due to light front axle and problems with handling / braking.

It was definitely iffy to drive 75. I wouldn’t suggest that. As far as tongue weight. I would think I had more than 600 lbs in there. With the way the U-Haul trailer is set up, more weight is shifted to the front of the trailer.

You towed an enclosed Vnose that weighed 9k lbs? What kind of tongue weight were you pulling with? Do you have the air suspension in the rear, and what hitch setup do you use? That's way overweight for the ratings, but how'd it do?

If the trailer has a speed max printed on it, you may get pulled over and ticketed. I got pulled over but let go with just a warning once (pulling a small 5x8 with an F150) and that was enough to make me slow down when pulling a Uhaul trailer.

Long story. A friend sells me his decked out race car trailer. Claims it weight 3000lbs (per the mfg website). I didn't have a tongue scale yet, so I just guessed at it when I put a 3100lb car into it for a trip. A month later I was coming back from delivering a car for a friend and I stopped by a CAT scale. That's when I found out the trailer was about 5400lbs empty. I figure with all my gear and the car it was 9000lbs. Turns out all the cabinetry, the 5kw generator, the extra lights, winch, extra height interior, fridge, work table with a big arse vise, AC outlets, jack, Nitrogen bottle, monster fold out ramp extension, walk on roof with removable railing, carpeted walls, e-track everywhere, yada yada, added 2500lbs to the base trailer. I estimate my tongue weight was around 1000lbs. Yes, my car as air suspension in the back, so there was no way to tell I was over by the ride height. I did have a WD hitch on it, and when I was at the CAT scales, it showed the WD was transfering about 325lbs from the rear to the front.

It actually towed just fine, but note that I'm a pretty conservative when I'm towing. I never go over 80mph and do my best to maintain momentum rather than mash the gas and brake. I had no problems zipping up some decent hills (I-84 through CT) and braking was what I expected with a big trailer (4wheel electric brakes). Had I not gone to the CAT scale, I might not have ever known the rig was so heavy.

FWIW, I got better mileage with that monster trailer (+2mpg) than I do now with my new bare-bones trailer (which really does weigh 3000lbs before loading the car). The new trailer is the same model from the same company (ATC, Quest) but is 6" shorter (eg standard interior height) and a flat front whereas the heavy one was a really deep V-nose. Next trailer I get will be an ATC (wonderful quality) but with a V-nose again.

FWIW, my hitch wasn't damaged in anyway but towing that monster for a summer. My bumper cutout for my hitch has about 1/4" clearance and that spacing didn't change at all. I did go back and check the hitch mount nuts and they were all still tight.

2012 50i - towed about 1300 miles from Tx to Az-boat and trailer weigh 5120. Averaged 10.5 mpg but wife was actually towing it and would slowly speed up to 80mph range until she was outrunning me in F350 DRW/42 ft 5th wheel and call her to SLOW DOWN. I’ve towed it another 500 miles and it tows great with the only complaint being the narrow FOV mirrors. Of course it gets bumped around more by winds/bad roads than the truck. GOODYEAR Endurance tires are great and speed rated at 87mph for the wife’s heavy foot or passing lines of semi’s on 2 laners.

Get some European style panoramic mirrors. Absolutely amazing.

“narrow FOV mirrors.”
Stock mirrors useless with my race trailer.

Best mirrors are the OEM trailer mirrors (google EMUK BMW E70).
These are just barely enough for an 8.5’ wide toy hauler. Set these to show where the trailer wheels are (covers the sides of the trailer but only about 15-18ft worth of trailer. I still need a wide angle at the back of the trailer to have full coverage.

I too drive my X5 while towing a 22ft travel trailer at 80mph (sometimes more) while towing. Most of the time I'm at 70-75mph and I've switched to hartland tires on my TT which are speed rated at 87mph as well.

I agree the mirrors are not ideal and could use an upgrade. I find myself leaning to see around the sides of the trailer.

I'll say that with an anti-sway hitch on my X5 its pretty darn stable. In fact one time my X5's alternator died, and we had to have my father in law tow our TT home from Austin to Houston. He towed without the anti-sway hitch with his 2017 2500HD duramax, and it definitely was tossed around a lot more than the X5 (we were all surprised), so in this case the hitch design makes a big difference.

So much of it is in the details of the setup, trailer loading, trailer center of gravity, tires on TT, suspension (a lot of trailers have very primitive suspension), aerodynamics, etc.


Now I know that trucks as tow vehicles can be a very emotional point, and I'm not trying to hit that, just sharing my experience.

Not a direct comparison, but I have a 2000 DRW F-450, and I don't like going above 70mph because of how much vagueness is in the steering and the fight it is to keep it in its lane from cross winds. I recently had all the ball joints replaced, steering box and alignment done, and well, it still has the capability to be steered down the road, but precision is not great (or a feature), I think the steering has ~1/4" of play that does nothing (better than the 1/4-1/2 turn before). It reminds me of driving an old u-haul box truck. its not a confidence inspiring vehicle to drive fast (nor does it want to go fast).

