I happen to usually have a good number of BMW wheels sitting around including some OEM 19" Style 220M from my E90 M3. Obviously it is known that some BMW wheels can work on S/X if you choose carefully (Tire Rack will even sell you the same wheel for a winter package on both Model X and the E70 X5, for instance), but I thought I'd try one out.
The wheel I tried is 5x120 72.56mm center bore, ET29, 19x8.5", without a tire, because why would I have a 29" tall tire on an M3 wheel. So, bored, and considering spare options for a longer road trip, I decided to see if I might make one of these work as spare. The short answer is, yes. But I wouldn't want to use a typical BMW 19" wheel unless it's designed for the X5 with its weight in mind, and has better barrel clearance than this wheel (which is a forged wheel with a prominent bulge in the barrel behind the spokes, right where the caliper is on the X).
Anyway, my findings:
1) This wheel fits but there's only about 4mm to spare, at most, between rear caliper and the wheel. Plenty of room up front. I'm always skeptical of claims a -2 setup won't fit over a given brake setup, but I'm convinced an18" would never work, unless, I suppose, the barrel was specifically designed around brake clearance right at the right spot for the rear caliper with a big concavity in the barrel right there. Thing's a chonker
2) The rear wheel for this application is a 19x9.5 ET23, which would probably have much better clearance at the expense of needing to figure out how to make it work up front and/or not being able to rotate. I was too lazy to pull one fo these down from my tire rack so I didn't get data. Like I said, single data point
3) Most recent BMW wheels have conical seats that match the Tesla OEM lug nuts, including these, which is nice
4) 4mm is enough barrel clearance for comfort on a spare, but if I were running them year round, particularly in winter, I'd be worried about rocks an crap getting stuck. This has happened to me before on a low-clearance application and machined a gouge on the inside of the barrel. No bueno. Also, this is an M3 wheel, a car that has a GVWR of like 4300lb, so obviously not a good long-term idea. But, I was bored.
I still want a set of 19x8.5" Tempest wheels for this car, because I want the range and ride benefits of a smaller diameter wheel/tire package, but there's nothing local and I don't want to Ebay it just yet. And my tires aren't quite dead yet. And I could always just buy a spare. And I hav ea plug and patch kit and compressor in thec ar all the time. How many pairs of suspenders can one guy need? The answer is as many belts as he has
The wheel I tried is 5x120 72.56mm center bore, ET29, 19x8.5", without a tire, because why would I have a 29" tall tire on an M3 wheel. So, bored, and considering spare options for a longer road trip, I decided to see if I might make one of these work as spare. The short answer is, yes. But I wouldn't want to use a typical BMW 19" wheel unless it's designed for the X5 with its weight in mind, and has better barrel clearance than this wheel (which is a forged wheel with a prominent bulge in the barrel behind the spokes, right where the caliper is on the X).
Anyway, my findings:
1) This wheel fits but there's only about 4mm to spare, at most, between rear caliper and the wheel. Plenty of room up front. I'm always skeptical of claims a -2 setup won't fit over a given brake setup, but I'm convinced an18" would never work, unless, I suppose, the barrel was specifically designed around brake clearance right at the right spot for the rear caliper with a big concavity in the barrel right there. Thing's a chonker
2) The rear wheel for this application is a 19x9.5 ET23, which would probably have much better clearance at the expense of needing to figure out how to make it work up front and/or not being able to rotate. I was too lazy to pull one fo these down from my tire rack so I didn't get data. Like I said, single data point
3) Most recent BMW wheels have conical seats that match the Tesla OEM lug nuts, including these, which is nice
4) 4mm is enough barrel clearance for comfort on a spare, but if I were running them year round, particularly in winter, I'd be worried about rocks an crap getting stuck. This has happened to me before on a low-clearance application and machined a gouge on the inside of the barrel. No bueno. Also, this is an M3 wheel, a car that has a GVWR of like 4300lb, so obviously not a good long-term idea. But, I was bored.
I still want a set of 19x8.5" Tempest wheels for this car, because I want the range and ride benefits of a smaller diameter wheel/tire package, but there's nothing local and I don't want to Ebay it just yet. And my tires aren't quite dead yet. And I could always just buy a spare. And I hav ea plug and patch kit and compressor in thec ar all the time. How many pairs of suspenders can one guy need? The answer is as many belts as he has
Last edited:
