20" Staggered tires on non-sport X5d

4MoJoe · #1 07-16-2012, 01:22 PM

I put a set of style 259 20" rims (from an X6) onto my car. I got these 'refurbished' from allfactorywheels.com. I had to have the rear rims bored out which I did at a professional machine shop.

Once mounted on my car with brand new Bridgestone tires I've had vibration issues; feels like a tire is not in balance.

I had the rear tires road forced balanced at BMW. That took care of some of the vibration. Then I had the fronts done about 2 weeks ago and BMW Service told me that there was a bent rim as they couldn't get it to balance. I ordered a brand new rim and had it installed this last Saturday.

They went through and mounted it and balanced and vibration still there (from 40mph on up to 65 - 70mph). So they went through and road force balanced all 4 and still vibration. They took a set of 19" brand new tires off of a X5 and all vibration went away.

What they ended up telling me is that because my car doesn't have the Sport Package suspension it isn't setup for 20" tires...and that all the rims where in spec after the road force balancing.

So to confirm, are others running 20's with a sport or non-sport package?

Since I already had 1 bad rim from allfactorywheels (and they won't take anything back) my thought is that maybe there are more and I'm going to spend a lot of money to replace the other 3 rims.

I could go with a replica rim such as this on eBay -which was something I was seriously considering but figured that going OEM was a better route - ummm, ya right. This way I don't have to buy new tires.

20" WHEELS, FITS: BMW X6, BMW X5, X6, 3.0, 4.4, 4.6,4.8, E53, E70, E71, | eBay

At this point I don't know what to do. I can return to my 18's but that would require buying new tires for those (I have snows on them now). Or buying the eBay 20", or buying the remaining 3 rims new and have them put on.

Argh!

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Ben_XI · #2 07-16-2012, 02:45 PM

I don't have Sport package and am running 20's without any vibration issue.

Mgtrader · #3 07-16-2012, 02:46 PM

That is odd. Maybe the rears weren't bored properly. I had a similar issue on an e39 540 where I upgraded to an m5 wheel. I just placed x5m wheels on my e70 and they were bored perfectly. I did however have the m sport package.

4MoJoe · #4 07-16-2012, 02:49 PM

I'm wondering about the rear wheels and the boring. If it's off it could be it.

ECS Tuning · #5 07-16-2012, 03:29 PM

Sounds like you either have bad tires (happens every now and then) or the wheels are bent. The dealership is giving you a smoke story with the your X doesn't have the correct options to runs 20s.

Also if the tires are balanced perfectly on a road force and the bores are correct then they are not the cause of your vibrations. I would inspect the control arms, ball joints, tie rod ends etc to insure they are not excessively worn.

4MoJoe · #6 07-16-2012, 04:20 PM

All suspension components were checked by BMW...and my car only has 12,000 miles on it and it's not rough miles either. And that it ran with no vibration with the 19's on it.

I think you are right that it should be able to take the 20's with no problem.

ECS Tuning · #7 07-16-2012, 04:49 PM

I have guys running 20s and 21s (oem and aftermarket) with no issues on sport and non sport E70s. Somethings not right with the wheel tire combo causing your vibrations.

bren3085 · #8 07-16-2012, 09:29 PM

I had the same issue on my e39 when I went to replica m5 wheels.

Considering the amount of balancing they have done on the wheels and tyres and the fact that they mounted 18" and it went away. I'd suspect it has something to do with the bore. It shouldnt matter what suspension you are running thats just a dealer excuse to get out of investigating further.

Try running the 20" up front and your standard 18" at the rear and see if that has an issue. At least you can narrow down which set is having the issue. (rears are the ones that were bored correct?)

ECS Tuning · #9 07-17-2012, 10:24 AM

^ be careful trying to miss match the wheel sizes. Double check rolling diameters to insure they are withing a hair of each other. The X Drive system get's rather "unhappy" when the diameters are miss matched.

4MoJoe · #10 07-17-2012, 08:18 PM

Yes, the rears are the ones that were bored out. My thinking is that is the culprit here. I had a hard time finding a place here in Boise that would bore the 20's in the first place and the guy wasn't exactly eager.

Right now the best option which needs to be the least expensive and also route to getting this resolved seems to be buying the replicas on eBay in 20's. I can still use my same tires. I've emailed with a few of the buyers and they have said they balanced fine and run nicely.

If I buy another set of rear 259's I would need to find a professional shop out of state to get the boring done - it just scares me to do this all over again (boring out the rears) and end up where I am now.

Most every option now looks like it's going to cost me even more. Crap!

Quote:

Originally Posted by bren3085

I had the same issue on my e39 when I went to replica m5 wheels.

Considering the amount of balancing they have done on the wheels and tyres and the fact that they mounted 18" and it went away. I'd suspect it has something to do with the bore. It shouldnt matter what suspension you are running thats just a dealer excuse to get out of investigating further.

Try running the 20" up front and your standard 18" at the rear and see if that has an issue. At least you can narrow down which set is having the issue. (rears are the ones that were bored correct?)

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