XSeries-forum

Here we go - between gardening and feeding kids I've been fiddling with the V8.
Side steps on, one rear wheel spacer and under wheel arch detailing done so far. I'll press on and do the other wheels in the next few days.

You may notice that on the running board there are two grommets missing. I have some on order for some from BMW who are shut (low and behold - 'amid fears' and 'for the safety of' blah blah)..
I snapped up some front wheel spacers off ebay but when I got them I realised that they are for an E46 so the bolts are 12mm and not 14.. New bolts on the way.

Nice work and those are fat spacers are the hub centers the same or different to an e46 ? I think e46 ones were 72,6 mm I did notice x5 studs are bigger .
I notice too the outside 10mm of the disc isn't getting swept , I put new front discs on a year ago and one of mine has started doing the same thing again

30mm spacers at the rear and 20mm at the front. Yes the E46 ones fit and I’m just waiting for the new bolts. You will always get a bit of a rim that is not touched by the brake pads so that’s ok.
Today I did the other rear side and as I live more rural and have to go ‘off road’ sometimes there was so much mud around all the suspension etc so it was good to clean it all away.
I’ll do the fronts when the bolts show up. I’m also contemplating installing OEM mudguards so if anyone has done that then please share advice..
The only issue I have at the moment is the N/S rear tyre is really worn on the inside edge. I’ve adjusted the camber as much as I can but it’s still way out so I’m at a loss of what to do at the minute. I’m going to have ‘engineer’ a solution I feel..

I had OEM mudflaps on my E53. I don’t have a full set of pics, but this was what I found in the archive (sold the car 9 years ago).

Ah ha! That them. In my opinion they make the vehicle look a bit more 'chunky' if you know what I mean.

They don’t to a massive amount of splatter prevention though. They help, but don’t expect a clean side, especially if you are spacing the wheels further out. They do reduce the amount of rooster tail on very wet roads though. More of use to tailgaters behind you, but still.......

One question one answer, how are you going to take the aluminium plate off to fit the rubber pieces. Inside tyre wear, toe is more important than camber on these vehicles , get toe set at 0.05 each side and camber in the green = no inside tyre wear.

What do you mean remove aluminium to fit rubber pieces?

The rear toe was set last year on a hunter machine and was ok but the camber on the N/S only was way off and wouldn't budge at the time. I have since deflated the rear air bags so I could actually adjust it and I really need to get it all reset. I've put new camber bolts in and all the rear bushes etc are only a couple of years old. The car goes down the road in a straight line but when you look at it from the rear one wheel is obviously out.

The two rubber bits/plugs on the running boards, how do you fit them.

Ah those.. They just push in.

The aluminium part does not have to be removed.

Excessive camber on the rear, first check the rose joint (normal culprit) you need to deflate the suspension to check for slack. If you are in there I would change the swing arm bushes as well. That makes sure that all the adjustment points are free when you have the alignment done.

My beasty has thrown the aircon drive belt so I will be digging in the front to find out why, never a dull moment with an X5

I’ve done the rose joints only 10k ago and there was no play in them when I checked after deflating the suspension a few weeks back. The only things left are the swing arm bushes. There is no slack in them but they are 19 yrs old..

Good plan we all stiffen up and wear with age !!! Dont forget the upper control arm that has an eccentric bolt that controls camber.
Someone had replaced one of mine with a standard bolt probably because the eccentric one had seized and sheared when they tried adjusting. Found it when I rebuilt the rear suspension always wondered why one side looked out of kilter.