[cohenfive]

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My wife has fallen in love with a small travel trailer (2300lb weight) and now I need to figure out how to get it to work with our 2019 X3 M40I (no tow package). We asked our BMW dealer and they came back with a $3300 cost just for parts..including a new bumper. I'm thinking there has to be an easier solution. The trailer we are looking at has a brake controller that plugs into the car's lighter plug, so I don't think we need that...Our local mechanic suggested looking at Curt hitches. I also looked at etrailer.com. If I'm reading it right, looks like parts for a concealed hitch/receiver are about $1000.

I'm open to ideas and suggestions on how to retrofit our X3 with a trailer hitch. Are there other concealed hitch options available, and are there things I should be looking for that I could very well not be thinking about?

Thanks

[eX3Werks]

Try Stealth Hitch.

[xylodan]

Definitely this:

https://stealthhitches.com/products/...bmw~md_x3-m40i

[Isawelvis]

I agree the Stealth hitch, especially if you want a totally hidden hitch when not in use. It will not require a new bumper since it fits below the bumper when in use.

[cohenfive]

Thanks. Some of the local installers use a variant of this, not sure if it is the same brand. Probably not as they are mostly less money. Are there coding issues if you get a hitch?

[xylodan]

Originally Posted by cohenfive

Thanks. Some of the local installers use a variant of this, not sure if it is the same brand. Probably not as they are mostly less money. Are there coding issues if you get a hitch?

There are. For all things to work properly some recoding needs to be done. Stealth Hitch can remote in somehow and update the code according to their website. I'll verify this next week. I spent many many hours researching the best option and all the cheaper ones seemed to have limitations.

[cohenfive]

I spoke with Stealth Hitch guys. Universally everyone thinks these are the best hitches for these vehicles...but they are also very costly. Parts are $1400, install is another $750. For that however you get a hitch fully integrated into your car's system. No beeping when you back up with trailer installed, and the rear camera actually zooms in on the ball hitch to assist your getting hooked up to the trailer. The cost includes recoding of your car via laptop linked into obd port. Their guy remotely does the coding using your laptop.

I guess in for a penny, in for a pound. No other solutions this integrated. Probably not necessary to get their fully integrated wiring (extra $450) if you just want a bike rack, but there seems to be real benefit if you will be towing like we plan on.

[405sux]

Just be aware that the Trailer Prep kit (I'm mostly familiar with "8SA" for my model year) was discontinued as a standard install some time in 2019, so your car may or may not be plug and play for the towing module. You should do a VIN decode and see if it's on there (or dig into the panel that hides the fuse panel in the rear right quarter panel to see if the plug is there), otherwise you'll need to go aftermarket for wiring. There are some good threads on here about that, but it's a bit of a rabbit hole.

[cohenfive]

We spoke at length to one of the highly rated local installers today. He hates stealth hitches because of the wiring harness and the work involved in getting everything to work plus the reprogramming involved which can be tricky. He basically won't install stealth with their 'active' wiring harness, says he just loses a ton of money because of the time involved. He loves their hitches and would install them with a standard wiring harness, either third party or the stealth 'passive' harness which sounds the same. If you go this route you don't get the ability to zoom the car's camera to assist in hooking up the trailer, and when you back up you will hear beeping sounds...but you also save $450 plus possibly some install costs.

So I have a few choices left...get a 'regular' hitch like a Curt that costs about $800 installed, get a Stealth with 'passive' wiring for about $500 more, or risk getting the 'active' wiring for another $450. I'm sort of leaning towards getting a stealth but living with the passive wiring. I like the clean look of the stealth. I will be talking to a couple other installers to see if their sky high install quotes come down if they don't have to mess around with the wiring much. Thanks for all the tips, this is quite a learning experience.

[Zachp13]

Not quite sure why they think the active harness is difficult. It’s actually much easier then passive as everything is plug and play. Afterwards you just get in touch with someone to do a remote coding session.

Btw the stealth hitch in general is a fairly simple self install. I did it with my 10yo.

[xylodan]

Originally Posted by cohenfive

We spoke at length to one of the highly rated local installers today. He hates stealth hitches because of the wiring harness and the work involved in getting everything to work plus the reprogramming involved which can be tricky. He basically won't install stealth with their 'active' wiring harness, says he just loses a ton of money because of the time involved. He loves their hitches and would install them with a standard wiring harness, either third party or the stealth 'passive' harness which sounds the same. If you go this route you don't get the ability to zoom the car's camera to assist in hooking up the trailer, and when you back up you will hear beeping sounds...but you also save $450 plus possibly some install costs.

