Towbar on 340i
Discussion
Hi all, new to PH and am looking for recommendations, tips or any useful info that might help in choosing the best towbar option for my 340i touring. Main dilemma is wanting to rear mount bikes and tow a small trailer at the same time, although this is probably only once a year. Thanks in advance.
IMO, Westfalia are the best engineered bars you can get.
No doubt you will want a bar that is detachable, so it's hidden when you don't use it.
But Westfalia only do Swan Neck bars, which may limit your choice of bike carrier.
If you need a flange type (where the ball is mounted to a 2 bolt flange, so you can also mount a bike rack bracket), then I think Witter would be your best choice, as they do a detachable flange type.
For a rack and/or trailer, a 7 pin socket is sufficient, although they aren't as waterproof as the 13 pin ones, and they are prone to poor contacts.
I would normally advise a full "dedicated" electrics kit, but, again, for limited use with bike rack or trailer, the much cheaper "7-way relay" option is sufficient, but note you wouldn't have the bulb failure indication of the dedicated electrics. You may have to switch off your reverse sensors manually too with a 7-way relay, but it's not a big problem for occasional use. If you have a full LED lightset on your trailer board, the dedicated electrics may not pick up the (small) load and fail to "switch on" your lighting board when connected.
On my E91, the dedicated wiring didn't like the full LED boards (my bike trailer bounced a lot and would blow proper bulbs frequently, hence using the LED lights) - it would illuminate the lights OK, but the indicator light load was so low, it threw up indicator light bulb failure. Obviously, being a BMW, I don't need indicators, so it was never a major problem :-)
HTH
No doubt you will want a bar that is detachable, so it's hidden when you don't use it.
But Westfalia only do Swan Neck bars, which may limit your choice of bike carrier.
If you need a flange type (where the ball is mounted to a 2 bolt flange, so you can also mount a bike rack bracket), then I think Witter would be your best choice, as they do a detachable flange type.
For a rack and/or trailer, a 7 pin socket is sufficient, although they aren't as waterproof as the 13 pin ones, and they are prone to poor contacts.
I would normally advise a full "dedicated" electrics kit, but, again, for limited use with bike rack or trailer, the much cheaper "7-way relay" option is sufficient, but note you wouldn't have the bulb failure indication of the dedicated electrics. You may have to switch off your reverse sensors manually too with a 7-way relay, but it's not a big problem for occasional use. If you have a full LED lightset on your trailer board, the dedicated electrics may not pick up the (small) load and fail to "switch on" your lighting board when connected.
On my E91, the dedicated wiring didn't like the full LED boards (my bike trailer bounced a lot and would blow proper bulbs frequently, hence using the LED lights) - it would illuminate the lights OK, but the indicator light load was so low, it threw up indicator light bulb failure. Obviously, being a BMW, I don't need indicators, so it was never a major problem :-)
HTH
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