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Old 01-09-2006, 11:05 AM
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AC Schnitzer Suspension and Type IV Racing Wheels Project

Contributed by: jmh















AC Schnitzer Suspension and Type IV Racing Wheels Project














For some time I've been toying with the
idea to lower my X5 by either using the
H&R springs or
the

AC Schnitzer Sport Suspension.
As I sold my factory 20" rims a few
weeks ago I was also looking at possible replacements for them or to
just buy a new set of 20" rims. After some research looking at various
options I narrowed the wheel choice down to two options. The AC
Schnizter Type IV Racing wheels or the 647
HRE wheels. In the end
I opted for the

AC Schnitzer Type IV Racing
as the
HREs had a little bit
too much "bling" for my taste.



The first part of the project was to lower
the X5 by 1.5" using the H&R springs for the front and shorter links in
the rear (the 4.6 has the air suspension ie. no springs). This worked
out pretty well and the installation and alignment was performed by
Bryan of BMW Tulley, the ride
itself was fine and "softer" than I thought, however as I was still
riding on snow tires it wasn't a real good test. Overall I was pretty
happy and I think 99% of the X5 drivers will be happy with this mod as
it's not very expensive (the kit resells for appr $250 + labor), however
I felt a little bit of "bumpiness" in the ride and decided to go all the
way by installing the

AC Schnitzer Sport Suspension
which consists of front and rear
shocks, front springs and shorter rear links. After installing the AC
Schnitzer Suspension the "bumpiness" was gone and overall the ride
handles now very well. In addition to the suspension worked I had
already the Dinan front camber plates a few months earlier. The overall
combination of the suspension and camber plates now has the 4.6 handle
very well and it drives almost like a go-cart ... However most folks
wouldn't notice a huge difference between the stock 4.6is setup the AC
Schnitzer setup as the 4.6 already comes with a pretty good stock
suspension. My main motivation for this modification has been to lower
the car by 1.5" have the wheels fill the wheel wells better.



Now with the suspension done I moved on to
the wheel/tire project. I ended up ordering a set of the new AC
Schnitzer Type IV Racing Wheels in 9x20 for the front and 10x20 for
rear. For the tires I choose to stay with the

Michelin Diamaris
in factory size (275/40/20 front and 315/35/20
rear) . The tires I ordered from The
Tirerack
as their price are very attractive and their service has
always been flawless, Grant from Tirerack was great to deal with and had
the tires shipped overnight and I couldn't be happier with his work.



The wheels I order via 3rd party from CEC
who are the authorized AC Schnitzer distributor for North America. In
the process of ordering the wheels I went through multiple iterations of
price and availability (due to the raising Euro ) but in the end I
managed to get my hands on a set of 4 wheels including the X5 mounting
kit which consist of a small spacer and special bolts for the front and
rear wheels.



This was the first photo 10 minutes after
the first shipment arrived :






and after opening the first box ....





After collecting all of the parts (wheels,
tires and mounting kit) I headed off to Sullivan Tire across the road to
have the tires and wheels mounted. It turned out the store close to me
has actually the latest Hunter
balancing machine including

StraightTrak
. There had been some concerns on potentially scratching
the polished lip on the wheels during mounting as the wheels are 'face
down mounting' but it all turned out great with not a single scratch.
Overall I couldn't be happier with the process and price for mounting
these wheels.



Below you'll find a couple of pictures of
the wheels on the car and a comparison between the car with OEM wheels
and no lowering and after lowering with the Type IV wheels installed



Front view of the mounted wheels







Rear view of the mounted wheels






The first wheel mounted (rear)





Wheels mounted and AC Schnitzer suspension
installed







Another side view of the Type IV and
lowered by 1.5"







compared to OEM wheels and not lowered








If you have any questions, comments or remarks
please feel free to contact me.



References:
http://www.janixworld.com/x5/AC_Schnitzer/

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