Tiago

The choice of tires is pretty easy. To get a perfect balance you have to match the front tires diameter with the rears. As it has different width (fronts and rears) your goal is to find which sizes have small difference in diameters.

First you need to check the OEM tire diameter: 245/40-18" - 25,7" diameter

Now lets start finding for the front:
235/35-19" - 25,5": close tire diameter but if bmw chose 245 for 18", lets seach a wider tire.
245/35-19" - 25,8": seems even closer to oem than the previous size and same width as oem too.
255/35-19" - 26": it is farthest from oem diameter. Taller tire means more weight and if you lower the car you could face rubbing issues. And we chose 19" wheels to accomplish with a lower profile tire. For a mid-profile tire i would keep the 18".

For the rear:
265/30-19" - 25,3": Too much lower profile. I don't want to crack or dent a wheel in the first small road pothole.
275/30-19" - 25,6": close match, and plenty of tires to choose in this size (21 options in tirerack).
285/30-19" - 25,8": Also a close match and the perfect size to use with the fronts 245/35-19", but there is a very few tires to choose with this size (only 4 options in tirerack). Wider tire means rubbing issue if you put spacers on the 166's (a must have for the rears) and lower the car.

My choice was easy: Front 245/35-19" and Rear 275/30-19", after all, this is the sizes that BMW put on 19" in non-M5 cars. But i also could never choose the 285/30-19" because it would rub.

rsyed

Finally someone coming up with a thread that should by now be a sticky!!! We have atleast 1 thread / day on how which tires to take and whether they will rub or not...

But anyway Tiago - great job! I 've not read the content thoroughly but I assume you know what you are talking about!

greetings

Presley348

[quote name='Tiago' date='May 7 2008, 07:01 AM' post='575726']
The choice of tires is pretty easy. To get a perfect balance you have to match the front tires diameter with the rears. As it has different width (fronts and rears) your goal is to find which sizes have small difference in diameters.

First you need to check the OEM tire diameter: 245/40-18" - 25,7" diameter

Now lets start finding for the front:
235/35-19" - 25,5": close tire diameter but if bmw chose 245 for 18", lets seach a wider tire.
245/35-19" - 25,8": seems even closer to oem than the previous size and same width as oem too.
255/35-19" - 26": it is farthest from oem diameter. Taller tire means more weight and if you lower the car you could face rubbing issues. And we chose 19" wheels to accomplish with a lower profile tire. For a mid-profile tire i would keep the 18".

For the rear:
265/30-19" - 25,3": Too much lower profile. I don't want to crack or dent a wheel in the first small road pothole.
275/30-19" - 25,6": close match, and plenty of tires to choose in this size (21 options in tirerack).
285/30-19" - 25,8": Also a close match and the perfect size to use with the fronts 245/35-19", but there is a very few tires to choose with this size (only 4 options in tirerack).

================================================
Hey 'Tiago',

That looks like some good tire size research man, good job!! I guess I was lucky when I was running the 285's on my rears, and the 245's on my front, and 14,0000 miles later on my 285/245's and had NO PROBLEMS with scrubbing at all!! (NOTE: Up to last month I had the BMW OEM Aerodynamic ///M kit with 285's & 245's on a stock non sport e60).

Today I have a e60 ///M5 front and rear end and no rubbing with my 285 rears, but I live where there are more pot holes I am dodging then more and more in the road, and now I am considering taken off my 245's and going with the 255's on my front now...(for more sidewall protection), but even though with my new e60 ///M5 front fenders, and I will have the clearance with the 255's, but I am concerned about my non ///M5 e60 suspension and having problems. Would you by any chance know if I can go with the 255's on my e60 non M5, but with the e60 ///M5 front fenders, amd do you know will I have any problems or not runnng the 255s?



Thanks in advance!!


