Towed - The Unofficial BMW M5 Messageboard (m5board.com)

Jayson · 16th January 2004, 03:59

Yup it happend today, aprently from sombody who saw it, it was about 5 min after I had walked away from it, car got towed for the great price of 150 bucks, and paint damage. Pulled forward while the car was in Reverese with the E brake on.

TriflowM5+M3 · 16th January 2004, 12:58

why was it towed?

FKR's for messing up the paint and trying to tow it with the ebrake and in reverse

Digi · 16th January 2004, 17:44

Make sure it was towed on a flatbed, and that that aluminum pieces weren't used to drag the car onto the bed. Further non-apparent damage could have been caused. Towing companies should know the correct way to collect your car, and are responsible for any damage done in moving it, even if it was improperly parked, etc.

Lscman · 18th January 2004, 16:17

In my experience, the typical tow driver has no clue.

The BMW towing adapter is stowed in the tool kit in the trunk. It would seem to me that these cars need two of them, but I think the kit has only one. The little 2" square cap should be popped open on the appropriate bumper cover so the towing adapter can be screwed into it. I believe this is what should be used to pull the car onto a flat bed from the front. It would seem this is the only safe way to restrain the front of the car while it sits on the flatbed. They should not be restraining or pulling on the thin aluminum front control arms because they may bend or the frame connecting points could be bent.

I notice the rear control arms on the 540i have plastic guards on them to allow the use of tow truck meat hooks for restraint. The rear control arms are quite substantial compared to the front.

When a car is sitting in gear or park, the towing company is supposed to jack the driven tires up and place a dolly under them before moving the car. Hopefully there is no hidden damage.

Teutonaddict · 18th January 2004, 16:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lscman

The BMW towing adapter is stowed in the tool kit in the trunk. It would seem to me that these cars need two of them, but I think the kit has only one.

An additional eye-bolt will run you $14 at your friendly BMW parts counter. Not sure why it's $$$, perhaps it's made from unobtanium. Parts guy said they must charge more for the coarse threads!

While the bumper mounted sockets are intended only for winching a vehicle onto a flatbed (forces more horizontal to ground), I have insisted that flatbed operators use it to tie down my Beast onto the truck. Since my machine is lowered, there aren't many options for better mounting points. I've only seen one flatbet operator that had available a strap sling to tie down using the tires.

And yes, every single flatbed operator has attempted to use his meat hooks on the tender front suspension bits before I intervened. I've been towed three times (SES fault--silly me, brake booster failure, and a collision) and found that the front and rear bumper mounts work sufficiently for tie-down purposes.

For those of you with standard ride height, the proper tie-down point would be to relocate the eye-bolts from the front and rear bumpers and install them into the threaded socket that's hidden beneath the rubber jack pads located fore and aft along the rocker panels. Those points are intended for tension that's more perpendicular to the road surface.

As for getting towed while illegally parked, well, I can't help there. I make it a point to park where I'm unlikely to p!ss anybody off, let alone the property owner!

-Dave

Lscman · 18th January 2004, 16:59

Tell us more about threaded holes beneath the rocker jack pads!

Is this a carryover from earlier E39 designs? The reason I ask is because the revised jack pad design currently sold (released sometime around Y2K) does not allow a bolt to pass through the center of them. The pads are solid with a plastic pin in the center to prevent them from falling off the car. I guess the jack pad could be removed by prying the pin out.

Thanks for the info about the unobtanium $14 towing hook. I'm gonna buy another one.

doug · 18th January 2004, 22:17

Dave-

I have different info regarding proper loading and tie-down procedures. I posted a while back here: Had to have a tow (about 1/3 of the way down).

Overall, I think this procedure makes a lot of sense since it uses the frame as a tie-down, and is a better option for tie down than using the tow hooks. Besides, there is a reason BMW made the pad drop down, and accept a t-hook. The only thing I might do differently, depending on the height or attitude of the car when it was being loaded would be to use the tow hook to load. That's how 745's are loaded since they don't have the jackpad hooks that drop down. I would defininately not use the tow hook as a tie-down, however.

jeeperjohn · 19th January 2004, 00:29

Lscman,

The area under (on top) the plastic jack pad is stamped to accept a T-Hook. I'm pretty sure that this is the method used by BMW on the ships and trucks to 4 chain the car with chains pulling towards the center of the car. With the chains pulling towards the center like a V shape, the car is in tension to keep it from rocking back and forth since it loads the suspension. Kind of like tying down a dirt bike in your truck with the front forks and rear shocks compressed. Put the car in neutral and the E brake on.

You could buy a couple of T-hooks at a truck stop or car hauler trailer outfit and keep them with you. You could add a short section of chain, cable, or nylon strap to attach to the chain binder or winch used by the tow truck or your own trailer. Take a look at a car hauler tie down arangement nest time you see a 10 car trailer unloading at the dealer.

John

Jayson · 20th January 2004, 04:15

Sorry it has taken me so long to reply, it's been a hard few weeks.

It was towed cuz the police would not let me wait in line with everybody else to get into the parking deck, so they waived me along with the guy in front of me and the guy behind me on...then allowing the 3 cars behind that guy to get into the deck..."to allow traffic to flow better". So I was outta time and had to park, i parked in what i thought was an abanded restrant parking lot. I was told 5 min after I walked away the tow truck was there for me...Then 10 min after that there for others too...Clearly a money making gimic.

EBMCS03 · 20th January 2004, 11:24

OUCH!! Yikes... I hope theres no other damage... just curious... out of time for what?