I'm running 12mm on the rear (no, not in my sig pic) and they are pretty flush. 10 or 12mm will be fine. methinks 15mm might be a bit much if you just want them flush.

 

Thanks everyone! So it's boiled down to either 15 or 12. Any thoughts about which size I should go with? Pros and Cons? If the 12's are pretty flush perhaps I should go with that. Will the 15's make them stick out? Are there any handling differences?

Again, thanking you much because I want to get these ordered and would like to do it right the first time.

Btw, anyone who is thinking about lowering their regular suspension equipped car, even with the conservative Eibach Pro Kit, should not leave the original shocks in place. Def upgrade them too. In relative terms they're not that expensive and the originals will not last because they're in a more compressed state than they were designed to be in. I have learned the hard way ...

 

And Felix, please advise me about your short shift experiences?? I am so unhappy with the long throws. I found an outstanding quality company, can't remember their name right now but they were mentioned here, but they don't make them for the 6 cylinder cars, only the 8's. Btw, I have also ordered the CDV part fix and will have that installed with everything else.

Anyone else with a 530i or 6 cylinder manual with recommendations? THANKS!
Perhaps I should start a new thread ... I DID do searching on this topic again too but not much out there. What is was for 8's.

 

I am running 15mm H&R spacers on the rear with my 128s on my E61 Touring. Its my winter set-up with 245/275 Continental Winter Sports. Its the absolute limit IMHO, i.e. just about still flush! The 12mm would probably be a slightly better fit. I wanted H&R (as recommended by my BMW dealer) and they only came in 10mm or 15mm.

In the summer I run the M172s on Dunlop SportMaxx 245/275, which also have ET32. They appear to sit further inside the arch than the 128s, so the tyre also has an impact on how flush it all looks with the arch. So as I wrote above, best go with the 12mm.

 

I don't have any experiences with the 6-cyl cars, but from what I have found so far the 530s do have the same shifter as the 545/550. If you think your current throws are long, you should have seen the pre- 03/05 cars lever! The two companies are UUC and Rogue Engineering. both products have their benefits. Me? I'm using the post 03/05 shift lever and ZHP shift knob, at least for now. The Z4 3.0 lever is wickedly short, but needs to be bent in order to be centered in the shift gate. (2nd was in the same place my neutral is now when I tried it!) I know someone that can bend it for me, I just haven't sent it out to him to do so yet. (it's not as easy as just clamping it and bending.) If I go that route, I may actually revert to the taller shift knob to offset the shortness of that throw somewhat.

 

Thanks for all the input guys! I went ahead and ordered the Eibach 12mm's. I hope someone searching in the future will find this helpful thread. Regarding the short shifter, unfortunately Rogue doesn't make one for the 6 cylinder 5 series, only the 8. I wrote them and they said they were not the same and they had too little interest in engineering one for my model. Anyone from Europe out there with input? I'm sure there are a lot more 6's over there ...

Again, thanks for the helpful responses!

 

Like I said, you could have gone with 15's with NO problems whatsoever, but oh well....can't wait for some pics.