Off-road tires and sizes

[panzerwagenx5]

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I have a 2018 x5 50i m sport an I’m looking for a good off-road or off roadish tire setup looking for an good recommendations

[rbryantaz]

Originally Posted by panzerwagenx5

I have a 2018 x5 50i m sport an I’m looking for a good off-road or off roadish tire setup looking for an good recommendations

Without very large spacers the e70 is essentially limited to a 30.5" diameter wheel such as a 265/60/18, 265/50/20. I put Cooper AT3's on mine while others have used tires like the Falken Wildpeak and other similar AT tires.

There are more lower profile AT tires these days but AT tires seem very rare in a 265/55/19. I purposely downsized my rims to 18s to have more options. The smaller wheels and more rubber has advantages like being less likely to come off from the bead or even simply avoiding curb rash. I hit a curb the other day with my X5 that would have scraped it up but with the 265/60/18s it just showed a temporary mark on the tires.

https://www.xbimmers.com/forums/show....php?t=1409971

With the 50i brakes you may need to stay with 19+ wheels. Some 18's might fit but I am not sure that my style 93s would (it would be close).

Ultimately it comes down to if you want your X5 to be more of a car and lower it or be a little more like an SUV. The latter is not common, it can do pretty well as an overland vehicle but it isn't rugged like a jeep. The E53 seems better suited for lifting (or perhaps it has just been done more because they are older and cheaper to start out with).

ECS does still have the Wagen e70 overland skid plate. I am tempted to buy one. https://www.ecstuning.com/b-ecs-part.../008271la09kt/

Oh and don't cross water with it even at mid wheel height without being very careful. The intake can easily suck in water if water enters the kidney grills... It is a long story but I had a particularly bad experience with someone driving in the opposite direction and sending a wake of water into my X5 that hydro locked my 4.8i in Mexico... Like human tourists cars also shouldn't drink the water in Mexico....

-Rich

[StradaRedlands]

I had Falken Wildpeaks on our GL450 with 18" rims and that thing went anywhere I wanted it to! Great ride on the road as well, which is where it spent 90% of its time. I was able to get slightly oversized to fit. IIRC I think on the X5 the upper control arm limits the size of the tire? Consider going down to 18" wheels, which are lighter and give you a lot more sidewall which lets you air down more without damaging like a 20" would.

[rbryantaz]

Originally Posted by StradaRedlands

I had Falken Wildpeaks on our GL450 with 18" rims and that thing went anywhere I wanted it to! Great ride on the road as well, which is where it spent 90% of its time. I was able to get slightly oversized to fit. IIRC I think on the X5 the upper control arm limits the size of the tire? Consider going down to 18" wheels, which are lighter and give you a lot more sidewall which lets you air down more without damaging like a 20" would.

Yes even spaced out by 24mm the clearance to the upright and upper control arm ball joint connection is still very close. The 265/60/18 still sits on the edge of it. The upright is more of an issue than the control arm its self. The upright has a curve where spacing it out helps. The thread I posted shows it.



If you have an oil cooler it will also contact slots on the fender slots and self trim them. I added some mesh on the back side to protect the cooler on my 4.8i.

It would have to be spaced out a lot more for bigger tires and the front fender would need to be modified (but some have done it). If you go bigger you may also want an adjustable upper control arm for alignment.

-Rich

[Innovade]

Falken wildpeaks are such a great tire. If you can fit those, I would get them. I would trust them to get me anywhere in my 4Runner.