tow bars

[hoshy]

are they an option? can I just bolt one to the iS?

cheers,
ash

[konfuzion]

Looks that way. My old touring seemed to have plugs put in the rear floor area where perhaps one once resided and I removed one from an old C-plate 325i too (which I still have here, if you're looking for one.. drop me a PM ).



Regards,

Ian

[mr_dink]

Normally they just bolt onto the bumper mountings and brace onto the bottom of the spare wheel well so yes, a fairly easy retrofit.

[hoshy]

Anybody know if a tow bar on an iS was a dealer option?

Or will it be a case of "improvising" a fitting

[320Touring]

Anybody know if a tow bar on an iS was a dealer option?

Or will it be a case of "improvising" a fitting

I wouldnt bother mate, its slow enough as it is

From what I can recall, there should be points for mounting on the car already (but that may just be the vastly superior tourings!)

[hoshy]

Yeah - all I've turned up so far is stuff about Tourings.

I think my little iS should just about cope with towing a kart

[mr_dink]

Rear bumper mounting is the same for saloon as touring, this is where the BMW towbar mounts to so you should have no problems.

[hoshy]

Does it require the rear bumper to be removed? I only ask as I know one of my rear bumper bolts has a snapped head

[mr_dink]

Rear bumper does need to come off I'm afraid.

Here's the diagram for the BMW one -

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do ... g=71&fg=10

HTH

[hoshy]

Thanks for the link.

Shame about the bumper though :-/

[mr_dink]

Thanks for the link.

Shame about the bumper though :-/

Tell me about it mate.

I want to change the rear bumper on my 2 door, but the bolts are so rusted I killed a ratchet and a torx bit trying to get it off and still failed!

[LeonNewton]

easey fit. i took one off a 1990 318 lux. all the holes wure threw flat bits of mettle but look like thay had been drilled by hand so prob not factory

[LeonNewton]

easey fit. i took one off a 1990 318 lux. all the holes wure threw flat bits of mettle but look like thay had been drilled by hand so prob not factory

[Chris-W]

Does it require the rear bumper to be removed? I only ask as I know one of my rear bumper bolts has a snapped head

Remove it along with the bumper mount from the inside, Ash.

[hoshy]

Cheers Chris - I have looked in to that. It seemed that the driver side ones are quite tricky to get to - probably there's a way if I spend some time on it.

[BadDave]

Ash
If you get me on msn, i'll let you know how to ge tthe bumper off even if the 2 bolts are siezed solid mate
I also ahve a towbar you can have if you want it

[hoshy]

Legend mate - I'm guessing it's you who's just popped up making noises on my computer then

[georgen]

Ash,

If the bolts are proper fubar, give me a shout and I'll pop my 13mm knackered bolt removal thing in the post for ya...

[hoshy]

Ahh sweet - cheers George.

I'm hoping the guys will decide against getting a trailer and it will save me the hassle but we'll see how it goes.

iS + tow bar would be

[scootlife]

Ive been looking at an aftermarket one on ebay , would the mountings be much different to an orginal one ? The swan neck ones are so much nice to look at, but aftermarket have the option to remove the tow ball bit if you dont want it too visible all the time.

[scootlife]

heres the link if of any use ?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0311117473

But a free one is always better !!

[Brianmoooore]

The rear bumper has to come off to fit any towbar. If the torx headed bolts won't undo, then undo the four 13mm nuts that hold the bumper mounts in place, and deal with the torx bolts afterwards when you can get some WD40 on them.
The bar that I think is the genuine BMW one fits between the bumper mounts and the body, and requires the studs fitted to the bumper mounts to be removed, and replaced by longer bolts.
Most aftermarket ones are based on a long flat bar that sits inside the boot, right against the floor, and bolts through to an angle bar across the car outside, eventually hidden by the bumper.
These bars also usually bolt up under the spare wheel well in a couple of places, or, in the case of the bar on one I bought about a month ago, to a factory fitted threaded insert, on a cross member just in front of the spare wheel well, that I'd never noticed before, or ever seen used for any other purpose.
There's no ready provided electrical connection socket on an E30, like there is on an E34, but the electrics are easy enough to connect up behind the rear panel, or on the 'in' side of the lamp failure module, if you have one.
Replace the indicator 3 pin 'relay' with a 4 pin one, and wire the fourth pin to a suitable bulb holder fitted to the trailer indicator position on the instrument cluster.

[hoshy]

Wow thanks Brian. That's awesome detail particularly about the electrical side or things.