So I have a few choices left...get a 'regular' hitch like a Curt that costs about $800 installed, get a Stealth with 'passive' wiring for about $500 more, or risk getting the 'active' wiring for another $450. I'm sort of leaning towards getting a stealth but living with the passive wiring. I like the clean look of the stealth. I will be talking to a couple other installers to see if their sky high install quotes come down if they don't have to mess around with the wiring much. Thanks for all the tips, this is quite a learning experience.

Since you're in the SF Bay area, reach out to Fremont European. They didn't have any hesitation with the install and seems they've done quite a few. I'm having them do the physical work then calling Stealth and having them remote in and do the coding. Total labor is $750 which is steep for sure, but I have a lot of confidence in them.

Full disclosure though, I haven't had them do the work yet as my car has been at the dealership in service for some time now... But I have ordered the hitch and it's due to arrive on Thursday. When I get my car back? Nobody really knows.

[zibbit]

I just installed a stealth hitch on my '18 with the active wiring harness.

Install was straight forward, and best of all, most of the wiring was BWM. So everything was plug and play. Hardest part was feeding the cable through the grommet which you'd have to do regardless if it was an active or passive harness.

I did however swap out the supplied 7-pin connector and mounting plate in favour of a 7/4-multi-pin connector (which was also PnP with the harness) like below. I plan on lowering my car, and I generally only use the 4-pin connector, so having to use the supplied adapter was out of the cards as it would make the my trailer harness too close to the ground.

https://www.princessauto.com/en/7-4-...t/PA0008249112

Coding was done at BMW as I don't have a PC laptop for a remote coding session with code-my-beemer.

[cohenfive]

Just an update after living with a Stealth Hitch on our X3 M40i for several months now....

If you are just using a bike rack I'd say there are no issues, but if you are going to be towing a trailer as we do, there can be some problems. Stealth sort of admits there are issues as well. Basically the 7 pin connector on the stealth isn't as robust as it could be, and it doesn't fit all 'male' connectors such as we have with our Tekonsha trailer brake controller. We actually had the connector fall out while towing, causing us to quickly get off the road and then tape the now damaged male connector back in place. Since then we've had a series of issues, basically the female supplied by Stealth isn't as robust as some, and the core design facing downwards by definition makes it more likely that you may have a connection problem. We've started just taping it in place every time we tow the trailer, but it is a lousy solution. The Stealth female connector is plastic. Some of the more robust ones are metal. They seem to make a tighter connection. We are sticking with the Stealth female but are getting a new male connector installed to our brake controller next week. Looks like a better fit. The wires from the controller just have to be spliced into the new male connector. Hopefully that ends our reliance on duck tape.

Otherwise the Stealth hitch is beautifully designed and built..and support is good. Once we get this out of the way I hope it will be smooth sailing (towing). But as good as the rest of the hitch is, Stealth should use a more robust 7 pin connector, especially since the downward facing design puts more pressure on the connection that a horizontal one.

[TJNies]

I considered all options, including a Curt, Stealth, and OEM aftermarket options. Ultimately, I paid the piper and went with OEM. I got mine installed for $2000 all-in.
For the record, mine didn't need a full bumper and did have the wiring harness pre-installed. When I inquired, the dealer claimed I'd need the full bumper, but when pressed (and checking my VIN), he said the full bumper was unnecessary.

OP, I'd ask your dealer to re-check with your specific VIN, and also check if you do have the wiring harness. It's simple: just pull off the right side panel in the hatch and pull back the insulation. You'll see it quickly if it exists. Good luck!

[cohenfive]

Our dealer wanted over $5k to install the OEM hitch. That was ridiculous so we went with stealth. We have had this one big issue which is a design flaw, but otherwise we like the hitch a lot. We are in the process of fixing this one issue so hopefully things will be smooth sailing from now on. Mostly it is a well designed piece of hardware and they offer good support.

[Isawelvis]

Originally Posted by cohenfive

Our dealer wanted over $5k to install the OEM hitch. That was ridiculous so we went with stealth. We have had this one big issue which is a design flaw, but otherwise we like the hitch a lot. We are in the process of fixing this one issue so hopefully things will be smooth sailing from now on. Mostly it is a well designed piece of hardware and they offer good support.

Lets see a picture of the car and trailer together

[cohenfive]

Just a cell phone pic, in Pt. Reyes, CA.