Re: Question about M5 wheels? (archive)

Looking to buy some M5 wheels. the sizes are 8" x 18" front, 9.5" x 18" rear. I have a 1997 528i and was wondering what size tires would fit the rear wheels. I think M5 comes with 275/35ZR18 in the rear. Would a 245, 255, or 265 fit this wheel as well? When anyone just put 245 all around since that is the size on the front or is there an advantage to having larger tires in the rear? Could you buy the 8" x 18" for both the front and rear or would that screw things up? Thanks for any insight.

My first question to you would be, are you buying genuine factory M5 wheels or "factory replicas" (fakes) from one of those wheel mills? Have you been reading these boards long enough to know the difference?

There's no problem running the narrower M5 front wheels at all four corners of your 1997 528i and it would save you the headache of dealing with the fender rub problem in the back. If you do that, then you'll want to run 245/40-18 tires all around.

As for getting the wider rear wheels and fitting narrower tires, there are plenty of folks on the message boards with first-hand experience who can address that. The stock 275/35-18 tires will rub. I would expect that you can get away with 265/35-18 which is 1 percent shorter or 265/40-18 which is 3 percent taller. But you may still need to install the M5 fender liner and roll the fender lips. However, for this last bit, I'm simply parroting what I've heard others say on this forum. You would be better off talking to someone who has actually done it.

Dave Z.

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