E70 X5 Helping Spring Towing Load Option
 

I've been thinking of various ways to get the best lowered suspension I can without dropping $3-5k on full air suspension setup. As some of you know I have been already testing various setups with my non-Adaptive drive equipped 35d. I think unlike most owners, I will occasionally tow and when doing so the rear tends to sag a bit. There's been two thoughts running through my head lately and that is to either fit oem Arnott bags in place of my springs and use a universal air pump setup, or I've been thinking about trying helper springs that will allow me to manually add air when towing. Seeing as I don't car to slam my car or adjust its height on the fly, I feel like this would be a cheap yet efficient way to help for those days I tow.

According to my research this alternative is about $100 vs the $500-$800 option of adding arnott setup in the rear with a universal air pump setup (with no tank). Additionally the installation is rather straight forward and doesn't require removal of any suspension components. Once the bags are in place it's just a matter of routing the air line.

So, in putting this information out there I wanted to see if anyone here can share any experience with helper springs and what you guys' overall feedback is to the idea...

Thanks in advance.

Honestly, as someone with OEM Load level and Adaptive drive, Ive found the load leveling suspension to be invaluable when towing or loading the X5 up with people and cargo. If you can do it and not have it cost you a million dollars, I'd say do it and post it up here. It may be a good resource or alternative for many standard sprung X5 owners with a hitch.

Oddly BMW did not equip trailer hitch/tow package X5's with the Load Level suspension only ones with third row seating. I have had helper springs on an older frontier I used to tow with and had a setup that I used to fill up at the gas station. Worked like a champ.

I also have a Air Lift Setup with the compressor on my F250 when towing a 32' boat. That was almost $1000 bucks (I bought mine off a guy on Craigslist for $400) Took about 3.5 hours to install, a half a case of beer and about $400 in the swear jar but it works well and I can control it from inside the cab.

I do not have the third row seat, but I do have the load leveling rear air suspension. The thing with these cars is that the option sheet is about a mile long, and most folks selling used E70's, including dealers, have no clue what options were available, and what are on their own car. (The solution when looking at used X5s is that you MUST plug the VIN into a decoder to see what's actually on a given car.)

I'll be getting the rear springs out of storage this weekend to make measurements to hopefully identify the right kit and will report back.