Nice "clown shoe" fuz9, but the fog lights make it SOOO 1990's

Fog lights were from PO, they holes drilled in the front bumper cover and it's wired up really nicely in the engine bay. :dunno:

If I ever find the NLA AC Schnitzer Fog lights I'll switch em out.

Hi guys! Been a while since I've posted....my red lady is getting some TLC this weekend. Its got the saggy butt problem and the right kidney grille somehow fell out. Looks like it blow its nose too hard. Lol! Got new rear air bags and both kidney grilles (sold as a pair) ordered and hopefully delivering today. Going to do both valve covers too.....

In mid-November, my wife's father passed (cancer) and she flew up a day before to say goodbye. My daugter and I drove up to Anacortes, WA from Dallas, TX. We took my 4.8 and drove 2700 in 34 hours with a 3 hour wait in Wyoming to have snow plows clear and sand I-80 just before going into Utah. Truck did great ....but, did get a ticket in Pendleton, OR....82 in a 65 on I-82 on the way to hit I-90 towards Seattle.
Beautiful drive up and back down.
Coming home it took all 3 of us 38 hours for a total of 5500 miles +/- in 7 days. So, I told the wife.....this Saturday is all about my truck and nothing else. People thought we were insane trying to drive up there but, I trusted my 4.8 and it did great.

im going to be needing new tires soon, what brand do you guys recommend.
I got already 46,000kms out of my toyo proxies
I probably get another 10,000km out of them

-who has ran different brands of tires?
verdsteiners?
continental dws?

If you see some light snow, DWS are a great and highly recommended tire.

Vredsteins are summers and you won't get the tread life you got out of our toyos.

If you really loved your toyos, why not just get another set?

Only some light snow in the PNW, Conti DWS should be great. I think they are OE tires on the "iS"

i want to try something new.
temps are usualy -3 to 8C in winter time
than up to 30C summer time
i do 90% highway driving and the toyos are loud.
i have had balancing/hop issues with these tires since i hit a pothole i wile ago.
only get about 3-6 days snow a year, i love driving in the snow, and plan to never buy snow tires or need them

I posted this earlier regarding my X5 4.8is tire change. The tire option was an interesting change.. I do not drive her in snow or ice except when caught out at a meeting. As I have other vehicles as snow plows. In the Wash DC area we only get a dusting with sleet mixed in.

Posted earlier.......

Gave my X5 a birthday present and a Christmas present... New Shoes and socks too.

New front wheels from BMW
Reconditioned rear wheels (Steam Rollers) Man those wheels are BIG!
Michelins from Tirerack.com

Reasons for the change: Front wheels had never been properly cleaned by the "detail dept" at the dealer where this one was serviced for its first 6 years, too pitted, and one wheel had a crack that extended into the bead area. The rear wheels condition was one small curb rash and a some scratching on the areas between the spokes.

Details:

Front wheels 20x9.5 PN 36116766068 cost $474.15ea
Rear wheels 20x10.5, Reconditioned cost $150ea
Tires 275/40 fronts, 315/35 rear Michelin Latitude Tour HP $356 front and $378 for the steam rollers in the rear
New chrome ring center caps
New BMW valve stem with those little stainless caps

Those who are in the Wash DC area, I will recommend leveraging Gary Martin MotorSports in Alexandria, VA for wheel reconditioning. National Wheel Repairs out of Fredericksburg (handles most of the BMW dealer work in No VA) comes by and picks up and returns the wheels in better than new look and appearance. Takes a while but they are cleaned, hand finished, painted, clear coated, and baked so the finish can handle those who use a car washes after driving 3 hrs. No, I do mine by hand when the wheel is COLD to the touch ONLY.

All these images are at 7:30 am this morning just after installing the wheels.

Follow up note: After a 150 miles run to make sure all is OK, here is my report. There is NO tire noise compared to the OE Michelins Latitude Diamaris, which had been over inflated in the rear when I purchased the vehicle 1 year ago, so there were some abnormal wear patterns. Rear tires had 6,000 mile on them and the center rib was down to the wear indicators. You have to love dealers and owners who do not double check common details, oil level, tire pressure, etc, etc. Now I have to do something about the OE brake pad dust...BMW uses carbon for pad material to provide that cold bite that everyone talks about. Great cold bite but that dust!

This X5 has 48K on her now...

I recommend Bridgestone Dueler Non-RFT.

Why no runflats?