The new 20" snow wheels are in!

[scottyv]

Install Pirelli Scorpions I&S 275-40-20 all the way around tomorrow.

Couple of pictures to check them out, BTW 9.5" x 20" all the around should look real good still vs 18 or 19".

I will post installed pics & driving experience ASAP.

[dr.jay]

Originally Posted by scottyv

Install Pirelli Scorpions I&S 275-40-20 all the way around tomorrow.

Couple of pictures to check them out, BTW 9.5" x 20" all the around should look real good still vs 18 or 19".

I will post installed pics & driving experience ASAP.

[Rac10000]

Looking good, Scotty! Can't wait to see some pics on the car!

[bak]

ScottyV,
I am in S.E. Michigan and have the identical X6 as you. Except my car has Bamboo Interior. I believe I purchased wheels from the same place you did, I recognized the packaging. Did you buy them from a company out of Madison Heights? Anyway best of luck with your new X6 I am sure you are loving it.
Best,
Brian

[scottyv]

Bak,

No they are from Cali, complete with centers and hub rings.

Mine are 9.5 x 20 not 10 x 20's, what size are yours??

I purposely wanted 9.5 as 10 puts the lip right on the edge of a 275 wide tire and the
9.5 sucks it in enough to go through a wash without a problem of scufs, etc.

They look great we will see how they balance & ride tomorrow.

Hope you are loving your ride too.

[us_matrix]

Look nice!

Can you give me the seller contact information or web site? Are they replica? Do they look exactly same as OEM in terms of style and finish? Why do you need to order hub?

Thanks.

Originally Posted by scottyv

Install Pirelli Scorpions I&S 275-40-20 all the way around tomorrow.

Couple of pictures to check them out, BTW 9.5" x 20" all the around should look real good still vs 18 or 19".

I will post installed pics & driving experience ASAP.

[bak]

Originally Posted by scottyv

Bak,

No they are from Cali, $1069 delivered with centers and hub rings.

Mine are 9.5 x 20 not 10 x 20's, what size are yours??

I purposely wanted 9.5 as 10 puts the lip right on the edge of a 275 wide tire and the
9.5 sucks it in enough to go through a wash without a problem of scufs, etc.

They look great we will see how they balance & ride tomorrow.

Hope you are loving your ride too.

ScottyV,
My wheels are 10's and 11's if I remember correctly. They are original BMW Wheels that have been reconditioned. When I was searching I remember seeing replica's that were 1/2 inc narrower than the factory rims. That is good thinking (Buying narrower rims) as I will have to have the front left reconditioned over the winter due to a car wash attendant. Who did you buy your car from?
BAK

[scottyv]

Should have them on by this evening, raining here in MI, so pictures won't be as good as I'd like but I'll post everything I can.

bak these wheels are 9.5 x 20 on all fours vs the factory staggered setup, much better for winter on 9.5 with a 275 winter tire size on all fours. 11 inch rims require a really wide rear tire not suited well for winter. Pirelli just recently offers an oem fit 315 snow tire for the rear but I would not recommend it.

Cornering & deeper snow will be a problem with a 315. 275 is doable but not as good as say a 255, but I just cant see my vehicle ever looking good with 255's albeit even for winter.

Again the 9.5's will be even a little better than the 10's (front stoick staggered size) they give you a half inch more rubber over lip of wheel (1/4 front to rear), so you can car wash it with less chance of a scuff.

Another issue to slove with aftermarket vs vs oem wheels is that the front to rear hub size is different on X6 (72mm rear/74 mm front) so with aftermarket wheels you will almost always and in my case need centering rings (2 very thin nylon rings to space one pair of wheels down 2mm for fitting). The oem wheels are bored to fit fit front to rear 74/72.

These rings were provided with mine. Just keep this in mind when looking at any aftermarket wheels.

[teagueAMX]

Are the aftermarket wheels all 74, so you need the centering rings for the front wheels, right?

[scottyv]

teague, yes all bored to 74mm (74.1 to be exact).

Not crazy about spacer rings, but I've used them before without issue, a good installer who takes his time will have no problems.

