Front end vibration at highway speeds

I sold the original wheels and yes they were hub rings and I know they were plastic, but I don't remember the size, do you know what size I need? For hub rings? My bad I'm just learning, I told a girlfriend I have to let everyone know I'm female and don't know all the lingo, ( or the right name for parts) but you know what I was talking about.

I really like wider tires, not the low profile but just wider. It seems like we live in the boonies and no one around here can help me, not unless I drive a full size truck with cowboy exhaust going up the side of the truck. So what is a good decent priced rim for my car? And would you go back to 17's?

You can email this eBay seller and tell him that you have a set of rims from an E39 that you want to use for an E53.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/74-1-72-56-M...51bba4&vxp=mtr

Originally Posted by Iceeberg

I really like wider tires, not the low profile but just wider. It seems like we live in the boonies and no one around here can help me, not unless I drive a full size truck with cowboy exhaust going up the side of the truck. So what is a good decent priced rim for my car? And would you go back to 17's?

I have 18's on my X because it came with the sport package, but the spare is 17.

Don't know where you live but I live in Crook County, home of Da Bears and people are always selling rims on craigslist for our cars. Normally a set of rims with no tires will run about $200.00.

Here's the info on the rim for the 540i that you are trying to use on the X5.

X5 E53 = PCD 5x120, centre bore 72.5mm and M14x1.5 bolt thread. ET 40-45

5 Series E39 = PCD 5x120, centre bore 74.0mm and M12x1.5 bolt thread. ET 15-25

You can see that the centre bore for the X5 is only 72.5mm and the center bore for the E39 is 74.0mm. So there is a difference of 1.5mm, or if the wheel was perfectly center a gap of .75mm around the hub.

Also the holes on your rims are smaller than the lug bolts that are used on the X5.

Also the higher the ET number, the more the rim will sit inside the fender. So with the lower ET number on the E39 rims, the rims sit further outside the fender. That's why the wheel look wider.

They are aftermarket rims but were for the 540i, when I get some extra $ then ill purchase rims for my x5. Thanks upallnight !!

You're Welcome.

If the Hub rings are missing or crack, just remove the hub rings from the back wheels to the front.

Take upallnights advice and find out what size hubcentric rings you need to put E39 rims on an E53. BMW wheels are hubcentric which means they center based on a tight fit between the hole in the center of the rim and the protrusion on the hub. If you don't have a tight fit (hubcentric rings act as "shims" to provide a tight fit), the wheels won't be perfectly centered on the hub and will vibrate/wobble as you are describing. If your rear rings are good, move them to the front as the fronts are more sensitive to eccentricity than the rears.

The other classic cause of freeway vibration is worn front thrust/control arm bushings. These are the two things I would try first.

I had a similar problem on my 2005 X5 and it turned out to be the CV axles and it wasn't hard to replace both of them and I only had 160 dollars in parts. here is a link to my ordeal. I hope this helps it only took an hour or so to repair and it didn't cost a lot of money.

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1931670 http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1931670

Originally Posted by blacksheep64

I had a similar problem on my 2005 X5 and it turned out to be the CV axles and it wasn't hard to replace both of them and I only had 160 dollars in parts. here is a link to my ordeal. I hope this helps it only took an hour or so to repair and it didn't cost a lot of money.

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1931670 http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1931670

I remember your post at Bimmerforums, didn't I tell you to replace the CV joint? Glad that your BM trouble U is fixed.