XSeries-forum

Well after looking for a set of the wheels and seeing how rare they are and what they cost I just found this car and bought it for not much more. I’m chuffed about the wheels as I thought they would need new tyres and a refurb but they don’t.
It’s just a pain as I can’t move it.

The rear wheel shown looks a bit gnarly around the hub hole to me, that would mean a refurb for OCD me but if you're happy with them, you've have a pretty serious result. Excellent

There are a few chips here and there but touch up will sort those.

I think the plastic gear is part of the clutch motor drive system. Why on earth they went for plastic I don’t know (beancounting most likely!) if you are diy capable then all the parts for the ATC500 transfer box are available on line.

A knackered set of splines on the driveshaft could I suppose trigger an issue upstream in the transfer box. BMW errors often come back with ‘<function> implausible’ for all the use that is!

I got under it yesterday to take a quick look and found a plastic cover with sound deadening under the transmission and transfer case area. Never seen that before as mine doesn't have one. I wonder if it will fit onto mine .

Ok. Just had it running with the wife in the driver seat putting it in and out fo gear. The grinding noise is at the rear so it's either the differential or tail end of drive shaft (the shaft spins in D) and I'm going to go under now to have a look. The diff is covered in oil anyway but there are no leaks anywhere else. The AC is ice cold too..

Maybe the car is salvageable?

The offside rear driveshaft is loose and wobbly where it enters the diff so something has broken in it. Has anyone replaced a diff?
The mot on it only expired last March and it’s still taxed according to the dvla.
When I’ve swapped over what I want I’ll sell it on as spare or repair. I may do the diff if I find a cheap one and if I do I may attempt an mot…

You could get a rear diff from a salvage yard. There should be a stamping on the casing with a number in it. The number is important as it confirms the ratios within.
Interested to know what tyres/tread depth in case that was a reason for the diff breaking in the first place. It’s certainly one of the causes.

Ok so I've swapped the wheel arch flares over onto mine. I made templates and cut my rear bumper to enable the little side flares to be clamped on with the standard clips.
The wheels have been properly cleaned and balanced but I haven't put them on mine yet.
I'm still pondering whether to replace the diff but I can't seem to find the right one cheap enough. It obviously would be better if it could be driven - especially as I wanted to swap the glass over (my driver glass is badly scratched) but it's just a bit too close to the fence to be able to open the drive side doors enough to get the door cards off. Annoying.
I may have the wheels refurbished in the future as I'm not keen on the gunmetal grey colour. I prefer either silver or black but we will see when I've fitted them.
The blue car also has the webasto heater option which actually works. Amazing.
Oh yes - I inflated the tyres to 40 psi and put the front and rear wheels side by side with a level across the top and the difference in height between them was only a few mm.
I have to say though, the rear wheels are massive and heavy. No 'unsprung weight reduction' benefits there..

Good progress

If you think those rear wheels are heavy , you should try lifting/ fitting an 11" rear with a runflat tyre, a serious hernia waiting to happen.

So the wheels have been balanced and are now on mine. I had to do up the M11 today and it revealed a shake in the steering at 70+ mph. It did do it before with the old wheels too. As they have just been balanced then it must be something else. I do run spacers front and rear (20mm and 30mm respectively) so I may try running without them to see what happens.
Other than that my silver X5 looks mighty mean sat there all wide with flared arches and on 20” wheels. If anyone wants a 2005 E53 3.0 d that has a good engine and transmission, beige leather and a good set of 19” tiger claws with good tyres then message me. It has a broken diff so won’t move but it starts on the button and has ice cold AC. I reckon with a clean up and a bit of tlc it would be ok but I haven’t got the time or inclination at the moment so need it out of the way.

Brake disc?

Job done then and projects achieved it seems.

Spacers and the wider wheels probably overkill I'd have thought, a suspension geometry check probably not a bad idea now, inner edge wear and centre wear are well documented on the wider 20" rims.

The brake discs did spring to mind as when I replaced them a few years ago I noticed that the old ones had balance milling cuts on them but these didn’t. There is no way a cast metal item is balanced straight from the machine process. They judder anyway so time to replace I think.