Good day guys. Dont know if this was ever asked. I am a guy that always want to make technical sense of things. My question is can you put normal 18inch rims on 2009 X3 ...not staggered...and then use same size tire back and front. The rolling circumfrence should be the same then. The sensitive transfer case should be happy too. On that point if vehicle is only used on highway roads. Can you disconnect or cut out transfer case. Making it a rwd vehicle only. This should technical make car more responsive and feul efficient due to less power loss thru transfer case and drive train resistance. Sorry no mechanic just different view of looking at things
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BMW X3 rim and wheel query
- Thread starter BMW CPT
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supertramp
Active member
This link should work and give you an idea off the offsets and tyre sizes, rims etc where you can play around with fitments to your X3, as for transfer case I wouldn't mess around with that however my six pence worth :fencelook:
https://www.wheel-size.com/size/bmw/x3/2011/#trim-20d-eudm
https://www.wheel-size.com/size/bmw/x3/2011/#trim-20d-eudm
You can physically pull the fuse for the transfer case or manually disconnect its plug under the car - Unfortunately it does throw a plethora of errors, including that it turns off all Stability Control Systems, Anti Lock Brakes and wont allow Cruise Control to activate.
When my front passenger side driveshaft CV broke BMW showed me how to disconnect it so I didnt have to live with the noises until they could book it in - The front wheels still turn as a result of it being permanent 60/40 split in normal driving but no additional drive is sent to them so the rear is surprisingly eager to wag.
That said, Xdrive is designed to "disconnect" the front drivetrain above 100km/h only if there is no lack of traction detected so unless you drive everywhere at 90, dont bother.
When my front passenger side driveshaft CV broke BMW showed me how to disconnect it so I didnt have to live with the noises until they could book it in - The front wheels still turn as a result of it being permanent 60/40 split in normal driving but no additional drive is sent to them so the rear is surprisingly eager to wag.
That said, Xdrive is designed to "disconnect" the front drivetrain above 100km/h only if there is no lack of traction detected so unless you drive everywhere at 90, dont bother.
Solo Man
Well-known member
I drive a 2005 X3 2l diesel six speed manual transmission and have had the car for about two years now. Since i bought it it has had a problem with the transfer case and i took it to ZF who diagnosed the clutch pack inside the transfer case as having too much slip or something like that iirc. I asked them to leave the plug disconnected as i disconnected it shortly after getting the car and have since been driving like that. At a stage i removed the propshaft from the transfer case to the front axle and drove like that for roughly 8 months until i picked up an oil leak from the transfer case. To my amazement the part that protrudes from the transfer case onto which the propshaft bolts is just a push on part that has splines that slide on a part inside the transfer case and this was leaking at the seal. Replaced the seal and fitted the propshaft as i was actually driving with a part that could easily have fallen out of the transfer case and loosing all the oil in the t/case and a possible seizure of the t/case. Have been driving with the transfer case plug disconnected now for about two years and 30 000 kms. No problems regarding handling, etc. The transfer case light is on on the dash but i have stuck some black insulation tape over the led inside the cluster. The speed control is working normally and braking and handling is fine as far as i can determine. Have no reason to think that my abs is disabled and handling is amazing for this kind of vehicle. By the way, i checked the thickness of the drive shafts on my car and compared them to the 3l diesel, and they are the same so am not worried that i may break a shaft under normal driving conditions. Have even towed my caravan to Hartenbos and back without problems. Regarding fuel consumption, my son has the identical car (same year 2l diesel manual) and we drove a similar distance in convoy and got roughly the same consumption on the obc, which is not always 100% accurate but gives a good indication of the consumption. As was mentioned, the front wheels only get drive when slip at the back wheels is detected so basically you are driving a two wheel drive most of the time. If you have no funny noises coming from your transfer case then i would just leave things as is and get a set of tires on same size wheels, no problem. Just as an afterthought, my son and i even have the same size and type of Michelin tires on our cars, all non run-flat. His transfer case is quiet as a mouse and his car has on about 130k kms. Mine is just under 190k kms.
