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      03-02-2021, 10:18 PM   #1
demet123
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Trying to choose tires for new order

We ordered a xdrive45e in Midnight Sapphire with Tartufo leather interior. Chose the 20" 740M with our M Sport package, dealer was pushing this. But the more I look at the 21" on the build I like the look. I'm the more sporty driver, my gf is more conservative. I've had lower profile tires in the past and know it will make for more agile and 'hard' drive experience. Dealer said significantly more tire wear on the 21".

Wondering if the air suspension on the 45e would allow us to mitigate the harshness of the lower profile tires? Anyone have any experience?

We already pushed the price up with Individual color and Merino leather so not sure I want to add another 950 for the 21' wheels!?

Any feedback appreciated.
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      03-02-2021, 10:47 PM   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by demet123 View Post
We ordered a xdrive45e in Midnight Sapphire with Tartufo leather interior. Chose the 20" 740M with our M Sport package, dealer was pushing this. But the more I look at the 21" on the build I like the look. I'm the more sporty driver, my gf is more conservative. I've had lower profile tires in the past and know it will make for more agile and 'hard' drive experience. Dealer said significantly more tire wear on the 21".

Wondering if the air suspension on the 45e would allow us to mitigate the harshness of the lower profile tires? Anyone have any experience?

We already pushed the price up with Individual color and Merino leather so not sure I want to add another 950 for the 21' wheels!?

Any feedback appreciated.
Ja, 2-axle air suspension will provide a more comfortable ride with 21" / 22" wheel upgrades.

Haven't read complaints of owners with air suspension with 21" / 22" wheel upgrades. Many praise and recommend the combo.

21" (run-flats) / 22" (non run-flats) wheels options are equipped with high performance summer and highly limit your tire options when it comes to replacing - expected tread wear ranges from 10 to 16K miles (depending on road conditions, tire pressure, driving style)

If you reside in a snow region, you should factor the additional cost of having a set of snow tires or snow / winter wheel set and storing them.
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      03-02-2021, 11:36 PM   #3
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Stick with the 20's. In addition to the aforementioned drawbacks, the 21's are also staggered which means you can not rotate them. Depending on how you drive, tread life can be as short as 10k miles.
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      03-03-2021, 01:38 AM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by demet123 View Post
We ordered a xdrive45e in Midnight Sapphire with Tartufo leather interior. Chose the 20" 740M with our M Sport package, dealer was pushing this. But the more I look at the 21" on the build I like the look. I'm the more sporty driver, my gf is more conservative. I've had lower profile tires in the past and know it will make for more agile and 'hard' drive experience. Dealer said significantly more tire wear on the 21".

Wondering if the air suspension on the 45e would allow us to mitigate the harshness of the lower profile tires? Anyone have any experience?

We already pushed the price up with Individual color and Merino leather so not sure I want to add another 950 for the 21' wheels!?

Any feedback appreciated.
21s and 22s look awesome. If you get either I would add the space saver spare, comes with the 22s - would actual encourage to add it to any build. You can get all-seasons tires in both sizes. I have 747 22s on an M50i and love the look. 20s have their advantage, but i think people are overselling them.
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      03-03-2021, 04:16 AM   #5
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The tire options on both the 21's and 22's are incredibly limited, there are no all season options for the 21's so if you have any real weather where you live you'll need to get a dedicated winter setup or swap tires each season. If I had to do it over again I think I would have gone with the standard 20" wheel.

BTW I have the air suspension and the ride is fine with the 21's
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      03-03-2021, 04:18 AM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gqgambler View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by demet123 View Post
We ordered a xdrive45e in Midnight Sapphire with Tartufo leather interior. Chose the 20" 740M with our M Sport package, dealer was pushing this. But the more I look at the 21" on the build I like the look. I'm the more sporty driver, my gf is more conservative. I've had lower profile tires in the past and know it will make for more agile and 'hard' drive experience. Dealer said significantly more tire wear on the 21".

Wondering if the air suspension on the 45e would allow us to mitigate the harshness of the lower profile tires? Anyone have any experience?

We already pushed the price up with Individual color and Merino leather so not sure I want to add another 950 for the 21' wheels!?

