I was with a friend today when we got caught in some snow and freezing rain. He had an '06 550i Sport package that had to be towed in a flat bed. The tow truck guy pulled the car on the flat bed via hooks on the front left and right A-arms. He later secured the car with 2 additional hooks on the left and right rear A-Arms.

is this okay for the car? The car was in Neutral the whole time it was on the flat bed.

Doesn't sound right. The car is equipped with tow hooks (kept in the trunk) that screw into the front right and rear right of the bumper. (There are square covers on the bumper that conceal these). I'm betting that some damage/bending may have occured when the car was pulled onto the flatbed using the A-Arms instead of using the (recommended) tow hooks. A 550i weighs in the vicinity of about 3800+ pounds. Plus the entire front end of the 550i is all-aluminum. I'd have the front end inspected thoroughly by BMW to rule out any front-end suspension damage.

roleez is right. unfortunately, i had my car towed and the tow guy must have thought i was nutz because i was checking to see if he knew how to tow the e60. before i told him about the tow hooks, he immediately went into the trunk and grabbed it and pulled up on the flat bed. i have a 530i and i'm pretty sure i'm all-aluminum in the front end as well.

Ya All E60s have aluminum front ends I dont think you're suppose to use anything or hook anything anywhere else besides the tow hooks that screw into the front and rear bumper behind the cover.


Also I believe you're only suppose to secure the car down with two hooks also not by tieing anything to the chassis.

Although I think the tow hooks should always be "plan A" when towing the car, it'll be interesting to wait for Iceman's response...

RTM Pages 191 and 192.
cheers
vern

thats a surefire way to cause some MAJOR and expensive damage to the aluminum suspension.
i had my car flatbedded a month ago...luckily the guy knew what he was doing. used the hook to get it on the flatbed, then secured the car with straps around and thru the wheel spokes.

There are these big yellow stickers on the suspention that indicate not to hook on to the suspention for towing.