asujosh1

Got the grills installed today, makes the car look soooo much better.

jay8s

Are you going to tint the headlights and tails? What about the badgeing, are you going to debadge, or get the black numbering.
I am in the process of doing the same thing to my new sedan slowly be surely.
Your car is just what I would do if I got the wagon.... I LOVE IT!

xBMWx

The cars coming along nicely

Not sure about that photoshop -- I seriously hope your wheels don't end up looking like that! But if you are trying to show 20s with black spokes and silver lip, then I think that will look great with the rest of the car. If you are going 20s, you will need some kind of kit to go with it, for example the M-Sport bumpers & sills.

asujosh1

It was just decided last night that I was going to debadge it, I like the black numbers but I haven't seen an x or i in black to finish it out. Besides, it's much easier to apply polish if I don't have to work around the lettering. I have been debating tinting the headlights and taillights, I think that the headlights look good as is, but the tails are kind of bright, so I might put something on there to tone them down a bit.

I want to do the M5 bumpers front and rear with a dual exhaust (I know it's not true duals, just tips) and the side skirts, but those are a little further out since the expense is going to be higher.

I want to go 20x8.5 in front and 20x10.5 in rear, but I don't know if that's a problem for the xi. I have seen that the sport setup from BMW is 19x8.5 fr and 19.10.5 rear (or something like that) so I'm assuming it's an ok setup. I need to know what offsets are ok to use with wheels that large, it seems that +35fr and +15rr is ok?

I don't like the silver lip at all, I want the wheels all black with a black lip. The p-chop was also for me to see how they would look on-car. After seeing it, I'm not too excited about it, but I want to do something unique and classy. I don't want to do mesh (it's overdone)or standard 5-spokes, those seem to be the most popular setups I'm seeing. I love the look of the wheels I have (134?) but I am thinking that they are going to be winter wheels and the 20s would be for summer.

xBMWx

^^
The offsets you mention above are a long way off, especially on the front, because you have the X-Drive version with much larger offsets ("ET" value).

If you look at this post, you will see what this member did on his X-Drive and in his signature it shows what offsets he has:
https://5series.net/forums/topic/998...-kw-variant-3/

In the Accessories, Parts and Mods section, I am sure there is a post about (20") wheel options for the X-Drive models. Find that one and you will start getting a great understanding of what you can and cannot put on your X-Drive car.

asujosh1

He's got +35fr and +40rr, so it's not too far off (an inch...), but he's also doing 9.5 in the rear. I pulled numbers from the euro guy with 20" Hartage wheels, forgot he didn't have an xi.

I'll look for that thread, I have been looking for one for a while for xi options, whenever I try to use search it just sits there spinning its wheels until I get tired of waiting and kill it.

norsecarnut

^how are you planning to drop an air suspension rear xi ?

Most people who drop a car seem to be doing it for looks, because it doesn't improve handling. So, why not pick your favorite staggered wheel set, that have the correct ET, and simply upsize your tires a bit, especially if you are going to such larger rims size.

I have a winter 18" wheelset and with a 27" tire diameter (the oem 535xiT tires are 25.7" diameter, the M5 oem tire is 27" for comparison) there is basically no fender gap anymore, but I can also still plow over rough roads without any worries.

Just an idea. I'm all for cool looks, but even more if I get more function at the same time.

asujosh1

There have been some posts on here about links that you can replace to drop the rear of the wagon, as to whether or not they work on the xi, that's another matter for when I have time/money to do it.

As for a drop for handling, this thing's a boat, if I wanted a good handling car I would have kept my STI. Everything on this car is pretty much cosmetic, it's the family truckster so I can't go putting an uber stiff suspension on it and crazy low-profile tires. I don't want to eff up the ride or put heavy rims on that are going to reduce my mileage and make the car handle worse.

The car came with runflats and a spare, I'm still trying to figure out the runflat thing since they weigh a ton. I'm really considering selling those runflats and getting some good summer tires that don't weigh 30 pounds each.

norsecarnut

Are you schizophrenic? Just asking because this whole thread started with you wanting to put on 20" wheels (likely heavy if aren't spending some real coin on forged) which will result in very LOW profile tires and drop it.

Then right there above you say the opposite is important to you.... ???

asujosh1

Last time I checked, we aren't schizophrenic, but I can ask myself in a minute...



You can do a drop with the right components and not end up with a stiff ride, meaning probably coil-overs. As for wheels, I do want 20's, but that doesn't make them reality. The final answer is that the ride can't suffer.