blinkme_210

Hey everyone, I installed M5 replicas on my 2006 530xi today. I've posted pretty much everything that I can think of in regards to the different offset of the xi E60's. If you want more pictures, or ask something I haven't covered, fire away!

Wheels & Tire Information:
M5 (Style 166) replicas bought from 1010tires.com. I believe the wheels are made by IT Italia.
18 x 8J wrapped in General Exclaim UHP 245/40/18
ET 35
Center bore of 72.56mm
Silver color

Notes:
Offset: 1010tires lists the wheels as ET 37, but they are in fact ET 35, see picture below.
Color: The color is NOT the same white/silver as OEM BMW wheels. These wheels are more like a gunmetal color.
Center bore: The center bore for all E60's is 72.51, and the wheels are 72.56mm. I can report that there are no problems at all, I was driving 140km/h+ (87mph+) on the way back to my house, and felt no vibrations of any sort.
Steering feel: No rubbing of any sort. The steering has loosened up, turns are easier, and doesn't take 2 hands to get out of a parking lot. I attribute this to the lighter wheels. Not sure how much they weigh, shipping weight with tires mounted on was 58lbs (26.3kg). But they definitely do feel lighter than the OEM wheels. Tried lifting an OEM when I got home, and it hurt

Opinion:
Overall, I am VERY happy with my purchase . I really like the look of it, and in person it looks good. The silver gun metalish color matches well with my silver grey color! The wheels are tedious to wax, I applied 3 coats of Rejex, and buffing the wax out in and between the spokes took a while.

When I got the rims and realized they were ET 35, I was a little worried. Looking at it after they were installed, a 35 offset works well. An offset of 35 pushes the front wheels flush with the fender, while the rear wheels still can pushed out some more. I'm thinking of installing a 5mm spacer later on, but as it stand right now, I'm very happy with how it looks.

The fender gap is about 60mm (2.3in) from the fender arch to the top of the tire. So it definitely needs a drop, I'm hoping to do that come summer time with the Hamann lower springs made for xi. On a side note, I've been talking with Jake of Tirerack.com about the website incorrectly listing suspension kits for xi E60's, and they have since removed all suspension components.

MikeBuzzsaw

Looks good! Congrats!

C's Bimmer

Looks fantastic! I'm so happy to hear there's no rubbing or vibrations. Hmmm...maybe I should go with these wheels now.

Great job man. Car looks awesome!

blinkme_210

Hope these pictures show the gunmetal color a little bit better. The sun was stupidly bright and really hot today. I'm not a pro photographer, so I didn't bother too much with exposure levels and what not.

The inside of the wheels are black in color, just like in the picture showing the offset.

The concave of the wheel is obviously not as deep as the OEM ones, because of the higher offset; 20mm OEM compare to 35mm of my replicas.

Bambi

Wheels looks great! However, I think the ride is still too high for our xi. Lowering the car will definitely make the ride looks much nicer. I'm thinking to do that too.

blinkme_210

Definitely still looks like a jacked up truck, and the Hamann springs will definitely be my next mod. I don't care even if it will cost me $700 USD + install. If you look at the whole car and not focus strictly on the wheels, it doesn't look too bad. Being the jealous and screwed over with offsets xi owners that we are, first thing we look at on any E60 is the wheel and fender arch gap

Bambi

I'm sorry to have to admit it's true .

///M Lifestyle

MikeBuzzsaw

He can't lower it because he's xi.

C's Bimmer

We actually can. The only company that makes springs for our car is Hamann (essentially H&R), but they cost $650 w/ shipping direct from Germany. :thumbsdown: