2008 528xi Wheel Advice

[spooner1sm]

First off, hi! Buying my first BMW (and first e60) in about 2 weeks - bone stock 08 528xi with some nice trim and in great condition. I'm pretty new to modding as well, though I have done my own general maintenance work on cars in the past.

Now, the xi is coming with its OEM wheels - 17x7.5 star spokes (style 138). I was considering changing the wheels out when changing the tyres sometime after the winter, but upon looking closer at the tyres, they're 5 years old and showing some visible cracking. I was talking to a mate of mine that works at a local mod shop and he mentioned being able to grab me any number of OEM BMW wheels with tyres attached for an incredibly attractive price, making me consider upgrading the wheels much sooner than I originally expected.

What I wanted to know is, what kind of wheels would work with the xi? I was hoping to go for 19"s, perhaps with an 8.5" width. I was just browsing through some of the OEM wheels that have been offered recently, and saw that some X5's run 19x9s with a 48mm offset. Given that it's an X-drive with a positive offset of 43mm, how much leniency would I have putting wheels like those on this without adjusting the suspension (later project), rubbing, and having the wheels stick out like a rice cooker?

Does anyone else have experience putting larger OEMs on their 528xi?

Thanks, and if I'm missing any info or was overall confusing, please let me know - still learning here!

[JayArras]

You're a wise boy to think ahead and ask questions before you commit to the car! And good call realizing that xi offsets are different from BMW RWD cars. Generally speaking, offsets of ET 35 - ET 45 will work well with E60xi's. This site will provide you with some good information on what OEM styles will work well with your 528xi: http://www.bmwstylewheels.com/. Also look at E46 (3 Series) and E53 (X5) wheels because they will fit E60xi cars also.

[spooner1sm]

Originally Posted by JayArras

You're a wise boy to think ahead and ask questions before you commit to the car! And good call realizing that xi offsets are different from BMW RWD cars. Generally speaking, offsets of ET 35 - ET 45 will work well with E60xi's. This site will provide you with some good information on what OEM styles will work well with your 528xi: http://www.bmwstylewheels.com/. Also look at E46 (3 Series) and E53 (X5) wheels because they will fit E60xi cars also.

Thanks for the advice! I'll definitely check out those OEMs!

[JayArras]

The next challenge will be actually finding them for sale once you find the style you like, lol!

[matress]

Has anyone cleaned up http://www.bmwstylewheels.com/ ?
When I was browsing it a few months back there were tons of trolls that had spammed NSFW material onto the site...

[PinoIX]

I also have a 2008 528xi... Mine came with OE Style 246 wheels. They are 8x18 et43 front and back. After lowering my car, I hit a bad pot hole and bent my front wheels. At the time, I was running 5mm spacers up front and 20mm spacers in the rear. I found a perfect set of the same Style 246 wheels... except they were from a 528i RWD, 8x18 et20 front and rear. Picked them up for $400, no tires, but perfect condition. Figured since I'm already running 20mm spacers in the rear... I took them out... 2 of the new et20 wheels in the rear w/o the spacers... and moved the rears to the front. Fits perfect, even being lowered 2" on BC Racing coilovers. I've measured, and planning to get VMR 710's in 8.5x19 et35 fronts and 9.5x19 et33... 235/35/19 and 265/30/19 tires. They should fit perfect. Just make sure what ever wheels you get, you can run staggered, just make sure the rolling diameter & circumference between the fronts and rears are less than 1% for AWD. The VMR wheels and tires I mentioned are -0.8% difference.

These 2 sites are perfect for calculating for offsets and for tire/tire stretch sizing...
https://www.1010tires.com/Tools/Whee...et-Calculator#
https://tiresize.com/calculator/