Ride quality trade off between 18's, 19's and 20's

[grey]

Originally Posted by Fraser

I think that goes without saying. The discussion is just about the effect on ride quality of rim size and sidewall height. Assuming that you are trying to maintain the same rolling circumference, a bigger rim obviously equals less sidewall. If you throw in different brands, RFT or non-RFT, passenger or light truck construction etc, then, sure, you may get a different ride comfort result but the discussion then has the potential to sink to often meaningless anecdotal evidence.

totaly agree.

[grey]

Out of curiosity, for those who are in Sydney, do you guys also try to avoid roads like Parramatta Rd? or i'm being too fussy? (I'm on my 19")

[Fraser]

Originally Posted by grey

Out of curiosity, for those who are in Sydney, do you guys also try to avoid roads like Parramatta Rd? or i'm being too fussy? (I'm on my 19")

Sounds like you're being too protective of your X but what part(s) or Parramatta Road are you talking about?

[y5choi]

with the 20"s, little undulations on the road feel the same. Large bumps are felt harsher at the peak amplitudes in terms of suspension movement, but small-medium bumps feel very similar in terms of harshness.

[atlas]

Can you get snow chains for the 20" wheels?? Or do you have to go 18"??

I'm currently considering getting an X5 35d with Sports pack and 20", and live in Melbourne where roads are seemingly pretty good. But we do intend on taking it to the snow and on road trips.

It seems like a possible idea is to wear the tyres down really fast and ditch them for some non-RFT tyres?

[atlas]

So I called up BMW Doncaster and they do have chains for the rears that fit 315/35/R20.

Has anyone with 20" been up to say Hotham when the road up is snowed over? Do the fronts hold up okay? I typically drive quite sedately in the snow in any case.

[anzer]

I recently took delivery of 2010 35d (I'm in Melbourne too) - and decided to stick with 18's for just that reason of taking to the snow etc (and I just wanted to get the best possible ride quality as X5's are a bit firmer than say your average sedan)... from all accounts chains for 20' wheels are really rare /risky / expensive - you really run the risk of bitiing into the wheels themselves - and they are very expensive should you cause too much damage - this is why the guys in the US typically carry 18's for winter and swap back to 20's for summer ..now that can be expensive for us in Aus as BMW rip us raw for parts etc ..but perhaps you could negotiate as part of your deal ? Other option is to go with 20's ...and just hire a 4WD when you want to snow it ...might depend how often you are planning to go up ...

[atlas]

Finding chains isn't much of a problem... when I called BMW Doncaster they had a set in stock for about $600 without any haggling.

I'm wondering if driving on the 20s in snow with chains will be bordering on dangerous, as it seems most of the US people drive on snow tyres which is not really an option for us here in Australia.

Thanks for the suggestion re hiring another 4WD... but that kind of defeats half the purpose of getting the X5 in the first place lol! At most we go 5-6 times a year, and can't drive to the lodge anyway - simply park in the car park with all the other regular non-4WD cars.