Need AT tire suggestions for 2012 BMW X5

[Janie]

Hello! I’m new to overhanging and plan to use what I have until it no longer suits me, which is a 2015 BMWx5 which has AWD. I live in NE Florida so hills, sand, clay, brush kind of environments is Mostly what I can expect while starting. What suggestions for tires do you have? Thanks!!

 

[Smileyshaun]

most any at tire will tackle all those terrains except for the clay , clay is probably one of the hardest surfaces to drive on it just gums up tires in a hurry . if your going to encounter a lot of mud and clay look into more of a hybrid AT tire . what size tire are you going to run ? that will be one of the biggest determining factors in your tire selection

 

[Janie]

I could avoid clay for now, there are plenty of places to go without it. How do I best determine what size would be best? I would say my use will be entry level and moderate, not heavy duty and not overly rugged. I will also have a good amount of normal highway miles on these tires.

 

[Smileyshaun]

what size tires are on there now

 

[Janie]

I have Bridgestone DUELER H/P SPORT - SIZE: 255/55R18 right now.
It rains a lot where I live too. And no ice or snow.

I guess I might need to think of different wheels eventually so the stock ones don't get all scratched up

 

[Smileyshaun]

go with the smallest wheel that will fit over the brakes , the more tire sidewall you have the better

 

[Janie]

Ok, thank you much!!

 

[Smileyshaun]

May be try to find a x5 forum to pick thier brain on rim selection , I think I saw a guy on here that had a x5 setup for offroad .

 

[JCWages]

Depends on how much mud you plan to hit really. For Overlanding as opposed to straight up wheeling I'm finding the Geolandar AT G015 to be pretty darn capable and even durable considering I'm running a P-metric but it's going to fail in real mud. The Subaru folks love that tire and the BFG KO2 which is a big stepup in terms of traction, durability and price! The Wildpeak AT3/W is a very similar tire but much less expensive than the KO2 and it rated well with Consumer Reports and drivers.

Also check out the new TerrainContact and Cooper AT3 4S for other road-friendly options that also do well for typical overlanding off-road driving.

 

[hamiltonj2w1]

go with the smallest wheel that will fit over the brakes , the more tire sidewall you have the better

What he said because your options will also be very limited for a more aggressive tire in that stock size which appears to be a 255/55/18 which is right at 29inches if you can step down to 16's you will find a ton of great tires that aren't to aggressive and will cost almost half what decent tires for those 18's will run. As previously mentioned the Falkens are a great tire for the money. I have had good luck with my Duratracs and my Wifes Open Country AT's as well.

We just did this on my wifes Jeep renegade went from 18's to 16's and wheels and tires in 16's cost as much as new tires would have for 18's.

 

[Arailt]

My wife has a 15’ X5 too and I’m pretty sure the smallest wheels that will fit over the front calipers are 18”. I did some searching on the bimmer forums a couple years ago because I initially planned to buy a dedicated snow tire/wheel package and the consensus was 17” wheels didn’t clear the calipers.

Most BMWs come with runflat tires and no spare. So keep that in mind. If you don’t have the optional donut spare, you’ll have to buy runflats. If you do have the spare, you’ll need to keep the tire size consistent, or you’ll have to buy larger spare.

We bought my wife’s with the “xline” package, which is the kinda-sorta “off-road” package. It came with 255/50r19 Continental 4x4 Contact runflat tires. They’re hardly all terrain tires, but they’re a little more aggressive than sport tires typically on X5s. They perform great in the rain and snow, however they’re almost $300 a piece to replace.

Side note, if you’re still under warranty, I would not mess with the tire size. I can’t imagine BMW dealers would be be receptive to that.