Ah I have 20x9 winter set up with Pirelli scorpion ice and snows. I was up in upstate Ny for 3 years with it... Trust me, I was PERFECTLY fine. They were very grippy, and I didn't get stuck or feel unsafe once.

Go with the look.... And dedicated snows. Trust me, with the weight of these vehicles, it doesn't matter.

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/09/06/pumysyzy.jpg

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/09/06/aje9ujah.jpg

Personally, I love the look of the 20's on the X5 in summer(wife hates the look of the winters). I have 211's as my winter setup and i have to say they are incredible. Yes they don't look as good but I can say that they perform above and beyond what you may expect. The Square setup lets you rotate the tires which is a bit plus. The Xdrive does not wear the tires the same and my rears(2007, 2011,2012) all wear/wore the back faster than the fronts. Since this is the wife's daily driver, she has driven in every crappy, icy, "don't drive" conditions with not one concern.

The 19's are a touch softer than the 20's. You can still push the X5 to about 85% with the 255's but in the winter, do you really need to push it that hard. If you have 20's, DO NOT run 18's. I made that mistake and had 255/18's originally on the 2007 and I got rid of them in close to 1 month. It was so soft I moved to 19's yes less side wall(bad for pot holes) but in Chicago, i have never had an issue.

Great info here. I've been thinking of the same thing, and I'm also high on the 211s as my winter setup. Just to follow up on the conversation with a question regarding the spacers.....

I'm running the 333s on my M-Sport 2013 35i. If I grab a set of 211s and the 25mm H&R spacers, which spacers do I get? There are a bunch of different part numbers out there. Am I looking at the M version, or the 'regular' version? And I assume I get the DRA Series (spacers bolt to the hub with special wheel bolts (included) and provide new threaded holes for the existing wheel bolts)? Thanks in advance for your help!

I think im going with the 211s and Blizzaks. Ill do spacers as well and im gonna go with the 20mm H&R - BMW E70 Wheels - Genuine & Performance | Turner Motorsport

churious, did you decide? If so, what did you end up with? Pics with spacers? Happy with the 20mm spacers or wish you'd gone with 25mm?