[ObsidianX]

These are my new VMR V718 wheels on my 2006 BMW X3. I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out and wanted to share with you all! These are 18x8.5 ET35 square with 235/50R18 tires.

Here's the story: I dove into the world of BMWs in late 2014 with a CPO 2011 BMW 335i xDrive. I love that car, but I found I had little to no car knowledge... and frankly I was afraid to touch my 335ix! So last summer I purchased a 10 year old 2006 X3 for a mere $6760 and dug in. It was meant to be a project car and force me to learn. So far it has been a great outlet to experiment. I've been "managing the flip" with my local indy shop and doing the work I could as a novice. Thus far, my X3 is rejuvenated with overdue routine maintenance (plugs & coils, front/rear differential fluid, tranny fluid, brake fluid, K&N air filter, water pump and tubing replaced) and TLC (clay bar, full rewax, heavy duty interior/leather cleaning). I swapped out the interior lights with LEDs. Last October, I dug into the suspension. I had H&R sport springs and Bilstein B4 OE replacement shocks/struts installed, lowering the suspension about 1.3" which totally changed the look and feel of my X3. It has been rock solid since all of this, but there is more to do.

This brings me to my wheels. I wanted to go for 275 width tire in the rear. I knew this would be aggressive, but some of the posts from others like sunnyw979 encouraged me to go for it. In the end, I chose to take this incrementally. Back in Oct when I changed out the suspension components, I put on a brand new set of Michelin Pilot Super Sport tires (235/50R18). They only have about 3K miles on them so I decided to choose a wheel which could use these tires for the time being. I also decided these rims would eventually go onto my 335ix.

About a month ago I started working direct with VMR. One of their sales reps, Tracy S, was super helpful as I went through all sorts of wheel size and tire variations for both my X3 and 335. I pondered going with the more popular V710, but chose for the CSL style look with modern concavity the V718 had. I also thought about gunmetal, but choose hyper silver as I thought it would go well with my black X3 and my silver 335. The 18x8.5 ET35 moved each wheel 17mm further outward which makes it look much better than stock BMW style 113 wheels I had previously. Here's how it turned out.

Before...




After...













Next up: My next task is to have the front and rear bumpers repainted (unless I can find a good price for a full respray), add Stoptech brake rotors and Hawk 5.0 pads. I'm also strongly considering a catback Supersprint exhaust mod thanks to some gentle urging by dfurseth and a new air intake system. When I move these rims to the 335ix I will likely go with with a 19" set of V710 and hopefully the 275 width next winter. This X3 has been good fun so far.

-OBSIDIANX-

[dfurseth]

Looks great! And nice write up. Silver was a nice choice, very clean look. I've always thought black on black loses definition in the wheels, so good call!
BTW: I'm still waiting on the exhaust to arrive but I'll do a similar post/review when it's all setup.

[sayemthree]

looks great !!!!!!!!!!!