X5 has been chugging along being a versatile beast, currently approaching 135,000 miles young. The pile of parts for maintenance/mods has been growing and I am looking forward to diving into a couple projects when time allows.

Here are some snaps of the X5 with some Fall colors.



E70 x Colorado Mud - artist collaboration....




Fall turns into Winter




My plan was to collect/build a 20x10 square setup of OEM Style 343Ms from an F10 M5 (4 rears) but deals weren't really popping up and now winter is eminent and I decided to settle for a more conventional set of wheels.

I found a set of OEM Style 611M (F85 X5M) locally. Not an ideal setup for winter due to the wide rears. 20x10 F and 20x11.5 R Listing photo didn't inspire confidence but I am glad I went to go check them out. They were being sold by a high end used car dealership and these wheels were a second set for an F85 that was traded in. The wheels were dirty and had some very minor blemishes but met my high quality standards which was nice as I won't need to fully recondition and powdercoat them. Price was right.

The wide rears aren't ideal for winter duties but the worst part of these wheels are their weight, they're are chunky bois.

Here is the original listing photo.


Original worn summer tires removed.


Bath time


Thankfully I am a BMW parts horder so I had a set of 68mm center caps laying around.


Moment of truth....
....ooof!


OOOOOOF!!!!


2 wheels had very light rash and some light sanding was enough to clean most of it up. I also used a ceramic spray coating on them to help keep them slick to make winter clean up easier. Now we wait for tires, I will be running 275/45F 305/40R which is slightly narrower than stock sizes but aspect ratio is bumped up one size for more meat/cushion. Going with Michelin Pilot Alpin 5 SUV.