Post per request: Black 20"/Winter Setup
 

Hello,

a number of folks have requested pictures of my current "winter" setup and I finally found some time to take a couple of quick shots.
I have a set of 4 rear wheels (20x10.5) and run with 315/35/20's all around. Initially I thought I'd use these wheels on the track but I never got around taking the car on the track :) ... I had the wheels powder coated and for those interested in the details of the powder-coating you can find them at http://www.janixworld.com/x5/Wheels/

Here are the pics

http://www.janixworld.com/x5/Wheels/winter_1.JPG
http://www.janixworld.com/x5/Wheels/winter_5.JPG

Front clearance
http://www.janixworld.com/x5/Wheels/winter_4.JPG
http://www.janixworld.com/x5/Wheels/winter_3.JPG

Front wheel
http://www.janixworld.com/x5/Wheels/winter_2.JPG

Rear wheel
http://www.janixworld.com/x5/Wheels/winter_6.JPG

Enjoy,

Jan

Nice pics, Jan :thumbup:

And I still crack up every time I see your sig pic :bustingup

Looks great. :thumbup: Did you consider flared wheel arches for front or you don't have for a reason?

Yup it's winter time again and the car has "shrunk" once again (must be all the Zaino I am using) .

- Jan

I was thinking about it but decided against them as they'd like out of place with the AC Schnitzer wheels. However for the "rear" wheels it would be a good idea as they certainly cause a lot of dirt to end up on the doors :( just have to clean the car more often ....
But than again maybe the "winter beater" will arrive before winter is over here in NE, put the deposit down today ... :zoom:

- Jan

"winter beater" I like that. I am looking at a Cooper S for an all season beater.

damn that is my all time favorite!if i have style 87 ill do the same thing powdercoat it black on my silver X !its gonna be smokin!whew!

i love ure truck and ure winter setup. dont mean to hi-jack ure thread but it's almost like mines except it's 18s!

http://images14.fotki.com/v256/photo...MG_1604-vi.jpg

Black 20's look amazing!

Black wheels are the way to go. Your truck looks fantastic. They say that only true enthusiasts understand the black wheel look. I'm with you Janix.

Made up my mind, SMOKIN

janix you finally posted those pics!!!! thats hot!

Looks good!!! I also like your sig. pic!! :thumbup:

to be honest nope not for me sorry. :)

Like it!Goes very well with your front grill.Lets us not forget that this is only your winter set up!You woudnt want then to look better than your Schnitzer wheels!

Looking good, Janix! :thumbup:

You still have the most kick-ass X5 on here... :)

Juan

Those rims are SWEET! :thumbup:

Yeah, OK, they LOOK great (as all of your mods always do!) But how do those massive 315s/35s 'winter tires' actually do in the snow? And by the way, how did you manage to fit 10.5s in the front? My research indicated that this was not possible... or at least not advisable. :dunno:

DinanX5, I'm looking at www.tirerack.com on a 2004 X5 4.4i (pretty much the same car as yours) and 20x10.5 all around is fine. Even 21x10.5 all around is fine. However the tire sizes they suggest aren't the same as 315/35/20 all around.

Tirerack says:
20x10.5 = 295/40/20
21x10.5 = 285/35/21

Nope, 20x10.5's will fit fine with 315's all around. No rubbing or any other mechanical issues. Dinan actually considered to sell their supercharged 4.6 kit with 315's all around but decided against due to supply issues of 315's .
Oh and I am not using the 315's in "real" snow, I still have a set of winter wheels/tires when we get more than mice knee deep snow :) . I am just lucky to live across the road of a very good tireshop where I can have my wheels/tire changed in F1 pit stop style :thumbup:

- Jan

That is encouraging... :)
I've wanted to do 10.5s all around for a while now, but I was under the impression that the fronts would rub. (And I could've sworn Tire Rack was one of the nay-sayers... ) I've always thought that the same size tire all around was the best way to go... I want just as much grip in front as in the rear (of course, my camber plates are a big help with that :thumbup: )
Anyway, my personal feeling is that I'd rather do 295/40s than 315/35s because the the 295/40s generally run about 1/2 inch bigger in diameter. (And while 1/4 inch of additional sidewall height doesn't seem like much in terms of additional road hazzard protection, I think every little bit helps!) The only down-side - and again, I imagine this is pretty minimal - would be that a larger diameter tire/wheel combo will be slower accelerating... plus they might be a touch heavier.

But my thought is that 295s all around will handle and look fantastic!!!!!


So what do you think of the ride with this setup, Jan? I know they're 'winter' tires and all... but having that much rubber on the ground - particularly in the front - must make her grip like a track car! :wow::driver:

Tire from what I remember isn't that big of a deal weight wise when you're talking about extending another 10mm wide and another percent or two in aspect ratio.

Most of your weight anyways would come from the after market rims. Remember rotational intertia from Physics? You'd be a lot better off saving a few pounds off your wheels (because it's a lot easier there).

Another thing I'm sure you've thought about but forgot to mention is overall aspect ratio versus stock. Try to keep the same overall total rolling diameter. If you run different sizes it might mess up the AWD on the X5 (I read about 4Matic units getting messed up from folks running staggered setups, I'm not sure how the AWD is setup on our car, but I'd rather play safe than not..)

Here's a good tire calculator for anyone interested.

Tire Size Calculator - tire and wheel plus sizing

You are 100% correct, my friend!
According to the specs, the 20" 295/40s that I'm looking at are 4 lbs heavier per tire than the 275/40s... but they're the same exact weight as the 315/35s. So overall, not that much difference - but the fronts would have an additional 4 lbs per tire more rotational weight, plus whatever the weight difference between a 9.5" and 10.5" OEM style #87 front rim would be... I don't really know if that would make a noticable difference or not (?) :dunno:
And regarding the overall rolling circumference, I agree that it's a very bad idea to mix sizes that are more than a hair different on the AWD X5. (If I go with 295/40s, it would be all the way around). But regarding the overall size, the typical 295/40-20s (which have a 92" rolling circumference) are a little bigger than the stock sizes, but they're actually closer to stock 255/55-18s (91.2"), and the stock 255/50-19 & 285/45-19 combo (91.2/91.4") than they are to the stock 275/40-20 & 315/35-20 combo (90/90.1"), which is probably the most popular upgrade for us non-4.6/4.8 drivers...
My only concern was fitting 10 or 10.5 inch wheels up front with 295s mounted to them. But if there's no rubbing or other problems associated with this, then I'm all for it!!


That is a good calculator. I created a similar calculator in Excel, but if I'd have known that this one was out there, I probably wouldn't have bothered!
With mine, though, I plug in the exact manufacturer specs for a specific tire (factoring in the 'measuring rim' size) to get precise results, as some tires do vary a little from manufacturer to manufacturer even within a give size/aspect ratio... Admittedly, probably not necessary, but it floats my boat, I guess :)

Four pounds heavier each corner in the front is 8lb total.
If you've gotten lighter rims, you might be able to offset that.. but it depends how concerned you are with performance.

This is such a hard choice! :)