No doubt this is a dumb question, but...

[mkoesel]

Originally Posted by IWearScrubs

Maybe I need to find a really skilled shop with some really creative and intelligent engineers in town here and get this problem solved...

Could be. Custom metal work can be very pricey though.

Another place to start, along with trying to find out what's going on with the pic of the M3 southlight posted, would be to start checking out all the aftermarket exhaust solutions for the M3 to see if any of them have more room to work with while still offering good performance. Also, you might want ot obtain the OEM 3 series hitch and see first hand how much interference there is (you can always sell if you don't use it). Unfortuntately it looks to be a lot.

[mkoesel]

Originally Posted by Technic

... the OEM muffler is too close to the bumper and too massive in all directions to fit a proper hitch there, although there is some space there if the bumper is cut in the middle (just below the mesh diffuser).

A dual muffler set up definitely will make a hitch a better installation-ease proposition.

Definitely. Its an interesting engineering problem. My father builds cars and does metalwork so this thread has my interest piqued. I can imagine him looking at these pics and thinking "I could make that work". In the end though, I bet it would indeed involve heavy exhaust work and a custom diffuser, but I think you could retain the stock muffler locations at least, even if not in their stock form.

[southlight]

Originally Posted by mkoesel

Another place to start, along with trying to find out what's going on with the pic of the M3 southlight posted...

Unfortunately, it's only one pic from a guy who saw that car. No further information.

@IWearScrubs
Maybe you'd like to contact Westfalia in Germany. They seem to offer a hitch for the M5. Here's the contact: http://www.westfalia-automotive.de/index.php?id=8&L=1


Best regards, south

[IWearScrubs]

Thanks Southlight, I will do that.