These are my winter rims so I am not concerned in the least.

[teagueAMX]

Thanks.

I like that wheel style and am surprised BMW doesn't offer them with the 5.0.

[scottyv]

teague, I went round and round with the dealer on this as 20" wheels are an option, but they, and BMW themselves, would not let me choose the Y-spoke on a 5.0 no matter what.

So as soon as I get them installed I will head up to the dealer just for fun.......

[teagueAMX]

Lol - you go show 'em how it looks.

On the choice of optional wheels, it's a little surprising with current manufacturing methods now days, which are really more like glorified warehousing operations, they can't offer something that when we all know it's a simple series of computer keystrokes.

[shenard]

Any pics yet?

[scottyv]

I'll try to get another set of pictures taken or post them tomorrow, I forgot to forward the ones I took hastily from my office.

The wheels look great, but they didn't get one of my rears balanced correctly. I have a little vibration from 40-55 mph in the rear.

The Pirellis are noisier than stock for sure, to be expected given the snow tread design.

They handle much better than a Blizzak, much more stable and planted vs. mushy.

[scottyv]

Oh, I have a correction too, the front hubs are 74mm and the rears are 72 (72.56).

The rears required the centering rings not the fronts.

[scottyv]

Well, here are the pictures guys, I have to say, I like these Y spoke wheels better than the factory star spokes.

To me it seems these wheels look good from most any angle and the star spokes just look ok sometimes and not so good from a lot of angles.

Seems to toughen the look up a lot to me. Beefier?

I have some technical info I'll share later regarding this vehicle and non oem fitaments, this vehicle is a PITA to work with. For now it's off to family diiner.

A happy Thanksgiving to all the X6 lovers!

[teagueAMX]

Well done, and thanks for sharing the pics on thanksgiving day!

Those wheels are one of my favorites for the X6.

[zaha]

They look awesome!!!!
Will these fit on an X6M?

[scottyv]

zaha, not sure on the X6M as the M has huge brakes (rotors) on it.

I would think 20's would do it, but there may be offset issues besides just diameter to deal with.

[xcfloyd]

Scotty, these look amazing. Can you post the link where you ordered the wheels from in Cali? I would like to pick up a set for my X5

[scottyv]

Ok guy's here is the real deal on the X6 and aftermarket wheels.

You have two major issues to deal with

1. The hub sizes front to rear are different ever so slightly

The fronts are 74mm and the rears are 72mm (72.56 to be exact)

So if you go aftermarket you will most likely get 74mm wheels and you need centering rings for the rear.

2. There is a large offset difference front to rear on the X6.

This means if you go with the same wheels (width, no staggered) all the way around, your rear wheels will be pulled in (away from your fender edge) about 25-30mm.

If you look at the factory specs for BMW's $4,000 winter tire package for the X6, you will see they use the following

wheels (Style 232, 19")

Front 19 x 9" offset 48mm

Rear 19 x 9" offset 18mm

I went so far as to see this Style 232 setup and measure with a level to check fender to tire gaps (how far the tire is inward from the fender/wheel well edge) on this setup in person what I measured was a front tire to fender difference of 3/4" and the same for the rear (3/4"). So, to keep this the same you need a front to rear offset differential of -30mm in the rears, if you use the same width wheel front to rear.

Now when you order winter tires with narrow rubber and non staggered (all four wheels the same width) like me you will see the rear wheels pulled inward due to the offset differential (more than just the tire width would be).

here is a very helpful tool I used for some of my calculations

http://www.1010tires.com/WheelOffsetCalculator.asp

So if you plug in the sport package rear wheel numbers 315/35/20 tire with 11" x 20" offset +37mm

and compare it to the aftermarket 9.5" x 20" offset +40mm which I used for rears

you will see a outer position retraction of 22mm, in my measurements (on my own vehicle aftermarket snows vs sport rear pkg) I saw a little more (25 -28mm) as this can be because of tire manufacturers section widths do not always correspond exactly to their nominal section widths.

I don't mind this look for my winter wheels (the retraction of basically an inch), but I do notice it.