Nihilation

No longer have my E60 so the wheels below are for sale. If interested, PM me.


Before I get to the details I need to tell the back story. Sold my Subaru WRX and had a set of take-off tires from a 2015 STI that I had planned to use in the summer. Shortly after purchasing my 535i it was discovered that all four sport wheels are bent, one much worse than the others. Additionally, two of the four Dunlop run flat tires have bubbles in the sidewalls. This was discovered about three weeks ago. We're taking a trip from DC to Toronto later this week and had to scramble to get this resolved.

Phase one was to fix the wheels or find new wheels. Phase two was to obtain new tires.

I began by calling around to all of the local wheel repair shops. The reputable shops quoted near $900 for total refinishing. At that price point I figured I'd just get a quality aftermarket wheel and keep these stockers for next winter. As luck would have it, I sourced a set of APEX ARC-8's on the other side of town that had been used on an E60 M5 for track days. If they hold up there, they should hold up on the streets. Only question was fitment as they were 18x9.5 et22's. I've always ran square wheel and tire combos on my sports cars and loved the idea of doing the same on the 5.

After a call to Apex Race Parts I was told by their specialist that these would not fit the non-M e60 in the front. Most people would have called it quits after hearing this but after crunching numbers in the offset calculators I can think they just might with a little help. I figured that since I'm on the sport suspension I already have a tiny bit more camber to start so if I remove the pins from the strut hats and push them in the rest of the way it may just give enough camber to clear the front fenders. Fingers crossed.



The seller graciously allowed me to test fit the wheels before purchase. Only problem was that while we had various sized spacers, we didn't have the longer bolts to actually drop the car on the ground and compress the suspension, let alone road test. What was confirmed was that a 7.5mm spacer at minimum was necessary for strut clearance.



Holding the wheel over the hub we eyeballed the fitment. As expected there was a little bit of wheel lip poking over the fenders with the suspension at full droop. I convinced myself that this could work and packed all four wheels in to the car.

Phase two was tires. I wanted to run as wide of a tire as I could on all four but being on a tight budget I decided to simply use the 245/40/18 Dunlop SP Sport Maxx RT's that I had originally planned to use on my WRX in the summer. Yes, it is a slight stretch on a 9.5" wide wheel but technically within the recommended wheel widths for that size tire according to Tire Rack. Off to mounting and balancing.



Before getting the tires mounted I scored a set of original BMW tire pressure sensors and valve stems. That cost about $160. We also discovered that in order for the OE BMW parts to fit a washer had to be used as a spacer when tightening down the valve stems. The wheel balancer at the shop where the tires were mounted was having problems so all we could do was mount the tires. The 245's weren't nearly as stretched as I thought they might be which is good because stance is not my goal.

We did test fit the wheel on the car and drop it to the ground. In the words of the mechanics who saw it, "Damn near perfection."

The bad news is that I wasn't taking any photos so I don't have anything to share. The good news is that I was recording video on my GoPro and I might be able to get that fitment video uploaded this evening.

As of this writing, the wheels are at CoHo Automotive in Manassas. There are many good tuning houses and speed shops in the area but this is one of the few shops I trust. Plus it was the closest to home.

If you want a live feed of the wheel fitting you can follow me on Instagram or Twitter @JoshTaylorUSA. You can also find my car on RightFootDown.com.

Nihilation

Wheels are installed! I'm running a 10mm spacer however I think I could get away with a 7 or 8mm spacer with ample clearance off of the factory strut. As it sits all clearances look good. The tire is admittedly a little more stretched than I would have liked but with the current clearances I think I could easily fit a 255/40. With a light fender pull I think 275/35s would work.

seven11

nice!!

should have ran the slicks! LOL

my 535i is the same color combo

Booyaazaa

Looks nice. I personally run a 9" up front so it is slightly tucked in under the fender and I can fit my V2's in there.

SNYPRUSMC

Looks great. I'm going back and forth on size/offset for fronts. However, I am going for a more aggressive stanced look on my 550. Given what you know, would a 19x10 et25 fit, or will I still need say a 3-5mm spacer? Also, did you roll the fenders?

Nihilation

The fenders were not touched at all. Using the wheel offset calculator here -http://www.1010tires.com/Tools/Wheel-Offset-Calculator# - it looks like a 10" wide wheel with et25 offset will need a 20mm spacer to clear the strut. But it gets worse, adding a 20mm spacer to clear the strut will then push the wheel out 13mm more than what my wheel current sits and I don't think that'll work unless you ran a massive amount of front camber. I don't think it's a good idea and I probably wouldn't suggest it unless you want that stance look or have M5 fenders.

I also made a video for those interested:

SNYPRUSMC

After running the numbers, the difference between your wheel calculations and the ones I am tentatively going to get, yields a difference of 9mm on the inside... Then add an additional 7.5 for the spacer you added... I'm looking at an 18mm spacer to make mine work I guess? Another question, was this measurement taken from the tire or the actual wheel? I intend to run my tires a bit more stretched than what you are doing.

SNYPRUSMC

Very nice... Are those considered silver or anthracite?

Nihilation

I think they're actually Hyper Black. They're for sale now too since I sold my E60 and these don't fit my F30.

yiqiuc

I know it's a long shot but are these still available?