tire rotation question.
 

this may sound dumb but will the rear tires fit on the front? i read that you can't do it on x6 but not sure about x5. i want to do tire rotation soon because of the reverse camber.

It depends if you have a staggered set up or not.
FWIW BMW does not recommend rotating tires

I had a staggered set 19" on one of my X5, on a service at my dealer they rotated the wheels and put one of the wider back wheels on the front lefthand side. I drove around for 3 weeks and did not know until I went to parallel park one day and because that front wheel was protruding out futher it scraped the curb and that is when I found the back wheel was on the front.

The dealer covered the cost of the wheel repair, I was wondering why the X5 was pulling to the left all the time since the service, two different wheel sizes on the front thats why!

So yes they do fit on the front, but having two wider wheels on the front to the back I would not recommend!

If you're staggered you can ONLY flip-flop on the axle, DO NOT put wider tires up front :)

http://www.tirerack.com/images/tires...tation_abc.jpg

Same here, my dealer says not to rotate. I have the sport package with
same size wheels front and back. The only reason I would rotate them, would be if the tires were cupped. I have those crappy Bridgestone tires on mine. I had Michelin's, but my wheels came in damaged and they swapped tires and wheels off another X5 and I got stuck with Bridgestone's. The Bridgestone tires are loud and don't ride as good as Michelin's.

Craig

i have the 19 in sport wheels. why do you think dealer doesn't want you rotate them even though they are the same?

Because it is BMW's recommendation. Rotating them can bring other problems to light, such as vibrations due to previously worn tires.

With my OEM 17" tires, I went about 70,000 km without rotating them, and I had tire life left when I sold the vehicle. The wear was completely even on every tire. That is the size of tire that the vehicle was designed for. Any wider tire is going to have the risk of different wear patterns, but rotating them is a compromise solution. Feel free to try it, but don't be surprised if you get a vibration or other problem. Also, dismounting and remounting low profile tires can damage the bead depending on how careful the installer is. The alternative is that you can just let them run out and accept that faster tire wear is a consequence of wider tires.

They said it would affect the handling of the vehicle. Something about changing the wear pattern of the tires. They also said, it would take 2000-3000 miles for the car to drive normal after switching tires around.

You can always try it and switch them back if it makes it drive funny.

Craig