Winter wheel / tire package finally ordered...

[Car_Girl]

What a chore it is to decide on which wheels and tires to get for the E70.

I spent hours scouring the worldwide web and finally settled upon a set of BMW OE wheels and I decided to go minus-sized for the winter (20's to 19's).

It only cost one arm and two legs to order everything but I ended up pulling the trigger finally. This is what I have arriving this week:

Winter Setup
BMW LA Wheel Y Spoke 335 (19x9, 5-120)
Dunlop Grandtrek MT W3 Tires 255 / 50R19

I had to order wheels from the dealer and tires from Discount Tire which beat Tirerack's prices and they were able to get the tires in two days. Some places can't even get these particular tires yet. They're non RFTs too.

I'm wondering how much difference I'll notice in the handling of the vehicle. I'm not concerned with road noise since I keep music on pretty much all the time but since I currently have 20" OEM Style 333 w/RFTs from the stock setup, this handling loss is my only concern... until it snows.


Just wanted to share my setup in case anyone out there is having difficulty deciding. I did a lot of research to arrive at this combination which also considers cost. I can't wait to get these installed later this week when my wheels arrive at the dealer.



UPDATE after installation...

I got the set installed today and after walking around the vehicle, I decided I definitely need to get offsets for the front and rear. The fender flares on the MSport optioned E70 make the fenders look extra wide and the size of the wheel/tire package I just had installed look silly being inset so far.

What's the best place to find high quality offsets? I've seen mixed reviews on a one that I've had recommended and I'm a bit apprehensive to order from them but I don't know where else to go. I'm not looking for cheap although it would be nice to find these at a decent price but more importantly, I want them to be well centered and designed for this specific application.

Suggestions would be appreciated, thanks!

Oh, and by the way, the dry pavement handling is considerably more nimble with the non RFTs that I just had installed and despite the taller side walls, I haven't noticed an adverse impact to handling yet but the real test will be on my way to work tomorrow. There are 4 roundabouts on my way to and from work so I'll give it a go and will really know whether or not I've given much up on the handling performance.

I'm actually somewhat relieved by the performance so far. I was really concerned that I'd be giving up a considerable amount of performance with the move to dedicated winter tires which I've never had previously. So far, so good!