Are wheel spacers a good idea?

[rooroo]

Hello!

New to forum, X5 owner since '03!
There are two things that have always bothered me about my X5...

How high up and soft the car rides... (way to much body lean IMO)
and how far the wheels are inset compared to the body.

I think both of these problems would not have happened if I had purchased sport suspension and the sports tires that are wider.

I am still trying to educate myself about lowering and stiffening the ride, but I figured that an easy fix to the inset wheels would be spacers.

I guess my question is: Are spacers a bad idea for widening the stance of an X5?

Any opinion would be helpful

thanx
Roo

[TwinsPoppa]

For myself, I used 30mm spacers strictly for looks. The wider track in the back induces more underrsteer but I haven't noticed any difference. Probably this would be more noticeable when really pushing the X so keep that in mind.

Sorry I can't recommend any suspension mods but I'm sure others can offer some insight.

Good luck and post some pics!

[LI-X5]

i got spacers and love em !!

12 mm in the front and 30 mm in the rear !! i feel the truck handles better w these !!

also you may want to look into the strut tower bar and a sway bar kit for a little more control !!

[NeRwEEzy]

hmmm I was thinking of spacers myself as well, non-sport 3.0 here btw

[rooroo]

Originally Posted by NeRwEEzy

hmmm I was thinking of spacers myself as well, non-sport 3.0 here btw

Thanks for replies!

I also have a non-sport 3.0... I was concerned about the way the car would handle after widening the stance. Seems like the effect would be minimal. Twinspoppa mentioned some under-steer, which concerned me, but would that be because he only widened the rear? I couldn't be sure from the pics and he did not specify.

Is this a pretty easy DIY job?
Does anyone know of any links that have demos on how it's done?
The concept seems simple enough, I'm just afraid that there is something that I am not taking into account and will end up shooting myself in the foot!

example: is there anything that needs to be done the the brakes for this to fit?

ROO

[X5rolls]

31mm spacers in the rear - They look great over stock in my opinion, especially if you have 315/35R/20's.

[ZsX5o3]

all you guys have 20's though, I think he's running 17x7.5

[cue03]

Where do you buy spacers and how difficult to install? Do you need to do a re-alignment after installing?

[X5rolls]

One option before thinking of spacers then if you are running 17's is to go up in diameter and increase wheel width and wrap them with some performance tires. Your handling will be crisper and you can use your 17's for winter driving.

I would try the rims and tires 1st and see how much better it handles. At the end of the day though, you are drivng an SUV/SAV. Adding spacers alone isn't going to make a difference, especially if you have big sidewalls and non performance based tires. Adding rear spacers to your existing set up could potentially even make it worse, it would be less neutral.

Lots of threads here on spacers, tire/wheel combos. Try the search link up top and see what is out there.

Good luck.

[rooroo]

Thanx X5rolls!
I was hoping somebody would mention the option of simply upgrading my wheels and tires. Without looking at the tires I can't be certain if the size of my wheel is 17 but that does sound about right. The tire walls are big...

I guess I can kill 2 birds with one stone (wider stance/firmer ride!)
I can deal with the tall ground clearance as long as the ride is firmer!

BTW, In my defense and in the defence of other newbies to the forum. I tried doing searches on the subject. But it's like trying to find a needle in a haystake. That coupled with the fact that I'm still trying to learn the lingo can make the search feature very tedious and frustrating. That said, I do realize that my question has probably been asked many times, and I just wanted to thank you all for the replies.

Now off I go to educate myself about wheels and tires.

Roo