[Pyradox29]

So we have a great hitch mounted bike rack that I have not used in the last two years as I was not sure I wanted a hitch on my car. Finally broke down and installed one.

I selected the Curt 113673, which is marked alternately as fitting or not fitting. I selected because the build quality looked great, and was way less than stealth hitch.

The hitch does fit, but you need to do some surgery on the heat shield (Curt instructions just say to take it off). I also found the Curt instructions terrible about how to remove the facia so instead used the online instructions from Stealth hitch (way better).

In the end it is very inconspicuous and works great with my bike rack!

[R BMW]

How well does it work on a steep driveway?
Also with the rack attached and loaded?

[Pyradox29]

Originally Posted by R BMW

How well does it work on a steep driveway?
Also with the rack attached and loaded?

I have had no issues with curbs or steep inclines. As you can see I have over 24cm (9.5") of clearance and it does not stick out far behind the bumper.

For this rack (Yakima Ridgeback 4) the bikes hang well above that point

[vibroverbus]

Originally Posted by Pyradox29

The hitch does fit, but you need to do some surgery on the heat shield (Curt instructions just say to take it off).

Thanks for this.

I have been looking at a Curt hitch (I've bought several of them for previous cars they are really excellent value - not the fanciest but great price and do the job) and had exactly that question - whether you could surgerize the shield so you can keep it. I've done similar with another Curt where they said to delete a lower bumper skirt panel that was in the way, but I just made a channel to match the receiver and trimmed it super tidy so it looks super OEM.

You don't have a pic of what you had to do but I'm assuming its easy/obvious?

[Ldeaguiar]

where did you buy it?

[vibroverbus]

I just finished the install. Thanks for the tips here. Thanks also for the pic cuz I thought it was so super tight to the bottom of the bumper cover maybe I did something wrong at first but mine looks exactly like this. Virtually completely invisible unless youre trying to find it there, which pretty much makes the guys who are all "NOBODY CAN EVER SEE MY HITCH EVER SO I CAN'T BUY THAT CHEAP JUNK GHETTO HITCH I NEED IT TO BE TOTALLY UNDETECTABLE!!!!" look stupid.

Particularly good tip to use the Stealth instructions.

Without going full "F34 Hitch Install Post" on you, I'd add these notes for future installers.

• Reiterate - stealth is best docs to start with
• They don't show the GT/F34 different trim over taillights. We have 2 snap-in buttons that hold those on. The pop out with some force so put a hand over as you gently pry the pastic up. One those are out the plastic trim comes right off.
• The wheel well torx screws are a PITA unless you have taken wheels off which I did not do
• The bumper cover middle fasteners under the back are slightly different for GT too. There are 2 push on "U" clips underneath and 2 torx screws. Pry those clips gently with flat blade screwdriver and they'll slide off. Maybe gently squeeze them tight again with pliers before reinstalling if you think they kind of pried open on removal.
• You are not discarding the bumper bar so that part of Stealth is completely different
• You will want to try and center the new hitch as its bolts allow a large amount of play. You can measure distances left/right to the OEM bumper bars, and/or, use a plumb line coming off the hatch latch as a reference. I did both for belt and suspenders approach. Frankly I almost buttoned it up way off center and that would have bugged crap out of me.

The one big thing I'd do differently would be how I trimmed the heat shield. I put everything on then tried to replace HS last sort of "the reverse of removal". Not right way and didn't come out as good as it could have. Maybe people will just 'discard it' like the Curt suggests but I think its MUCh better to retain as it not only might be heat shield, but, it keeps dirt and shit from blowing up into the hollow of the bumper cover as much.

In hindsight retrospect duh the best approach I think would be to

1. LEAVE the 3 nuts that hold the heat shield to the car body above the muffler.
2. Take the whole bumper cover and bar off etc. The HS won't interfere with this
3. Start to fit the new hitch under the HS and see where you need to cut it to clear
4. Trim the HS until the new hitch fits on the studs fine but the HS also can drape down in back of it and you can reattach at least the middle 2 bolts from the HS to the bottom of the bumper cover.
5. Now complete reassembling the bumper bar/cover etc.

[F34bimmer]

Going from a X3 with a hitch to a 3GT, this is very interesting to me.. realistically would this be useful for anything else besides a bike rack?

[Oksamit78]

Originally Posted by F34bimmer

Going from a X3 with a hitch to a 3GT, this is very interesting to me.. realistically would this be useful for anything else besides a bike rack?

I'm in the process of installing a stealth (hidden) hitch at this moment. Getting all the wiring looms and control unit together to have it coded as on OEM equipment to pull small fishing boat in the summer. Have a thread here about that. There is at least one more person here who uses it to pull light boats as well.