The only way to get 5 matching wheels with a width larger than 235 involves serious floor surgery, which is out of the question for many reasons. The body work and particularly the rear guards look empty with the factory 17s, but putting 9.5" wide rims on the rear is as Fraser says "a case in vanity" not to mention the stupid prices. And where do you put this nice looking wide wheel in the car if it gets punctured on a country trip with a full boot of gear?

I have been slowly exploring the limits with the stability nanny stepping in because I have ignored the flashing amber dash lights. The Xdrive does a great job of shuffling the drive around with various tyres front and rear chirping under acceleration mid corner before the system says enough. On a nice clear day in the country I will see what the stability system is hiding, but that might be some time off as I can only do this properly with an empty car minus the other stability warning devices (Wife and Kids).

This is the wheel style from the early V8s that I am getting stripped, rolled (if required) and re-painted. I may have jumped the gun on this as I too prefer 5 matching wheels. On my last car (Subaru Forester) I upsized the wheels to a later type and modified the boot area to suit. Unfortunately the X5 spare wheel is stowed face up which means that some storage space is wasted. I will keep you posted if I can find an answer to the wheel storage issue.

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