I recommend buying a $125 Sherline trailer tongue weight scale to setup your trailer for proper towing. It’s a cheap way to make sure you have a safe setup. I keep mine in the trailer in case I need to setup a new payload.

Agreed, I have one! There is no way to visually tell you have overloaded your trailer or tow vehicle. I suspect this is a major cause of blow outs and bad handling.

the cat scale is how I discovered I was way, way, over my tongue weight maximum, that and a trip to the cat scales. Probably at about 860lbs. 1st warning was at the cat scales where I measured I was exceeding the rear axle max weight at about 3800lbs. (3500lbs is the max weight rating, and the tires are good for about 4000lbs).

For $135 you can cat scale about a dozen times and get full weight and tongue/trailer etc. You have to spend the extra $2 for a re-weigh and do a little math. If you have a friendly clerk they will let you decouple on the scale

“ scales are cheap,”

Sure, I usually only haul 3 different cars so my floors marked out for two accessory loads (w & w/o full race gear). But sometimes I help friends out (shows and races), so I don’t always have a chance to load up and then adjust at a CAT scale later. If I had an F250 dually with 2000lbs tongue weight capacity and 6000lbs of towing headroom, I’d be fine going to the scales every now and then. But with our little X’s trailering a full size sports car in a toy hauler can put you near the limit. I’d rather have the flexibility of checking my loading when and where ever rather than having to drive 14 miles to our nearest CAT scale everytime I was unsure. And hey, $125 is cheap and convenient insurance, right?

But yes I have done CAT before to figure how how tongue weight is getting distributed to the two axles and yes of course they will let you decouple so you can check F/R/T weights (for under $20). I’m not saying the scales don’t serve an important purpose. I’m just saying $125 to have a T-weight scale in the trailer is cheap, smart, and safer. Than guessing. For those of you who use traditional WD, you can approximate tongue weight from how much you have to crank up on the arms as the arms are rated at lbs per inch of defection and you remember HS geometry, right?

Towing a boat is a little easier because of the angles of the bow. I couldn’t imagine trying to see around the front wall of an enclosed trailer. When we get to our destinations (full-time RV travel) I usually use the truck to travel to area lakes just because I’ve come close to putting the BMW rear exhaust/bumper in the water on shallow-angle ramps. The truck is so boring-it is truly just a tool to get the job done (but it does have A/C seats).

Man, what a story! I missed this reply somehow! Vnose really does make a difference, and I'm impressed by all your enclosed trailer towing. I don't have a WDH/ anti sway hitch setup, just the normal one. I pulled 5500 lbs of my drift car+spares+trailer on sunday, and all went super well! I have a sherline tongue scale, so I put the tongue weight right at 550 lbs, and everything seemed pretty stable. Powerr was no issue, but I only got 20.5 mpg because I pulled it through a lot of local roads instead of highways. just worked out that way with where I needed to bring it. My 35d is deleted and tuned, so there's no problem pulling it forwards up any kind of hill, and the towns I was pulling through were VERY hilly.

Overall, super satisfied. I'm using a prodigy RF brake controller which was having some pulsing issues that were really annoying, and I believe it stems from the small amount of up-down slack in my channel mounted adjustable tongue on my trailer. I'm going to look into having it welded solid, as I don't need to adjust it. the play messes with the accelerometers that are sensing the tiniest change in orientation, and telling the trailer that I let up on the brakes when I haven't, making them pulse like slow anti-locks.

X5 towing experience and fuel economy
 

I can't tolerate the motion of the typical trailer ball. Especially when I have the back rack in the receiver.

I drilled a hole out the side and threaded for a 1/2-13 bolt and put a bolt in to remove all motion on my trailer ball. Highly recommended.

That same idea would work for your tongue, faster and easier than welding and reversible just in case.

That's a pretty good idea, I'll have to look at the actual channel attachment's spacing and see if that kind of idea would be possible.

If the holes are standard of hitch pin they make hitch pins that bind to prevent rattle could also work.

The trick is you need to bind the two sleeved parts, a through bolt doesn't work. Drill a couple 3/8" holes a couple feet apart from the top if the tongue is a pair of sliding box channel. Drill and tap the second layer of the inner box and install a couple 3/8 grade 8 bolts.

I would use 3/8 to get more threads into the metal.

3/8" bolt torqued to 45 ft·lb is about 7000# clamping force.

1/2" at 90 ft·lb is about 14400 # clamping force.

Another method is to drill all the way through both boxes, then drill a 1/2" hole through the bottom of the bottom box and use a sleeve around the bolt at the bottom to put the clamp force on the bottom of the inner box.

