I'm hopefully lowering mine soon with the H&R springs/links.

I respect your opinion

I liked the roof rack look but removed mine to see the look and knowing I could easily put it back on. I thought it looked bare at first but I like the change in proportion more. The rear 'spoiler' is more prominent. Mine is lowered.

Lowering a BMW SUV is tantamount to raising the ride height of a race car for off road performance. Just doesn't make sense in my mind. With that stated, it is your car and you should do what you want with it. I'm sure it will look nice.

I have never been on the gravel let alone off road. It's a race truck and needed to be lower.

The U-ball & alternate route implementation is my standard procedure where the paved roads end! Lol.

this

For those E53 without roof rails, there are BMW EBA (Einbauanleitung, i.e. installation instructions) directions for this and a factory parts set as well. One number covers all E53 cars. It does involve patterns you lay on your car's roof, cutting sheet metal and priming and painting to avoid rust.

I had considered this but in the years of BMW ownership (with roof rails) ended up putting my "stuff" inside the car (X5 or touring) with the seats down. Ski bags help a lot as well.

If someone wants details, contact me. The kit is NLA but you can find old stock at some dealers (I found some in Europe, also in the US). Don't spend more than $100 for a COMPLETE used set with hardware.

I like the roof rails too. In fact I have roof bars on it too

I am still concerned that without the roof rack the X loses some of its established 'look' and appear more like some of the newer imports, not as distinctive, at least at first glance. I am going to watch out for another X that has the racks and park next to it so that I can see the two side by side to decide for sure which I like better.

Because you probably see the X as a utility vehicle something reminiscent of a Land Rover take-anywhere vehicle

On the other hand, some see it as a bigger and badder sport touring wagon and thats where I agree with X5SND that it would look good lowered