It's a minefield.

[kanewesley]

Had my 2006 3.0d X5 facelift now for 3 week and it's a Bl***y minefield.

I'm finding it so hard .
Being a newbie, I've put a few posts on up to now but every day seems a mountain to climb.

Now it's the tyres!

I want to replace my 2 x front tyres for now but what do I buy?
Do I REALLY NEED runflats?
If I don't get them....is it detrimental to the car?
If I don't get the right tyre, am I risking the drive and gearbox on the car? (geeeeze....whats all that about???)
Do I really need summer tyres then another set stood deteriorating in the garage for winter in our climate?
Do I really need to pay £250 apiece for a tyre?
Is there hard rubber and soft rubber?
Do the back tyres NEED to be bigger than the front tyres (like is on i.e 275 x 40 x 20 on the front and  315 x blah x blah on the back?)
Won't four 275 x 40 x 20's do the trick?

I've never known anything as temperamental in my life to say the car was expensive (to me anyway) when new.
It seems it has to be wrapped in cotton wool and tucked up in bed !

Can someone advise me on the above and if there is a midrange tyre that this fragile baby can cope with?

Also, save another post, I've been flashed a couple of times by oncoming drivers thinking my headlamps (xenons) were on full beam.

Looked for the pot. which raises and lowers the beam direction but it's not there !!!!
Only the pot for dimming the instrumentation illumination....nothing but a blank space beside this?

And as there is provision for a telephone......can my Nokia Lumia Windows phone connect with the car or does it throw it's teddy out of the cot until it gets a BMW phone?

                                                     

[CondorX5]

Sorry your X5 path hasn't been smoother........by this stage of its life, your X is 10 years old, a lot of other cars are scrap by that age. 10 year old complex electronics which were ahead of their time in the day certainly start playing up, its to be expected, plus you have the added mix of numerous previous owners in all likelihood, who may not have stuck to servicing schedules or scrimped on maintenance.  These cars have their quirks, once sorted they are wonderful vehicles. 
FWIW you certainly don't need runflats or humungous 20+ inch wheels either - standard 19" wheels or even 18" are absolutely fine and do not need staggered rear setups.  And there is no requirement to own a set of winter wheels - a lot of us choose to so depending on lifestyle /work committments. Have a read of the tyre and winter wheel stickies.
19" tyres cost a lot less than 20+" ones and there is no need to pay £250 a corner.

As for the phone,  there are a range of snap in cradles available but mostly for phones from that era so not much use now, and were really just for charging anyway,  however the bluetooth module should connect to most bluetooth phones - my iphone 6 plus has no issue connecting .  No special bmw phone needed - I think those days were around 2001/2.

These vehicles cost Up to £70k new and their maintenance is accordingly expensive if major things are needed- that doesn't change but people sometimes think if they pay under £10k for a 10 year old car that cost £50k ish new, it will cost the same to run and repair /maintain as a Toyota Yaris - it won't. 
Most of the major luxury marques have similar quirks and can become pricey in old age - but wheels and tyres should not be that bad if you select decent midrange tyres and run smaller wheels - like 19" or 18". 

[sid10]

Hi is it an E53 or E70 as the E53 usually has none run flats on ? If you go down the route of 19" you will knock a £100 off each corner , plus another £50 if you go to 18/17"
As Condor said it was the price of 3 Ford Focus s in its day but maintenance and servicing are quite important on this type of car . Mine gets serviced at a BMW dealer but not everyone does that so , buying second hand may throw up a few problems , but when they are running great not a lot of cars can beat them .
    I put mid range Vredestein wintrac winter tyres on mine which are great in the winter and have a softer compound saving your summer tyres but depends were about in the country you are as the south coast normally don't need them .
I generally stick to branded summer tyres Michelin , Bridgestone ,Goodyear, Continental but quite a lot on here use a different type that they are happy with it depends on your budget .

[kanewesley]

Hmmmm.....It's an E53 Sid, Someone told me to keep clear of 19" wheels (tyre cost wise) so I ended up with the 20's !...seems I got wrong advice there.

But there truly IS lots of comments on the wrong tyres doing gearboxes and transmission in...which I believe is poor performance for a car which cost 70 grand new.

So....I can fit the same tyres to all four corners of the car then?....

I ask because my wife has a Chrysler Crossfire and they DO have different tyres front and back .

The cars electronics etc are bang on.

It's just that where there should be a potentiometer for raising and lowering beam angle / height of the headlamps....there isn't one....which again, I find strange for a 70 grand car !!!

[Sanj]

Tyres should not be run flat, not for the E53. You can have the same on the rears but the alloy is wider so a narrower tyre will need to stretch that extra ally width, not ideal.

You can go down to 19s. Do you have extended wheel arches? It will look odd with thinner tyres on the back - may not bother you.

Most important thing is to keep the rolling radius the same. That is what will ruin the transmission (in time).

Xenons are self levelling so no need for the dial in the car. You have the white screw above the headlamp unit. You can adjust  the lights from there.

[sid10]

You could buy a set of winter wheels for your car as most of these sets are the same width normally 255/50/19 front and back with an et 48 offset , 18 are 255/55/18 , winter tyres are best tracking in the width although I have staggered on mine for apperance only although it has never got stuck and been in slush and 6" snow with no problems !

[CondorX5]

My 20" wheels are gathering dust -my 4.8 usually has the 18" winters on, like Sid I recommend the Vredestein Wintracs 255/55R18 - mine have been in continuous use across the country, mainly Midlands, for the past 3 years now and I do big mileages, over 20k per year.  The increasingly poor state of the roads means more potholes and more chance of knackering bigger alloys plus the 18" give a much better ride quality than the 20+ sizes do.
The non-staggered look (same size all round) isn't so bad, you can use rings to set the rear outwards a bit if you really want to.
The advice you got about the 19" tyres was total nonsense - not from the selling garage by any chance?  Tyre costs over 19" rise expontentially....... 18" and 17" tyres on the other hand, are far cheaper.

[Beanoir]

I've just replaced all four of mine for the Kumho Ecsta and I paid £84 each from Camskill, had them fitted when the wheels were refurbed.  They feel ok to me for a mid range tyre, and I'm very fussy with my tyres on my other cars!

Certainly wouldn't pay £250 a corner for tyres on a car of this type!!

[X5Sport]

Factory fit Xenon lamps on any car come with automatic adjust and washers hence no adjuster.

Bluetooth is a 'challenge' and will depend upon whether you have cleared all previous pairings so the memory is clear, which version of the telephone module you have in the car - there are 13 variants, and which version of Bluetooth and its address book system the Nokia supports.

Some phones will pair but that's it.  No contacts download as they are the wrong variant.

Address book version 1.1 must be supported by the phone, along with Bluetooth 1.0.  Current phones are on V4.2 so there is no guarantee of complete support for 10 year old systems.  Yours being a 2006 car will have the latest phone module for that generation car, so has the best chance of working.

[lezmtaylor]

If you want a comfortable ride I would go the 17'' wheel route I know a lot of owners think they are naff, but I have tried 18/19/ and 20 and gone back to 17's, besides they are usually dirt cheap as well ( just just  paid £140 for a set of ''as new''  4 x 17'' wheels with 6mm Michelin tyres on them.

Regards,
Lez.

[kanewesley]

Thank you all and especially the advice on all 4 tryes being same diameter???.......
I reckon £100 > £130 a tyre should suffice a mid range, all season one !!
But feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.