I decided after getting the brakes done, that I wouldn't do TOO much.
Hmmm, I got a pm from a friend off another forum informing me of a little something, something was for sale and they would suit the X5 to a tee.
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/2374740.htm
I obviously had to have a look and after a phone call, I decided I needed to have a think about it as the deal just wasn't quite good enough.
After a few days, I thought, no, I'm gonna be strong, it's coming up to Christmas and I have Christmas pressies to buy....
The guy with the Alpina's phoned me back a few days later with a better offer. Hmm I thought, this is getting more like it, but still........N'ah!!!
Then another friend text me an eBay number so I had a looksie:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/bmw-x5-ac-schnitz ... 1e60d1acd3
The listing had a starting bid of £850 and I thought I can't really go wrong with that. So the bidding began and ended with me winning the little beauties...
So I headed up to Littleborough on 27th December to go get 'em. Got there for about 9:30pm and duely knocked on the door. A lovely brunette opened the door and I just thought sod the wheels......LOL. Then Lee popped out of the lounge (oh bugger...:rolleyes: ). The rims were up in the spare room so we went to have a look. First rim PROBLEM!!!!, bloody rim was cracked in 2 places.
I walked away absolutely pissed off as what a waste of time and fuel... As you can see he has them back up on ebay and they are cheap, but if you are interested, remember one of the rims was cracked in 2 places (so must have been hit pretty hard).....
On the way back down I started to think about the Alpina's again (and thought it must be fate as they were still up for sale).
After another phone call to mate, he told me to call Mark at BMautosport. I thought why, so he sent me a link....
http://www.bmautosport.co.uk/detail.php?siteid=1991
After a phonecall to Mark, I had a huge dilemma.
Mark offered me a great deal on the AC Schnitzer 22's with brand new Yoko Tyres (with a part ex of my OE rims too), but it was a little more than the deal the guy with the Alpina's was offering.
But as the Alpina's are 21" tyres are a real nightmare to source and bloody costly too. The AC's use a common tyre size so no probs there and the rims are basically brand new, but the ride would be a little harder...decisions, decisions.....
So what did I decide???????
I hedged my bets..... I told the chap with the Alpina's I would have a look at the AC's but if I decide no, I would straight to him and get the Alpina's on...
Started off at 6:30am Tuesday. Got caught in traffic due to accidents on M6, then M42 and the bloody M40... I finally got to my cousins in Hounslow at 9:30am to drop off a set of MV2's I'd picked up for his bro-in-law.
Set off again at 10am to finally arrive at bmautosport at 11:30am:
Mark is a top bloke and got cracking to test fit one of these babies:
They were brand spanking new in the original boxes:
I needed to be sure they would actually clear the brakes up front (we actually test fit one before mounting the tyres):
Pretty tight behind there (about 1-2mm, but Mark used a 3mm spacer just to give a little more breathing space)...
Once I saw the one on with the brakes....DEAL done!!!!
This was before we got them on:
And now:
I know, I know, I still haven't got round to removing the ///M badges....
Better shot of both front/rear:
So there you have it....
Ride is stiffer (but that was always going to be a compromise) and I'm sure the Alpina's would have probably been the preferred option for most, BUT I just couldn't refuse the deal Mark did and I really didn't want to have to try to source tyres and store them (plus after a phone call to Dunlop, who are one of the only manufacturers of the 21" tyre sizes, even they were unsure how long they might keep producing them...:rolleyes: ).
Hope you like....
