I need to get some better tires for my E39 and thought it might be more cost effective to get a take off set of wheels and tires from another car. I think all five lug BMW is the same pattern but how about offsets, center bores and lug seats?
looking for 17s 18s or 19s so what would be a good donor?
The E39 has the same 5x120 bolt pattern used on most BMWs, but it was unique in that it's wheels have a larger center bore. As a result, wheels from an E39 can be fit to other BMWs with the aid of centering rings, but conversely wheels from other BMWs won't fit on an E39.
In reply to stuart in mn :
Good to know, thanks
If you're doing centering rings, look to F-body. 5x120 = 5x 4.72xx which is darn close to 5x4.75.
Search for GTA wheels. The firebird/Camaro of the 80s had a GTA option which usually came with basketweave wheels that look very BBS-ish. The bonus is that the F-bodys came with a staggered wheel offset. The rears were a +32 or so and the fronts were zero offset. All of the G-body and S-truck folks scamper around to buy a set of four fronts leaving the rears to be bastard stepchildren and unwanted. (read: cheap)
Available in 16" stock, but aftermarket has them for $150 each in 17 and 18. I think you can get 19 and 20 but you're no longer cheap.
Doesn't have to be GTA wheels, but the F-body and Y-body (vette) of that era is a good way to get cheap positive-offset wheels because most American cars use zero offset.
In reply to Racingsnake :
Any specific wheel width in mind? Any target budget? And any preferred look? On any BMW of that era, it's hard to go wrong with M parallels...
OEM E39 wheels are pretty plentiful. They made them in 16, 17, & 18" sizes, not including the aftermarket options. This link may help
https://bimmertips.com/oem-bmw-e39-wheel-style-specs
In reply to Racingsnake :
Jaguar wheels also fit.
Yeah for an E39 I like the M -Parallels.
I'm kinda partial to the style 42's, but the M=parallels ain't too shabby.
Pretty sure a lot of 04-06 GTO guys run BMW wheels, so I would assume you could do the opposite and put GTO wheels on the E39?
The 04-06 GTO along with the Gen 5 and 6 Camaros and CTS-V gen 2 (& up I think) all use the 5 x 120 mm bolt pattern. Ironically the Corvette stayed with the 5 x 4.75" (120.65 mm) pattern.
What about used/aftermarket BMW wheels? I sold the aftermarket wheels that came on the M3. The buyer seemed very happy.
Thanks for all the responses. To give a bit more detail it's a 540 with 17" M Parallels. I like the wheels and the size but the tires need replacing and spending $700 on a car worth around $2k that I'll be selling early next year doesn't seem worthwhile compared with buying a take off set for around $500 and probably getting a couple of hundred back by selling the M Parallels. It may be easier just to get some used tires for the back though.
In reply to Racingsnake :
If they're 17" wheels, they're not M Parallels (they only came in 18s). I'm going to guess they're the Style 66 (first picture below). In which case they're either 17x8 or 17x9. M Parallels are the second picture.
In reply to rslifkin :
You're right, they are the style 66s staggered 17x8 and 17x9
Racingsnake said:In reply to rslifkin :
You're right, they are the style 66s staggered 17x8 and 17x9
In that case, I'd definitely give some thought to just throwing new tires on them. They're not a bad looking wheel and they're reasonably sized for the car. Most of the good BMW wheels with decent tires already on them in a usable size aren't going to be all that cheap.
That looks like what I'll end up doing.
This was always my go to site to get a feel for what wheels came on what models, with bolt pattern and offset data as well.
Racingsnake said:That looks like what I'll end up doing.
Those Style 66's might be my favorite BMW wheels. I think they suit the car well, but they do look good on others, too!
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