At the recent MITO in Eureka Springs I met a fellow from South Dakota with a 2005 Convertible S that had a trailer hitch on it with the receiver in the oval space in the rear bumper cover that houses the backup light on my 2004. Turns out is was a Curt 11126 which the company says does not fit an S type, but their reason is that the S's central exhaust makes it hard to fit the hitch pin and can interfere with safety chains - the hitch itself bolts up to an S type just like a non-S otherwise.

I was thinking it might be a nice addition for times when I'd like to have a bike rack and then I thought about using it for a spare tire carrier since the S does not have a spare and mine was long ago switched to regular tires. Curt says the 11126 even allows the backup lamp to be re-inserted in the opening so the hitch receiver can be hidden when not in use. I figure I could use the license plate holder that came on the front of my Mini (Arkansas does not have front license plates) to shift the license plate to the tow hook mount when carrying a spare.

Anyone ever done this? If so, any photos of how it might look? I wonder if a BMW compact spare would work on a Mini and if so which one.

 

Im thinking of doing this on my 09 clubman. It's more for esthetics than function though. I've seen minis with the spare mounted on the hitch here and on some Google searches. Very cool looking. I will be relocating the plate to the middle of the spare with a light. I figured I can use the trailer light hookup to light the plate when not towing.

 

I haven't found any photos but did find new Mini compact spare tires for sale around $150. I wonder which BMWs use the same 4-lug compact spare so I can check the local U-Pull-It.

 

4 x100 bolt pattern, vw and some others use this size. I think the offset needs to be in the ballpark to a minis.