chunky

New (to me) shoes for the E61 xi today.
E46 M3 rims. 245/35R19 on square setup with 27mm offset. front pokes out a bit. Rear is nice. Now, if there was only a way to get rid of the front gap without losing clearance (I know. It's impossible).

kd7iwp

Did your E61 come with the black protective strip over the rear bumper, or did you put that on? Mine didn't come with anything like that so was curious if others' did. That rear looks nice, bummer about the front. Since you did a square setup is that 4 of the front M3 rims or 4 of the rears? I'm assuming fronts.

chunky

I bought the car in the summer with that black strip on the bumper. I just assumed all wagons came with it. I think the wheels are all rears... (at least that’s what the previous owner said).

neilv

Funny I had thought about those same wheels when I was looking for new snows but they sold from under me. I ended up with style 640s that have a 27/29 offset.

Have you pulled the front alignment pin to get more front camber? Also the E90 x-drive front strut mounts can drop the front end a good 1/2" while maintaining full travel

chunky

Hmm.. haven't tried any of these. Didn't know that was an option. (New to BMW as of this summer). Any links explaining what you've said above?

Is this what you are referring to re: the front strut mount? i.e. slipping the knuckle collar up further on the strut base?

Also found this thread that suggests dropping the lower part of the strut may not actually work. Have you done this on your car? https://5series.net/forums/e60-e61-p...stable-110919/

neilv

Most BMW(including our chassis) have slotted strut mount holes in the towers. You can remove the extra pin and slide both fronts inward. This gets you 0.3-0.4 more negative camber; Which will fit the wheels in the fenders better and also get you much better handling and tire wear(these cars already lack neg camber in the front). You will need an alignment in the front at least.

For the strut mounts(the bearing section that is bolted to the strut tower) the E60 shares the same part as the E90 chassis. Its a common upgrade for them to switch to the LCI x-drive part which just has a lower stack height. Its 8 or 12mm shorter than the RWD versions(which were used on the X-drive E60 chassis) and the other benefit is not losing and suspension travel.