Steering/Handling of 2013 BMW X5's Sports Activity with 20's

[Mdavidthomas]

Looking for some advice/experience here.

I have a 2013 BMW X5 Sports Activity with 20" rims. Bridgestone Runflats. The ride and steering is awful. The vehicle tracks ruts badly and seems to steer based on the crown of the road. I know the profile of the tire is extremely small and I am thinking of going with the a set of 19" wheels and tires. I love the look of the 214's but the drive is not what I expected out of a BMW. Note: This is my first and I have have owned it a little over 1 year and about 20,000 miles.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

mdavidthomas

[daytonatrbo]

Low profile, RFTs are not known for their ride.


If comfort is paramount, go to an 18 or 19" rim with standard tires and get a spare or a mobility kit.

[Ricky Bobby]

We swapped out the RFT's for DWS06's on the Style 214's - my wife has Sport Activity package, no dynamic drive - for us it drives wonderful now -

[bawareca]

I switched to Michelin Diamaris non RFT now and have no complaints whatsoever.

[Mdavidthomas]

How about tracking grooves in the roads or someone posted calling it tramolining??? Anyway on certain roads, I have to work to keep my X5 going straight.

Thanks,

mdavidthomas

[GriffX5]

My 3 series tramlines something awful. It was sold with 16s standard but i'm running staggered 18's with low profile.
My X has 22's with a 60 profile No tramlining at all.

[daytonatrbo]

Have the alignment checked out, and make sure its done correctly with weights in the car.

Tramlining is compounded by worn suspension components, bad alignment, and (unfortunately) by staggered tires, on some platforms.

[TriX5]

I will second daytonatrbo, worn components can really add to instability with certain tires.

My car e70 runs fine on 275/40-20 Michelin winter tires (despite a couple of bad bushings in the front suspension which I need to work on soon....). However, it tramlines badly with the 255/50-19 Pirellis. I am hoping to fix my suspension before the summer 19s go back on as last summer the tramlining was getting ridiculous.

[Mdavidthomas]

I am extremely concerned if my 2013 BMW X5 with 65,000 miles has suspension components worn that bad to cause this. BTW, it did this at 45,000 miles as well.

Thanks for suggestions,

mdavidthomas

[daytonatrbo]

Originally Posted by Mdavidthomas

I am extremely concerned if my 2013 BMW X5 with 65,000 miles has suspension components worn that bad to cause this. BTW, it did this at 45,000 miles as well.

Thanks for suggestions,

mdavidthomas

Many of the suspension "soft parts" need to be looked at with age in years, not miles. But from what I've seen on BMWs overall, some of the bushings are coming due by 60k miles. If you have low miles/year you may end up coming due before mileage would dictate.