Eddie Presley aka Presley348

hurst01

Eddie,

I found a post on the E60 forum that you made about the tires and wheels on your E60. I have somewhat the same situation. I have a 08 E60 535i that had the sport package and 18" wheels. I added the M Aerodynamic kit and it looks big-time better. It is the same front bumper that the 2010 M5 has but made for the non-M cars.
I really don't like the wheels on this car. It is actually my wife's car. She liked the wheels on it until I jacked it up and installed a 19" M3 wheel from a 03 convertible E46. They are the 10 double spoke with a machined surface. The rear looks as though it will clear fine, but I don't have a front to try. The E46 M3 wheels look a bit similar to the M5 wheels except for the machined surface on the spokes. You say that you changed the front fenders and installed the M5 fenders? Did they fit up OK with the front bumper cover that you had?
Getting off subject. Do you know what the offset is on the M5 wheels? Did they clear the 535 fenders Ok with the 245/35-19 tires? Any way you could possibly give me your phone number so that I could call and talk with you? I need to do something soon because I need to get new tires for the car and I want the 19s. Any information you could help me with would be most appreciated.

Thanks, Ed

g0blin

Hi Tiago

First glance at your post i saw 535D i tought "This guy aint from the United States" i continued reading then i saw you were from Portugal and all become clear (a diesel its kinda a rare thing in the US)

Great post very usefull info, i also have OEM 167 wheels on mine e60 5 series but i am running 285\35 on the rear with no spacers and stock suspention and 255/40 in the front no rubbing issues exept for some bumps in the front nothing major if i pass them slowly they dont rub at all

Let me also say that your van its awsome realy close to what i have in mind for my car since the wheels are allready the same and M5 bumpers arrive today the only diference will be the front bumper since you have the M-Tech one and i am aiming for the M5 wich i know will give me some headaches, also that 380hp sound just great

Reagards

g0blin

Hi has i have said i my latest post, i am running 255/40 on my e60 with 167 OEM wheels and stock suspention with stock fenders and i am just fine they only rub on some huge bumps that i have near my house and if i pass them below 20km\h they dont rub at all, since you have M5 fenders wich are wider then the stock one you should be more then fine

Here are some hold picks of my car with those specs:

TheRacerBoss

Well Well . . . All this up here looks great and has been done my many before. Its great that you have put up everything out so clearly but let me ask you 2 things

1. Does your calculation factor in Tire Durability ?

2. Did you consider factoring in Wheel Protection ?

Let me tell you, you didnt
And when you hit those expensive wheels in some pothole like many people on this forum did , you would be heart broken and looking on some extra cash over what you spent to get it repaired .

Throw #1 and #2 into the equation & your calculations\conclusions will drasticly CHANGE.

As for me, I love my car and dote my wheels which makes me care less about what the diameter sizes are.

Wheel Protection and tire life are my top concerns so I threw in the
245/40/19 on my Front M5 Offset-Style 166 wheels
&
275/35/19 on my Rear M6 Offset-Style 166 wheels

If you were to ask me what I would fine tune?
I would say I would get the Rear M5 offset with tires 285/35/19, anyway - My 2 cents

orlovskyy

Im running 285/35/19 rear and 245/35/19 front with no rubbing issues and looks great with m6 stock wheels

hurst01

TheRacerBoss,

I need some information really bad and quick. I purchased a set of Michelin Pilot Sport A/S Plus in sizes 245/35-19 (front) and 285/30-19 (rear). I just last evening received them. They will look like rubber bands around the stock offset M5 wheel with only about 2-1/2" side wall. It will look like a rice-burner with the tires I bought. The tires, according to the Tire Rack site are supposed to be 25.8" tall. They actually measure about 25.1, front and rear. You said in your post that you were using 245/40-19 front and 275/35-19 rear. That will give me another 1/2" sidewall height. I have contacted the distributor that sold me the tires and they said they would exchange them for $100 restocking fee plus shipping.
The M5 uses 255/40-19 and 285/35-19. There is no way those tires will clear on my E60 535i with the offset of the M5 wheels. They are not available in the tires I want anyway. Can you tell me with absolute certainty that the 245/40 and 275/35-19 tires will not rub on the E60 535i(unless something is wrong with the car)? The 245/40 and 275/35-19 are listed as 26.7 and 26.6 respectively on the Tire Rack site. I figure going by what the tires I have got, they will be about 1/2" shorter than specified also. I only have a very short window of time to exchange the tires if I do. I feel certain that using the tires I bought will give more opportunity for bent wheels and ride like a log wagon.
I appreciate any information on this.

Ed

hurst01

Are you not having any kind of issues with the TPMS because of the different height of the tires?

Ed