Im a frustrated newbie looking for answers....

I bought a 2006 530xi wagon a few years ago and have had fairly severe vibrations at certain speeds (usually around 50 and 70mph). I've taken it to 2 bmw dealers, another mechanic specializing in BMW, and two tire shops. I had it re-aligned, changed the tires, and they can't find the problem. At first, the mechanic said the wheels were bent, but the tire shops said they weren't after balancing them. Mechanic confirmed nothing is wrong with the front end. As i have not been able to find this wheel on other 2006 xi's (only similiar style on 7series), I am wondering if it is the wrong wheel and offset which may be causing the vibrations (but have no idea). See picture attached. Any idea what model these are?
I am running 245/40 zr 18 tires and prefer not to have to buy new tires as i just got these. Im almost willing to buy new wheels to see if that will work, but that is an expensive gamble. Please help--its painful driving a 5 series with this problem!!

 

If the wheels are off a 7 series there is one thing to note: the 7 series uses larger diameter wheel bolts (14mm vs 12mm) than the 5 series so the taper of the 5 series bolts might not seat correctly on the wheels. The hub sizes between the two cars are the same so the wheels should center properly and so the bolt size difference shouldn't matter.

 

is the wheel offset going to be the same for the 7 series? would a difference even cause an issue? any idea if these are even stock to a 530xi or if they are just stock to a 7 series? thanks in advance

 

Specs for BMW wheels can be found here. Be careful when looking to make sure you're looking up wheels for the XI model, as the offsets are different for the same wheel for non XI cars.

http://felgenkatalog.auto-treff.com/

 

Thanks for the link...per the website, this style (style 95) seemed to only come in 19"--so i am assuming mine are 18" replicas and most likely with an offset of 20--I beleive stock is 43 for the xi. so....

anybody know if the wrong offset would cause the vibration issues when driving?

 

My guess would be that these are aftermarket wheels and that they are not "hubcentric". I don't think the offset would be the problem. If hubcentric is the problem, it is easily fixed with adapters usually.

 

cool. thanks. i just heard that elsewhere. I doubt they have hubcentric rings--but will get some if not and see if that works.

 

For sure they have rings. I had a 7 series with aftermarket wheels. When I first put them on, I had vibration at 55 mph. I called the guys that I purchased the wheels from and they asked "did you put the hub rings on". I had not. Once I put them on (they were plastic rings that centered the wheel on the hub, nothing more), the car was all good.

 

Hubcentric rings should do the trick, offset would make the rub not vibrate.

 

Is there a preference on material for the rings--plastic vs aluminum? I hear the aluminum may cause rust/erosion due to the friciton of the two metals.