5 Series Roof Racks on the X5?

[oxblood8]

Hi all,

I am looking at some roof racks on eBay that came off a 1998 5-series, looks like they are rail mount ones.

Probably a long shot, but does anyone know if they would fit the E53?

[z168]

That should fit. 5er touring and X5 are the same

[upallnight]

They may fit the bar, but I don't the think the cross bars are long enough to fit between the bars. I brought a set of Rola bars from Amazon for my X. I think the Rola bars looks more factory then the factory bars that BMW sells. We have a Thule cargo box which we use to carry skis and snowboards in the winter and watersport equipment when I use the X to tow our boat or jet skis in the summer. For bikes, we use a Saris Thelma ride on bike carrier with the rear hitch.

[z168]

Edit: there might be more to it. I checked the part numbers and they are as follows

E53: 82710415053
E39: 82710415055

And unlike the sedan counterparts, the roof bars for touring and X are not adjustable

[Qsilver7]

edit: looks like someone already checked realoem.com for the part nbrs

Its easy to find out...just go to realoem.com and look up the part nbr for the X5 racks...then run a part nbr search. If the e39 & X5 racks are interchangeable...then they will be listed together under the same BMW 11 digit part nbr.

If they have specific (different) part nbrs for each model...then there is something slightly different that requires that they each have their own part nbr...and more than likely it is the width as upallnight mentions.

I do happen to have the dimensions of the e39 & e53...and this is probably why the cross bars aren't swappable between the e39 & e53:

[upallnight]

But they do fit an Audi Avant.

[z168]

the old version looks adjustable

[upallnight]

Originally Posted by z168

the old version looks adjustable

Old bars are adjustable, but they are still too short for a X5, maybe a X3. I have the same bar and they were too short for my X5, that's is why I brought a set of Rola.

[z168]

Great post Q

and doing R&P on the photos, width across the B-pillars for the E39 is 37.95" and 40.37" for the X. Does that sound right?

[oxblood8]

Thanks for the replies. Its a shame that all of the new replies came after the auction finished. Having said that I won the auction at the extraordinary price of $0.99

So I'll see how they go, if they don't fit i have pretty much lost nothing anyway.