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Thread: Have you ever broken a BMW towhook, and if so, how?

  1. #1
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    Have you ever broken a BMW towhook, and if so, how?

    The track forum seems like the best place for this. Have you ever encountered a failure of a BMW tow hook? Not an aftermarket one, but the BMW part that comes with our cars.

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    Quote Originally Posted by JBasham View Post
    The track forum seems like the best place for this. Have you ever encountered a failure of a BMW tow hook? Not an aftermarket one, but the BMW part that comes with our cars.
    Haven't actually broken the hook itself but my friend had the threads rip out of the car. 94 E36 slid off into a ditch, tow truck was basically lifting and pulling at the same time. If anything it was misuse that broke it.


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    Yeah the tow hook receptacle/bumper shock is just bolted to the forward end of the frame-rail with 4 little bolts, probably like M6 if that, so I can see how it would not stand any upward-pulling load for very long once it concentrated the load on one or two of them.

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    I think the reading I've done is that this thing was engineered not for recovery but to simply pull a disabled vehicle up onto a flatbed. Euro regs required a standardized attachment method, which where the socket in the bumper comes from. the hook loop is an adapter to allow for older tow trucks that did not have the correct threaded end on a tow cable.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Bill837 View Post
    I think the reading I've done is that this thing was engineered not for recovery but to simply pull a disabled vehicle up onto a flatbed. Euro regs required a standardized attachment method, which where the socket in the bumper comes from. the hook loop is an adapter to allow for older tow trucks that did not have the correct threaded end on a tow cable.
    Damn, why didn't I think of that? It's Europe and there's a regulation for everything.

    "Tractive and compressive force" -- I guess that's push/pull but not lift -- equivalent to at least half the "maximum laden mass" -- possibly the GVWR?

    http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-conte...ISERV%3Ami0065

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    I broke one while attempting to straighten a friend's E36 in the paddock at LRP. We attached each end of the bent car to some F250 diesel trucks and pulled out some "ran out of talent" damage. We knew that pulling one of those towing eyes off axis was sketchy and made sure no one was in the line of fire. One eye finally broke and the ratchet strap shot off at mach 3.8.
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    For those reading this thread- this is a good reason NOT to use the (inner) plastic 318 bumpers on M3s/328s or other E36s.

    Normally, the load on the tow hook is nicely spread across both mounts through the stock (inner) aluminum bumper. When you switch to the plastic inner bumper, the towing load is much more concentrated on the single mount, and therefore much more likely to fail.

    I am switching back to the stock aluminum bumper, just for this reason.

    It'd be nice to find a better towing alternative that doesn't use the stock shock bumpers.

    FYI!
    Last edited by CoMZ302; 03-17-2017 at 11:41 AM.
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    Quote Originally Posted by TeamDFL View Post
    I broke one while attempting to straighten a friend's E36 in the paddock at LRP. We attached each end of the bent car to some F250 diesel trucks and pulled out some "ran out of talent" damage. We knew that pulling one of those towing eyes off axis was sketchy and made sure no one was in the line of fire. One eye finally broke and the ratchet strap shot off at mach 3.8.
    Oh, man, I'm rolling! And to think you were sober at the time, to boot! Thanks for sharing.

    Here's a really dumb one. The paddock compressor at Summit Main had a bad Shrader valve head on the end of the hose. I had a spare in my tool box, and I was on the verge of unbolting the bad one off the fully compressed line when somebody stopped me from trying to swap it out.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by CoMZ302 View Post
    For those reading this thread- this is a good reason NOT to use the (inner) plastic 318 bumpers on M3s/328s or other E36s.

    Normally, the load on the tow hook is nicely spread across both mounts through the stock (inner) aluminum bumper. When you switch to the plastic inner bumper, the towing load is much more concentrated on the single mount, and therefore much more likely to fail.

    I am switching back to the stock aluminum bumper, just for this reason.

    It'd be nice to find a better towing alternative that doesn't use the stock shock bumpers.

    FYI!
    Maybe a longish loop of tow strap material that I could loop around the subframe or something and feed up through the bumper grille at an equivalent height? Not sure how to route it without risking damage to the steering rack or something.

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    Quote Originally Posted by JBasham View Post
    Oh, man, I'm rolling! And to think you were sober at the time, to boot! Thanks for sharing.

    Here's a really dumb one. The paddock compressor at Summit Main had a bad Shrader valve head on the end of the hose. I had a spare in my tool box, and I was on the verge of unbolting the bad one off the fully compressed line when somebody stopped me from trying to swap it out.

    - - - Updated - - -





    Maybe a longish loop of tow strap material that I could loop around the subframe or something and feed up through the bumper grille at an equivalent height? Not sure how to route it without risking damage to the steering rack or something.
    Yup, tow strap around the bumper mount, then pass through a slot would be a good way. We've broken a bunch, but we use the folding aluminum ones (series rules, bust not stick out). Break them in crashes and stuff, never while being towed. Certainly never lifted by one, lol.
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