New to me 4.8is and a few questions.
 

Sorry if this may have been covered or if this seems obvious to some of you, but this is my first BMW and I have a steep learning curve. And yes, I did try the search function. ;)

Looking to get a few parts, what is a good source some of you have used? Thinking of a hitch, running boards (although some folks say they are a pain), and perhaps some interior items (trim and steering wheel).

Also, winter is coming up and the X5 has brand new Toyo Proxes tires on. Anyone running them in snow/ice? Do they have decent traction? I ultimately would like to get a set of winter tires, but it may be a while until I can locate some OEM 18" rims.

Thanks for the replies.

Lawrence

1, Welcome aboard.....
2, For great price on parts ....getBMWparts.com or Morristown bmw in NJ.
3, No wide summer tires for snow nor ice.... Get some 18'' rims with all season tires or snow tires.

1. Thanks
2. Thanks for the link.
3. That's the plan, to find some 18" wheels (preferably OEM). Going to look at a set from an X3 (style 114 X3 (E83) wheels) next week, but not sure it will work. Hence my question about my current setup being used for a while.

4. Where did you get your shifter knob and the black trim around it? See #2? Very nice looking.

First thing - I have the Toyos and they are summer tires, at least mine are. If they are summer tires I would not run them in snow or ice - they are going to be horrible.

Only a few 18" OEM wheels will clear the brake calipers. I picked up a set of X3 wheels and the weights did not clear and even if that wasn't a problem the clearance was only a matter of mm's which didn't seem like a good solution for a winter set-up with ice and snow building up in there. So I went with a set of 19"s and am installing Pirelli Scorpion Ice and Snows in 265-50-19 which is just slightly smaller than the stock front tires, but close enough that it won't look totally stupid. I think if you want to go OEM wheels you would be better off getting 4 of the 19" sport package fronts and running either a 265-50 or 255-50 on them. Or could even go with OEM 20's - also 4 fronts, and run 275-40's on them. As long as you go with a performance snow tire, it should do great in the snow.

I know a guy selling a set of OEM 19s (Looks to be Style 63, might be 211), but I am having trouble locating a snow tire to fit, that's why I didn't pursue it. But thanks for the tip and I'll look into it further and forget about the X3 ones. Weird though since the dealer recommends 18s for snow wheels, but I guess it might have to do with the ET.

Do you run staggered or not for snow? Do you have the ET for your wheels?

18's look pretty silly on a 4.6/8is - IMHO.

There are plenty of options for 19" snow tires - Pirelli, Blizzak LM-25 4x4 or LM-60 are two that come right to mind. Check TireRack and do a search by size.

With staggered 19's I would run the 265-50's on both front and back.

The 19's I picked up are 19x8.5" with ET40. Which is perfect.
OEM 8" rims would be closer to 45mm, but really for a 8.5 or 9" rim anything from ET35 to 40 is going to work pretty well.

Oh - and I realized I have the Yoko Advans, not the Toyos. The Yokos are certainly a summer only tire. They don't even work all that great in the rain - probably due to the 315 rear size. Looks like the Toyos are M&S rated. Although my guess is they would suck in the snow in reality, especially in the stock sizes for a 4.8is.

Cool, I'll check it out, but 18s are cheaper. :D

I'll go look at the guy's wheels but he told me they were OEM staggered 19s and judging from the pic it looks to be the Style 63. So fronts would be 19x9 ET48 and rears would be 19x10 ET 45 (at least according to BMW X5 (E53) wheels). Seems ok for ET? Not sure what the stock one is since I won't get the vehicle until Saturday.

PS: Our other car is an '06 S4. ;)

S4 + 4.8is is a really nice stable!!

You could run those 265s on both front and rear on those factory 19's. ET is fine - I measured the front wheel on my 4.6is and it is somewhere around 45mm.

Well, 4.6is and S4 ain't too shabby either.

Yours are 45mm F&R? Just asking cuz according to the site I linked aboved, my Style 168 would have a 30mm offset in the rear. :yikes:

I am loving the M shift knob as well. Do share!