Any feedback appreciated.
21s and 22s look awesome. If you get either I would add the space saver spare, comes with the 22s - would actual encourage to add it to any build. You can get all-seasons tires in both sizes. I have 747 22s on an M50i and love the look. 20s have their advantage, but i think people are overselling them.
Where are you easily finding all season tires for the 21's ? with the staggered setup your not going to to find a matching set for front and back unless you cobble together a set of Pirelli Verde A/S with the Volvo specific front and Porsche specific rears which is what I ended up doing, not exactly the easiest task and their not run flat so if you don't have the spare your SOL. Also the 22's only have one set of A/S tires and their made for the Bentley Bentayga and run around $500 each, ouch ! Meanwhile over in 20" tire land you have around 70+ options with some of the most highly rated tires on the market available in the OE sizes.
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      03-03-2021, 05:49 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gqgambler View Post
21s and 22s look awesome. If you get either I would add the space saver spare, comes with the 22s - would actual encourage to add it to any build.
because the OP ordered the 45e, the space saver spare isn't offered in the build because there is no space for it under the cargo floor due to placement of the high voltage battery. as a result, 45e OEM tires are RFTs, which severely limits 21/22" tire choices currently.

Additionally, 22" aren't offered on a 45e build likely due to load rating concerns because of the heavier high voltage battery above the rear axle, which is in line with removing the 22" option for all variants when adding 3rd-row seating.

demet123 congrats on your order! while the ride quality was excellent because of the air suspension on the 45e (my kids also noticed the improvement over my previous Q7 w/air suspension + 21" wheels), I converted from OEM 21" staggered to a 20" square setup just a couple weeks after taking delivery. the 21" were summer performance RFTs, and temps were below 40°F. I didn't like the limited staggered all-season 21" RFT offerings, and i don't have the space to store a separate set of winter wheels/tires. a couple days after the install, we got hit with our first snow/ice storm. Lucky me! one guy posted the resulting accident when he drove through a few inches of unexpected snow on his new G05 that still had summer performance tires. not so lucky!

while 21" look great, I believe 20" is a very good balance of looks and their aforementioned advantages.

Last edited by nZtiZia; 03-03-2021 at 06:06 AM..
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      03-03-2021, 08:21 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by EasternLI View Post
The tire options on both the 21's and 22's are incredibly limited, there are no all season options for the 21's so if you have any real weather where you live you'll need to get a dedicated winter setup or swap tires each season. If I had to do it over again I think I would have gone with the standard 20" wheel.

BTW I have the air suspension and the ride is fine with the 21's
I'm pretty sure the Pirelli Scorpion Verde A/S come in spec sizes for the 21s when I was doing pre-purchase research. I had found them on Discount Tires website, Tire Rack didn't have them. Trick is to search by tire size and not car when trying to find it. Those are non-RFT tires.
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      03-03-2021, 08:29 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nZtiZia View Post
because the OP ordered the 45e, the space saver spare isn't offered in the build because there is no space for it under the cargo floor due to placement of the high voltage battery. as a result, 45e OEM tires are RFTs, which severely limits 21/22" tire choices currently.

Additionally, 22" aren't offered on a 45e build likely due to load rating concerns because of the heavier high voltage battery above the rear axle, which is in line with removing the 22" option for all variants when adding 3rd-row seating.
Whoops - I missed that OP ordered the 45e. Yes, if you need runflats them your choices are severely limited without ability to have a spare.
Not sure BMWs rationale with not offering the 22s with the 45e or 3rd row, but load ratings on the 22s is still "XL", same as on the 21s.
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      03-03-2021, 08:32 AM   #10
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Originally Posted by gqgambler View Post
Not sure BMWs rationale with not offering the 22s with the 45e or 3rd row, but load ratings on the 22s is still "XL", same as on the 21s.
"XL" on the tire refers to load range, which is the tire's toughness and max allowable air pressure (42psi).

because of 3rd row seating or the 45e's high voltage battery, the all-up weight limits or carrying capacity are too close to the 22" tires' max load rating

Last edited by nZtiZia; 03-03-2021 at 12:59 PM..
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      03-03-2021, 08:34 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by EasternLI View Post
Where are you easily finding all season tires for the 21's ? with the staggered setup your not going to to find a matching set for front and back unless you cobble together a set of Pirelli Verde A/S with the Volvo specific front and Porsche specific rears which is what I ended up doing, not exactly the easiest task and their not run flat so if you don't have the spare your SOL. Also the 22's only have one set of A/S tires and their made for the Bentley Bentayga and run around $500 each, ouch ! Meanwhile over in 20" tire land you have around 70+ options with some of the most highly rated tires on the market available in the OE sizes.
Agree, plenty of 20 inch tire options. That is the one gripe I have about BMW is the lack of all-season tires in spec sizes for their larger rims. I knew there was a way to get all-season on the 21s that I saw when doing pre-purchase research - thanks for confirming. In the 22s. you have two all-season options with the mentioned Bentley-spec tire and the Nitto NT420V which several forum members on here are running.
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      03-03-2021, 01:01 PM   #12
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22" tire load rating is less than 20/21" tires:

22" are rated for 104 front and 107 rear
21" are rated for 107 front and 110 rear
20" are rated for 110 front and 112 rear (staggered), 110 front/rear (square)

demet123 i wouldn't recommend going 22" at all on the 45e. BMW removes this option from the build for a reason. another way to look at it for staying with 20" RFTs is that it gives peace of mind if your partner gets a flat while driving, more than likely they can continue to drive to safety versus pulling over. i mean, they can do this with 21" RFTs as well but you'll be the one dealing with its staggered disadvantages come repair/replacement time.

