Hi there,

I recently acquired a second hand 535d Touring. The car came with Doppelspeiche 172 (19") rims and Continental SportContact 2 tyres (245/35 front and 275/30 rear).

Today, I passed by my dealer in Bitburg, Germany, who informed me that these rims were not "compatible" with my type/model of car (namely, the fact that it was a Touring, rather than the "Limousine"/Sedan). I do not speak German, and the technician's English was good, but not perfect, so I was unable to capt the reason for which this was the case.

Any ideas as to why this is?

Greatly appreciated,
Push

I checked:
http://bmwfans.info/parts/catalog/E60/Seda...uble_spoke_172/

The fronts are:
36 11 8 036 948
81/2JX19 ET:18
Usage
5' E60
5' E60 LCI
5' E61 LCI

The rears are:
36 11 8 036 949
91/2JX19 ET:32
Usage
5' E60
5' E60 LCI

The rears don't show the E61. I'm thinking either 19" has too low a tyre profile for Touring payload, or 9.5 inch too wide to clear suspension component, air-leveling, etc.

Also cross reference:
http://crass.on.ru/bmw/wheels/e60_wh.htm

Thanks for the feedback and links.

Effectively, the problem seems to be attributed to the different rim sizes front/back (8/9.5). Though this should not be suspension clearance, and other safety/security-related issues are not a problem (at least this is what I understood from the conversation with the technician), grip seemed to be. Effectively, the tires on the inner sides of the rear (where the 9.5 rims are mounted) are bald dry. Tire pressure has been more or less correct throughout the lifetime of these tires, so I gather that it is probably an issue of suspension + wheel angle + wheel size (too large to sit correctly level to the road, thus consuming the inner side disproportionately).

I am now left wondiring whether I can opt to place the 8" rims front and back in order to avoid this problem.

Thanks again.

In the UK you can opt to have an E61 with 19" 172 wheels BUT the front and rear wheels / tyres are the same, both 8" wide I think.

I went through all this when I was still living in Germany last year.
I have the same rims on my E61 and have had them formally tested and approved by T?V in Germany. Due to the Touring's rear air suspension that needs more space than the E60s rear suspension set-up, you need to put spacers on the rear of the car so that the inner side of the wheels do not rub on the inner-side of the arch. For the M172 rims (or 128s) you need at least 12mm spacers. I went for 15mm spacers and these were approved. As you will see in the link below, the 10mm spacers were rejected by T?V.

As part of the inspection, there is a paper-based check to validate whether the wheel is suitable for use on the car. This also passed. I really do not understand what your BMW dealer is telling you, it basically all comes down to the fact that you need spacers on the car to prevent the wheel rubbing on the air suspension.

In Germany you do need to get this formally tested and approved at the T?V. If you need supporting documentation to get a 15mm spacers fitted to your car, let me know and I will PM you copies of my T?V documents that will speed up the process with your T?V, i.e. proof that the set-up has been approved by T?V before.

Spacers for type 128 or M172 staggered set-up

I wonder if they got this idea after reading this forum...? Same problem in Sweden first "Sorry, cannot have 172M on your E61". But thanks to the excellent support on this forum, I bought 4 front wheels and I am now a very happy customer. Being the only one to have 172M I have lately seen three more E61:ns with 172M, and that's only in my rather small (suburbian) village! :cool: And now 172M is an option for the E61 up here too...

When BMW introduced the LCI changes, it included the "formal approvals" for the use of the 4x front wheel 19s (e.g. M172) as part of the car's factory spec. In the Parts Catologue brought out with the LCI, it included the type 190 or 179 19" rims as an option on the E61. Nice to hear BMW dealers are now offering this without having to be pushed and informed :thumbsup:

I would still recommend the staggered set-up with spacers, because you'll probably have better chances of selling them afterwards if you need to return your car to the more commonly preferred standard spec 17s or 18s. That's my plan at least!

Interesting development! I will ask about this for the hell of it the next time (soon) that I head the dealer for service.

Same in Italy. I bought Alpina Classic rims 19" and to avoid any sort of problem with the authorities I took two set of front rims 8,5" with all four tyres 245/35 R 19.
Firs you can have problem with police if during a control they look at tyres size for sure they take your car papers and send you straight to the inspection, more problem you can have in case of accident as the car in not as per BMW's prescriptions. You can fit only the size written in car's papers.

I've been thinking more and more lately that the 8,5J 172s, both front and rear, is the right way to go.

This said, I still have one issue which I'd appreciate your input on: tires for this will most likely be 245/35 ((Z)R19s). The majority of tires, if not all, with a 35 profile, to my knowledge, have a load rating of 93 (650kg). The currently, larger, mounted 9,5J, with 275/30 tires mounted, have a load rating of 96 (710kg). Though this is not much of a difference, it does provide some good overhead if I wish to load the vehicle in the rear and still press down on the pedal.

In all cases, I think I'll go for the Conti SportContact 2 or 3. In the first case, I get to simply change the rear rims and mount the tires, as the front tires have SportContact 2 tires mounted. In the second, I might have to go for a full set of tires all around. Don't know... I have an appointment with the service lads on Saturday, so I'll get their feedback tomorrow.

Has anybody tried mounting 245/35 winter tires? If so, what are your experiences? My car came with a set of what looked like 124 rims, with winter tires mounted. It turns out that they are Alutec rims. As a consequence, I plan on getting rid of them. On the other, however, I'll need a plan for winter tires (either with the 172 8,5J rims all around, or with, maybe, a new set of Doppelspeiche 135s).

Anybody interested in a set of 2 Doppelspeiche 172 9,5Js? :-)