I have a couple ball holders and they all rattled a bit in the OE hitch. I wrapped the front and rear with one layer of 1” wide friction tape (a bit like racers tsps). The fit is just tight enough that I have to push and wiggle a little to get the holder into the receiver. No more rattling and creaking. The 1-layer lasts for 3-4 trips and then starts to get loose. I just perk it off and put a new piece on tape one and all’s well. Removing the bell mount takes a bit of jiggling and tugging. If the OE receiver had allowed use of one of those $15 U-bolt thingies, that would’ve been better.

X5 towing experience and fuel economy
 

Softride Quiet Ride Locking Tightening Hitch Pin; Anti-Rattle for Receiver Hitches, Bike Racks, or Boat Trailers; Silence the "clanking" noise that occurs while towing (25219) http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000T5BI8Y

Does that thing work?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Just wait till that rusts shut it you lose your key.
I don’t use a $250 ball carrier (weighsafe, etc), so I don’t need a lock.

a bit of friction tape wrapped around the 2” ball carrier tube works fine for me. It is enough to stop all creaking and rattling and I always have racer tape in the trailer.

the bolt looks great for security. I’d prefer it over that fancy no rattle pin.

It works just like my threaded hole and bolt works : by clamping the inner tow bar to the side of the outer receiver.

U use one of the U bolt things. Works fine!

As ar as my rattle, it comes from the actual trailer tongue itself. I'm really probably going to get it welded solid, as the holes have just ovaled out on the adjustable height tongue attachment.

Also, noteworthy- The past 3 weekends I've towed my drift car, full load this weekend was probably around 5800 lbs. Car handled great, with the exception of the very reduced braking capability. Trailer brakes still work great, but I'm leaving a lot of space in front of me for room to stop. I blew a wheel bearing this morning, the towing must have stressed it over the edge. Having a new one put in on Wednesday.

@Bfeng / Anyone with lots of towing experience- I'm embarking on a 2k mile tow at the end of this month. I'm thinking about things I should be monitoring, and I'm aware that the trans oil shouldnt really get much over 90*. Should I be worried about this? For the most part, my 1k mile each way trip will be pretty flat. NJ-> mid wisconsin, and then back. 2 days there, 2 days back. I'll have 5800-6k lbs of open car trailer behind me.

I'm currently trying to figure out if I should be upgrading my intercooler, and I'm lightly toying with the idea of a trans cooler but I'm really hesitant to plumb anything in because of potential reliability issues / worries about leaks.

As far as everything else, I'm about to do a trans service, including dropping the valve body out and doing the seals, and I'm also going to be replacing the solenoids while I'm in there. I'm pretty sure I'm also going to do a rear driveshaft guibo, and the center support bearing before I do this trip too. Other than that, I'm going to hopefully install my airlift airbags in the rear coils, to level out the ride a bit.


My questions are really
1) What are you guys seeing as temps? Oil, coolant, Trans fluid, EGT's? What temps do I have to start to worry?
2) Should I be jumping on an ATM intercooler? Should I be considering plumbing in an extra trans cooler?

I just drove from NYC to Wisconsin but via DC so we went through VA and MD as well as PA. There were some significant grades 7% at times but only a couple hours over a 12-14 hour trip. That will be the only part of concern.

If you have a scanner plugged in that will give you real-time trans temp that's all you need to determine if you need to downshift or drive slower.

We had a rental car so didn't have the X5 with and at 70-75 we did have to downshift without towing anything so soon lower speeds lower gears will be in your future.

If you just listen to the car for how hard it's working I think you will be just fine. The car has trans cooler I think that's all it needs.

Hit me up with PM I would come out to the interstate to meet for a lunch etc as you'll be driving within 7 minutes of my house.

Sypro
Do you have good trailer mirrors?
If you have rear air suspension and 100k miles you might keep a spare arrnot airbag in the trunk. Mine is an enclosed so also keep a full sized OEM E70 spare as I’m not sure how well a run flat would do with 650lbs of tongue weight plus stuff in the X5.

I’ll shoot you one soon. I’m headed up to usair for a drift event, but after detroit I’ll be squad deep, caravanning with about 7 other drifters so I’m not sure I’ll be able to stop.


Bfeng- no extended towing mirrors for me. I’m towing an 18’ open car hauler, so my mirrors actually work super well still. I’ll have 2 spare wheels and tires for the X5, and one trailer spare. I might double that and get another spare for the trailer, but I haven’t decided. I figure if I get one flat, I’ll stop by a trailer place or Walmart and have a new tire put on the one that had the problem.

I don’t have oem air suspension, I really wish I did. I’ve got some airlift in-coil bags that I’m going to install, and see if they hold up to the torments of the X5 towing. She squats a bit, so i’d love to be able to stiffen up the rear a bit.