Yokohama Geolandar X-CV
 

Anyone here mounted these on their X5?

I searched and read some good things about earlier versions of Yokohama tires, including the previous version of the Geolandar.

Looks like they were introduced last year. Not many reviews on Tire Rack: (only one verified purchase, at time of this post)

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires...omCompare1=yes

I have 275 40R20 all round which are $186 per tire with a $70 rebate on the purchase of four, until July 5.

Not much on YouTube either:

https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...GEOLANDAR+X-CV

Replacing General Grabber UHP which have been good. One has developed a slow leak of about 1 PSI per week.

I like that they are UTQG 520 rated...so hopefully 40k to 50k miles or so service life.

I don't see that tire comes in the 315/35R20 size tho...

Yokohama Geolandar X-CV, UPDATE: I bought them
 

I got my 275/40R20 set from Discount Tire. They feel a lot better than my 15 year-old Grabber UHPs. A lot quieter too. The Grabbers only had about 22k miles on them, but were starting to crack in places and one had a slow leak.

Discount Tire Direct had a promotion about a week ago for $100 off a bunch of sets, including this one. I called my local Discount Tire and they matched it. $186 x 4 - $100, plus installation, disposal fee and sales tax was $792.

Along with the $70 rebate from Yokohama (easy process online) and 10% back from PayPal Debit MasterCard (promotion on a new card they sent me until August, max $100). Nets out to $643 installed.

Too bad they don't make the 315/35R20 for those who have a non-square set up.

I paid $60 for an alignment beforehand on a John Beam set up at a BMW indie, owned by a friend of my regular mechanic. First alignment since new and got everything into spec.

The indie owner took me for a test drive and said my bushings are worn. He used sudden hard braking to test them and I could feel a little swaying. Could that happen at 41k miles? Does age affect them?

I'm still on the original pads and rotors, about 20% left on the pads.

Yes, age affects them. They are rubber and just like your rubber tires that were old and showing cracks, the same thing happens to bushings. Replace them with poly bushings. You'll never have to deal with them again. Lifetime warranty.

Thanks! Are the fronts more important to replace than the rears? Do they wear out more quickly? The indie owner said he noticed a problem with the fronts on braking. Then, during the alignment, he said it was harder to get it to stay in spec because of the worn bushings. He was working on the rear at the time, but he may have meant all of them.

I read X5girl's post on replacing them:

https://xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-forums/...tempt-2-a.html

They probably all need to be replaced at this point. Look carefully at the rear swing arm bushings as well as control arms. Those can be replaced and they are involved in your rear alignment. BMW won't tell you that, they want to sell you new swing arms at $1000 each. Those bushings are available in poly as well. All your ball joints are probably ok, so have the bushings replaced, don't replace the control arms themselves. Are you planning on doing it yourself? It is a lot of work and will be pretty expensive to have a mechanic do the work. Having a mechanic work on these older X5's can quickly run into more money than they're worth if you pay someone to do the work. For parts FCP Euro is the place to go. Lifetime warranty on all parts including fluids. You can change your oil for free after paying once if you are willing to pay to ship the old oil back every time.

Great advice, thanks! Agree with your point on costs. Haven't been to the dealer since it went out of warranty in 2007. I used Valvoline MaxLife for my recent ATF replacement, after doing some research.

I've bought from FCP Euro a few times before. Most recently for the transmission kit and mechatronic sleeve. Good experiences with them and ECS Tuning. I don't see the poly bushings on FCP Pro.

https://www.fcpeuro.com/BMW-parts/X5...&b=11&d=598&v=

For oil, I usually get the deal on Mobile 1 where it's about $8 to $12 a 5 quart jug after rebate on two jugs, so not worth shipping back at that price!

I change the oil once a year even though I only drive it 1,500 miles or less.

Not planning to do it myself. The indie has the machine to press the bushings. May ask my friend to help me disassemble and take the parts for pressing to the indie, if that makes sense. My friend just had a double hernia operation, so it'll be a while before I ask him about it.

The poly bushings are available through ECS. I don't think FCP sells those. ECS sells Powerflex. I've recently found Strongflex. They're about half the price of Powerflex even with the shipping from Poland. Disassembly and reassembly is where the big labor is.

I might suggest knocking out the rose bush ball joints on the rear bearing carriers if you have the lower swing arms off for bushing replacement. They will be right there staring at you once the lower arms are off. Maybe a new set of integral links since they are also off :thumbup:

Thanks for the great information, 50* & OB!

Do the rose bush ball joints wear out by mileage, by time or both?

For reference, I think these are the Polish poly bushings for the e53 you referenced below:

https://www.strongflex.eu/en/1069-bmw-x5-e53-99-06