Wider wheels and tyres for E53

[nexus6]

I will be buying a facelift E53 in about two months and would like to know if it is technically acceptable to modify the car by changing to the above - or would spacers be a possibility? My aim is purely on cosmetic grounds because I personally consider that it would provide a much better overall shape and "look" to the car (I suppose you could say "aggressive" but that is not my main intention O:-) ) I'm not sure if spacers would actually look quite as good, but am open to convincing

I've only seen a partial photo of one that had this done, but it did look fantastic to me; however, my concern is whether this might be detrimental to the car's handling (particularly effect on ESP, etc.) and/ or stress to the chassis (yes, I know that in many years gone by, fatter wheels and tyres simply improved traction and handling, but that was in the 70's and of course car design/ technology has changed significantly since then and that may not be quite as simple as it was then!).

If anybody has done this (pics please) or can throw some light on the subject, I'd be most grateful.

[X5Sport]

They first thing will be to check that any car you buy has the wheel arch extension kit fitted.  It's only an extra plastic 'lip' that rivets on front and rear, but it is needed as wheels wider than standard (19" rims with 10.5J width), or spaced wider will put the tread outside the arch and cause an issue.  20" 11J or bigger rims must have the arch kit, and BMW fitted them as standard to cars with 20" wheels specced at new.

Spaced wheels have certainy been fitted by several on here and as long as you get the tracking/alignment redone to take the extra width into account you should be fine.  Obviously you can strain the suspension bushes so it may be an idea to upgrade those at the same time.

Raj is probably the one with the low down on this.....

Oh and

Richard

[X5-D-Sport]

Private mail me with an email address for pics of the finished car with big wheels all round and rear spacers.

[AW8]

IMO factory 20's and arches are spot on as are the correct size Alpina's.

[cichy1982]

I have put 20" 11J on a back and 10" on front and nothing goes outside. It fits perfectly

[X5-D-Sport]

You should be able to fit 20" idential rims all round if you wanted.
They do fit and no tyre collisions any where with the arches & struts etc..
The other advantage of having 185 or wider tyres on the front too, is that the X5 renound tyre scrubbing will cease also.

I put a matching set of rear wheels & tyres on the front of mine... handling is excellent, looks much better too..
And the front tyres that used to scrub out on the outer edges is a thing of the past.

[nexus6]

Thanks for all the input - wondered why I hadn't had any replies but just noticed that I didn't have the "notifications" set ! doh! :-[  ......and thanks for the welcome by the way!

I'm a little closer to getting an X5 and will eventually be looking for a 2004/5 4.8 model when the time comes ;D. I'll have to sell my B3 Alpina first, but since I have a rather full agenda over the next couple of months - holiday immediately followed by a new job and six week training course - so I probably won't manage to get around to changing cars until mid-summer! Still in plenty of time before the winter of course! :drive: