The shortest wheel experiment ever?
 

Well.. THAT didn't take too long. :rolleyes:

In another thread ab tail lights, I kinda went off the rails about getting some Beyern 5's. It made sense, bc the purchase of Beyern 5's was kinda an 'off the rails' impulse buy. I found them. I liked them. I pulled the trigger. And so began a discussion about them on my X.

I began (admittedly) with some teaser pics for the group:


http://www.xoutpost.com/attachments/...x-frontbey.jpg

http://www.xoutpost.com/attachments/...ix-rearbey.jpg

Much to the chagrin of the group, I had yet to post pics of the whole car. I needed time to soak them in. To see if I was hesitant ab them bc they were *different* or bc they just weren't ending up to be my style. I studied them every time I entered or exited the car. I polled many, many friends. Some in favor, some were not.

I looked at them in different light. Different pictures. Clean. Dirty- well as dirty as they could get in a week. ;) And still I waited for the love to fill in. I determined that I liked the wheels. They LOOK awesome on their own. I *like* the deep dish. I love the muted spokes as opposed to chrome. And then I would step back and take in the whole car. :popcorn:

http://www.xoutpost.com/attachments/...py-medium-.jpg

I never really just felt that magic I felt with my OE wheels. Tough to explain. Probably bc it is so deeply rooted in personal preference. Some folks may like them on my car. A lot of folks did. Some folks may like them for their OWN car. That works, too. As soon as I get them cleaned up, I am going to get the Premier account and post them for sale.

Often, I would find an angle I liked. Like this pic. :dunno:

http://www.xoutpost.com/attachments/...py-medium-.jpg

But alas. I think I figured it out. They're just so different from OE that it's obvious they're after market. That's just not my thing. I like the stock look that OEM parts offer.

And so, less than a week after I had them put on, I removed them. I immediately preferred my old reliables. A fun experience.

http://www.xoutpost.com/attachments/...py-medium-.jpg

The wheels are great if I had wanted a square setup. They're each 20x10. They're only about 30lbs, so they're very light. Much lighter than most aftermarket wheels. Over the course of the week, I actually did scuff one of them with a small rock chip (or something). Nothing as bad as curb rash, but one of them is that much less than perfect.

So, when the time comes, I will put them up here. For now, I'm happily back to my OE setup. :cool:

Thank the lord.

The full pics of your X Prop make me know you made the right decision to go back to OE wheels. Now where are those 20" 132's?

I LOVE those wheels.

see :)

I always wanted to know how the'd look on my X, so when I bought a set of winter wheels, I bought the Beyern Rapp as the 5 was no longer for sale according to Beyern's website 3 years ago.
Nice find.
How much you want for them :p

Prop,
I really like the wheels, but in the end, I'm with you. OEM for some reason, just flows better. When I see aftermarket on e53's, some work okay, and some absolutely not.

I'm in a similar predicament. I was playing with the idea of picking up a set of X5///M wheels, but ended up with an oem style 57's that I've always wanted.......... but now that I have them on, something is just not right. Is it because my X5 is an LCI and style 57's are dated with the pre-LCI? :dunno:

They're growing on me with time, and with the KW install with some 4.8is flares may help. I think its just a mental thing. :loco:

Ohhh, there is NO doubt... Owning an X5 is def a mental thing! :bustingup

Another good decision. Love the big brake Kit. Looks super on that color. Oh wait, it is MY FAVORITE color too! :bustingup

Style 57? As in the 17" ones?

I don't think that its because your E53 is a facelift man, what happened to your stock 18" Style 133 (I believe thats the number), those Sport Package facelift wheels look great!

Style 57 in 17" does your X no justice IMO

So now what? You bought the damn things, taking a huge loss on those suckers?

Well, all is not totally lost. I learned something. :(

But yeah. I'll be out a few hundred bucks or so. Maybe more. :dunno: Maybe it'll make a board member really happy. Something to be said for that....

Hate to say "I told you so" but I didn't like them at the beginning. They do no justice to your awesome iS at all, especially with the StopTech BBK. I think the main reason is that the spokes bend inward, which make the wheels look smaller and weaker.
I do like wheels with lip. All my rides has them.

I have the old style 4.6 wheels on my facelift 4.8 - the new style is 7 spokes while the original one is 5 spokes...

I think, the issue here is the thickness of the individual spokes - they are too thin for the beefed up, meaty presence of the car - looks like a Sumo wrestler on high heels... the proportion and the flow of the car lines were disturbed... however, the wheels on their own are very nice - i am a sucker for 5 spoke deep dish wheels... just not these wheels on this car...

good luck with future sale...

Oops. Good catch Jay. Style 87's oem 4.6is staggard 20's. I goofed. My brain is mush from all the study prep for the MCAT's. I must be tired.....

How about these?

BMW X5 wheels (OEM)

Breyton Spirit II Size: 21" 5x120 Off X5

I dunno if you were asking me, but I appreciate your efforts if you were. The Breytons are too 'flashy' for my style. I do like the others, but if I go 21", I'm going Alpina. For now, I am set with OE.

So you got Style 87's and didn't show us pics????? Blasphemy!

I'm sure they look amazing on your LCI man, I'm actually not a fender flares guy, unless the 4.6/4.8 front and rear lips are on the E53, I think it looks cleaner without flares.

Due to peer pressure, :p:, I will post a pic of the X5 with it's new kicks out in the pasture to graze. I'm thinking about down the road doing 4.8is spoilers and flares with some running boards. KW's are going on in a few weeks for a mildly more aggressive profile.

OUCH! Go ahead, RB, rub it in... :D

Ryan, huge fan of the 87's on your ride.

I forgot about the KW V3's, those will sharpen up the stance nicely. You may find you aren't in need of flares with the proper stance, but if you do add the running boards, you might find you want the added with, and with the 4.8 diffuser (rear) as well.

Personally on my Sport height with my 168's I'll be getting my skid plate and perhaps lowering my Air susp 3/4 of an inch or so to have her "sitting more proper" so to speak, would love to also add a rear 4.8 diffuser and running boards someday, but for some reason the flares don't do it for me unless 25mm spacers are used.

These have been on e-bay for 5 mos, suprised nobody has picked them up.

RARE Genuine Factory BMW x5 Alpina 21" Rims 21x10 and 21x11 5 Awesome Shape | eBay

I'm not surprised, dropping 4k for wheels on a 10 year old E53 is no small feat for many of us as we are staying on top of maintenance, etc.

I even look at that kind of price tag for wheels and ask myself "Is it going to make my X5 4 grand better, PLUS the cost of tires?"

My staggered 168's look the part, were fairly inexpensive with tires as well. If I'm getting near 5k in a modification, it better be the ESS Supercharger for my 5-speed M54.

OEM 87s [clean five spoke design] is a mighty handsome wheel on an E53. GB, those aftermarkets do nothing for me. Good choice.

Geeky, Techy, Redneck-Engineer checking in... Haha you crack me up man.
Before I do anything to the X, I find myself asking the question, "Would RB or Riggo bust my balls over this?":rofl:

Guy's an a$$. I would sooner buy new from the US distributor of Alpina than pay him for these 'rare' wheels. :rolleyes:

And I'd sooner put a new roof on the house before doing that. :D

Love the old oem, with the blue.
I bet those stop tech ran about $8.5k................how do they brake? :D

Because they're $4000. I paid like $1600 w/ tires for my M6 wheels on my first X5, iForged 20's were left on w/ the sale of my current X5...I can't see those being worth that much, then still needing rubber.

SIG WORTHY lmfao :rofl::rofl:

I love it man that I make you double think about your mods, you knew those 87's would be OEM+ approved over here man!

GD, its because we care about you and hate the thought of your ruining the looks of that handsome E53. I'm just glad you have avoided your natural inclination to add camo seat and steering wheel covers .....;)

Just posted the link because its 5 mos old and has a "make offer" option.

Eventually, the seller will realize he's insane thinking this is a $4k wheelset, and will sell for a much lower offer.

Since your original goal was to update the look of your X you might try plastidip on either of the sets you have. If you don't like it just peel it off--no harm no foul.

I was where you were with my 87s. I was very happy with the stock appearance but I wanted something different. I couldn't find wheels I was sure I would like so I went the Plastidip route and got what I wanted and then some.

Cool idea. I like the shades like gun metal on a lot of cars. But I think one of the things like most ab the OE wheels is all the bright silver paint they provide. Against the blue color and running boards combo especially, I like this contrast. On silver, grey, maybe even white, but DEF black, the darker shades of wheels look VERY good.

If that clown with the Alpinas would get realistic about his wheels, I'd be all over them. I saw them on a Z8 last week and my heart skipped a beat.

I saw a silver Z8 at Classic BMW that had them. They look great in person.

Wheels are For Sale here. Your well-intended, polite feedback is welcome. ;)

Nyahh.. better than 1/2 that. The Brembos are about that much, but I have StopTechs on my E39 and really like them.

They're nice. They perform well. The biggest change was the weight reduction. ~25lbs/wheel. Hard not to notice such a big change.

Hey whats wrong with camo seats and steering wheel covers? Gotta show that Realtree pride lol

Look what I found!

http://composites.sollerpaddles.com,carbon-fiber,carbon,fiber,sleeve,fabric

Scroll down half way down the page. Camo colored carbon/fiberglass! Crisis adverted!