Last edited by nZtiZia; 03-03-2021 at 01:10 PM..
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      03-03-2021, 02:53 PM   #13
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OK thanks so much guys for all the info and feedback. Will stick with the 20", maybe if I cared a bit more about the look I might be willing to fight the fight but I don't. Been there done that on my Mercedes 560SEC, which I regret selling!
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      03-03-2021, 03:54 PM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nZtiZia View Post
gqgambler
22" tire load rating is less than 20/21" tires:

22" are rated for 104 front and 107 rear
21" are rated for 107 front and 110 rear
20" are rated for 110 front and 112 rear (staggered), 110 front/rear (square)

demet123 i wouldn't recommend going 22" at all on the 45e. BMW removes this option from the build for a reason. another way to look at it for staying with 20" RFTs is that it gives peace of mind if your partner gets a flat while driving, more than likely they can continue to drive to safety versus pulling over. i mean, they can do this with 21" RFTs as well but you'll be the one dealing with its staggered disadvantages come repair/replacement time.
Thanks for posting those numbers.

I know many people are onboard with the 20s, but don't get lulled into a false sense of security (as you state "more than likely", that's not a 100% guarantee) with run-flat tires. They can be a tremendous help with a flat and provide safety and reassurance, but there are also drawbacks to run flat tires and I prefer to always have a spare. Most on the forum probably know or think of these things, but the average consumer buying any car with run flats probably hasn't given it a thought.

Run-flats in general:
Have a limited driving distance, 50miles at 50mph
Can have rougher rides do to stiff side walls
Reduced fuel economy because in general run flats are heavier/thicker
Be more expensive to replace, compared to non-RFTs
Can't always be repaired
Can leave a driver to stranded in case of side-wall failure or blow-out (since you won't have a spare)
Can leave you stranded in case of severe tire damage, i.e. shredded tire

I don't like the last 2 points as someone who's not afraid to change a tire or depend on AAA; caveat, I do a lot of highway driving for work. Not eliminating run-flats as an option, but don't assume there are no drawbacks. In general driving around in the city or near home you are fine, but do you want to be stuck on a highway in an unfamiliar location at 11pm with no spare when you have a run flat failure. I recognize a spare is not an option in the 45e, but I do like the security of it even if I never use it.
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      03-03-2021, 04:05 PM   #15
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Easiest solve is for BMW to offer A/S OEM as an option for +1 sizes. I agree that +1 and +2 look great but BMW needs to stop assuming that owners who want +1 or +2 sizing want high performance tires. For those who lease, investing in additional winter tires and storage is absurd.
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      03-03-2021, 05:18 PM   #16
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Easiest solve is for BMW to offer A/S OEM as an option for +1 sizes. I agree that +1 and +2 look great but BMW needs to stop assuming that owners who want +1 or +2 sizing want high performance tires. For those who lease, investing in additional winter tires and storage is absurd.
Completely agree. One of the biggest gripes I have had with BMW and was a reason I tried out the RRS for a time. Although limited selection of A/S tires, it was one of the reasons I went with the M50i as opposed to an X5M. At least the option was available for A/S tires in +1 and +2 sizing.
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      03-03-2021, 05:44 PM   #17
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I recognize a spare is not an option in the 45e, but I do like the security of it even if I never use it.
you make all very good and valid points. I stressed RFTs to the OP and anyone with the 45e because there is no security in a spare that doesn't exist. the security is in its construction and design at the cost of comfort, cost, etc. another option would be to go with non-RFTs and carry a tire repair or fix-a-flat kit on board.

Last edited by nZtiZia; 03-03-2021 at 06:41 PM..
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      03-03-2021, 05:53 PM   #18
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First, fix a flat doesn’t always work, and second, it will probably require also replacing the TPMS, which adds to the overall cost, not counting the cost to clean up the rim inside.

What may be a better tool is a stick in plug as a temporary fix...then, get a proper plug installed from the inside when you can. That also requires you carry an air compressor.
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      03-03-2021, 06:39 PM   #19
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i'm not advocating a fix-a-flat kit by any means, but it is an option for 45e owners who can't store a space saver spare if using non-RFTs.
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