Style 65 Alloy E39 M5 Wheels
There’s no question in mind of most M5 enthusiasts, that the E39 M5 wheel is one of the best, if not THE best looking wheel ever to come out of BMW.
It is known as the style “65″ wheel and is really a beautiful design. The wheel pattern on the BMW e39 m5 is actually a staggered wheel set-up: The rear wheels are slight larger than the front wheels. This is to help put more power to the pavement, and also to help with lateral grip when accelerating out of the corners.
Another thing to keep in mind about the BMW e39 M5 wheels, is that they were initially made with a lead based color/ grey finish. The company that was contracted to make the finish is called Colordec and then are out of Italy.
Today however, if you are going to re-finish your wheels and you live in North America, you won’t be able to use that lead based “shadow paint”, because lead based paints are illegal in most places, such as California. Instead you’ll have to go with something from SICO or another reputable automotive paint maker to get your wheels refinished. The result could be that one wheel looks a little different than the other – so what many people do is refinish the wheels on the BMW e39 M5 on both sides – that way they look consistent at least when you look at one side of the car.
Because the BMW E39 m5 is such an understated car, you really notice how BMW made the Beast stand out with such beautiful wheels -they look SO much better than the e60 m5. The rear wheel has a sort of “deep dish” look to it, which when clean, really catches the light and lets any onlookers know there’s LOTS of rubber there for a reason.
The actual specs of the BMW wheel and tire pattern/ sizing are as follows:
BMW E39 M5 Front Wheel Size (metric):45.7 x 20.3 cm / 18.0 x 8.0 in
BMW E39 M5 Rear Wheel Size (imperial): 45.7 x 24.1 cm / 18.0 x 9.5 in
BMW E39 M5 Front Tire Size: 245/40ZR-18
BMW E39 M5 Rear Tire Size: 275/35ZR-18
The OEM tire which came from the factory for this car throughout the entire production run was none less than the Michelin Pilot Sport. Today there are many tires which are superior to the one which came on the car. However, the Pilot Sport is still a formidable product. In fact this product has been discontinued. The replacement tire is actually the Pilot Sport PS/2 – which is an excellent tire for the BMW e39 m5 -with the only exception being that it is VERY pricey.
Some owners have opted to put the same sized rear wheels and tires on the front. The logic here is that they are putting the same size footprint on the pavement. This will require a spacer to be mounted on the wheel hub before putting the wheel on. It is not clear how much handling improvement this makes for the car and most owners stick with what came from the factory.
In terms of aftermarket wheels for the BMW e39 m5 – most people stick with the stock product because it looks very good. However the most common application of aftermarket wheels for this car is in fact a narrower wheel/ tire for winter driving.
The proper winter tire setup for the BMW e39 m5 is as follows: 245/40/18 tires mounted on 18″x8″ rims. Almost everyone will mount these tires on aftermarket rims or style 65 replica rims.
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