[rbryantaz]

Originally Posted by StradaRedlands

THANKS, Rich! I have been obsessing over this for a week now. The Xer has sport package staggered 20s, and I want something better for the occasional fire road up in Big Bear twice a year :-) But I'm really questioning the 265 tires... I just think they may be overkill for my usage. I think I'll go to some 209 style 18s, but mount some stock size tires. I don't want to mess with machining, spacers, etc. etc. etc. I luckily don't need to make a decision right away, but the current tires are ending the end of their lifespan, so need to start committing to something!

Thanks again for the feedback on this... it's a GREAT thread!!!

The hard part is that if you want an AT tire they tend to need a taller sidewall than a passenger tire has. Falken does make a 255/55/18 in the wildpeak and BFG makes it in the trail-terrain. That would only be 29" so it would be 13mm or so closer on the top side so it would need less of a spacer, I am not sure if it would fit without one. To get to stock size in an AT you might need to be at 235/55/18 which is narrowing it up quite a bit. That will be better in snow but might start to look pretty narrow on an X5...

Note: Strangely because of low profile tire truck trends you can get a wildpeak in 245/45/19... So there are more low profile options in the 19" wheels than in 18... Note that some brakes might also not fit over the 18s. For instance I doubt that the M brakes or would fit behind my 18" wheels. I almost changed to the bigger brakes because the stock non M brake seem pretty prone to brake squeal but then didn't because of that.

-Rich