BMW E60 E61 5 Series Wheel & Tire Fitment Guide

Looking to achieve the perfect wheel and tire fitment on your E60 BMW 5 Series? Our E60 5 Series Fitment Guide is your ideal resource for finding the best wheel and tire specs for your application. Our Flow Formed Wheels, the ARC-8, the SM-10, and the EC-7 offer Apex styling and fitment options at an affordable price. Our Forged Wheels, the ARC-8RT, ML-10RT, SM-10RS, EC-7RS, and VS-5RS provide improved strength and durability at lighter weights. This fitment guide is exclusive to the E60 BMW 5 Series. If you’re looking for E60 BMW M5 wheels, check out our E60 BMW M5 Wheel and Tire Fitment Guide.

Send us your photos!

Are you running APEX wheels on your E60 or E61? We would love to see and share your pictures! Email your photos to support@apexraceparts.com for a chance to be featured!

Performance Street and Track Wheel Fitment

Wider fitments for enhanced performance

  • Grey BMW 5 Series - SM-10 in Race Silver
    BMW 5 Series E60 E61

RWD

Rear-wheel drive E60s have lower offsets than their AWD counterparts which makes these cars more suited to staggered wheel fitments and concave wheel profiles. All of these fitments will require spacers to reduce effective wheel offset for optimal fitment.

Staggered Setups

Maintains stock-like handling characteristics, tires can only be rotated left to right. Maximizes both front and rear tire width. Staggered setups are recommended for highly tuned cars that need extra rear tire width in order to control their increased power output.

Wheels

  • Front Wheel Size: 18x8.5" ET35, ET38 (ARC-8), or ET40
  • Rear Wheel Size: 18x9.5" ET22
    • Available in: ARC-8, ARC-8RT, EC-7, ML-10RT, SM-10, VS-5RS
    • 18mm spacers required
    • 20mm front spacers recommended with ARC-8, ARC-8RT, & VS-5RS

Tires

  • Apex Staff Pick:
    • Front Tire Size: 245/40-18
    • Rear Tire Size: 275/35-18
    • Rear fender rolling or negative camber may be required for cars that are lowered or tire models that run wide.
    • 265/35-18 rear tires may also be used for an easier fit.
    • Thicker front spacers (22-24mm) and additional negative camber may be required with certain aftermarket suspensions, see below.

Square Setups

Allows proper front-to-rear tire rotation to extend tire life & improve handling balance.

Wheels

  • Front Wheel Size: 18x8.5" ET35, ET38 (ARC-8), or ET40
  • Rear Wheel Size: 18x8.5" ET35, ET38 (ARC-8), or ET40
    • Available in: ARC-8, ARC-8RT, EC-7, ML-10RT, SM-10, VS-5RS
    • 18mm front spacers required
    • 20mm rear spacers required.
    • ARC-8/VS-5RS requires 20mm front and 22mm rear spacers.

Tires

  • Apex Staff Pick:
    • Front Tire Size: 245/40-18
    • Rear Tire Size: 245/40-18
    • Recommended winter fitment

AWD

AWD (xi) E60s have much higher offset requirements than their RWD counterparts. Square setups are the standard here with less aggressive wheel profiles and no spacers required with APEX wheels.

Square Setups

Allows proper front-to-rear tire rotation to extend tire life & improve handling balance.

Wheels

  • Front Wheel Size: 18x8.5" ET35, ET38 (ARC-8), or ET40
  • Rear Wheel Size: 18x8.5" ET35, ET38 (ARC-8), or ET40
    • Available in: ARC-8, ARC-8RT, EC-7, ML-10RT, SM-10, VS-5RS
    • Direct fit
    • Recommended winter fitment

Tires

  • Apex Staff Pick:
    • Front Tire Size: 245/40-18
    • Rear Tire Size: 245/40-18

Aggressive Street Wheel Fitment

Aggressive fitments focused on appearance

  • White BMW 5 Series - EC-7 in Race Silver
    BMW 5 Series E60 E61

RWD

Rear-wheel drive E60s have lower offsets than their AWD counterparts which makes these cars more suited to staggered wheel fitments and concave wheel profiles. All of these fitments will require spacers to reduce effective wheel offset for optimal fitment.

Wheels

  • Front Wheel Size: 19x8.5" ET35
  • Rear Wheel Size: 19x9.5" ET22
    • Available in: ARC-8, EC-7, SM-10, VS-5RS
    • Popular fitment.
    • 18mm front spacers required

Tires

  • Apex Staff Pick:
    • Front Tire Size: 245/35-19
    • Rear Tire Size: 275/30-19
    • Rear fender rolling or negative camber may be required for cars that are lowered or tire models that run wide.
    • 265/30-19 rear tires may also be used for an easier fit.
    • Thicker front spacers (22-24mm) and additional front negative camber may be required with certain aftermarket suspensions, see below.

Square Setups

Allows proper front-to-rear tire rotation to extend tire life & improve handling balance.

Wheels

  • Front Wheel Size: 19x8.5" ET35
  • Rear Wheel Size: 19x8.5" ET35
    • Available in: ARC-8, EC-7, SM-10, VS-5RS
    • Popular fitment.
    • 18mm front spacers required
    • 20mm rear spacers required.

Tires

  • Apex Staff Pick:
    • Front Tire Size: 245/35-19
    • Rear Tire Size: 245/35-19

AWD

AWD (xi) E60s have much higher offset requirements than their RWD counterparts. Square setups are the standard here with less aggressive wheel profiles and no spacers required with APEX wheels.

Wheels

  • Front Wheel Size: 19x8.5" ET35
  • Rear Wheel Size: 19x8.5" ET35
    • Available in: ARC-8, EC-7, SM-10, VS-5RS
    • Popular fitment.

Tires

  • Apex Staff Pick:
    • Front Tire Size: 245/35-19
    • Rear Tire Size: 245/35-19
    • Direct Fit

Additional Resources

Concavity & Face Profiles

Each of our wheel designs is available in two or three different levels of concavity, which we call Profiles. The Profile is dictated by the width and offset, meaning wide lower-offset wheels will have more concavity, while narrow higher-offset wheels will have less concavity.

Identifying Suspension Types

If you’re using coilovers, see the image below to identify which type of coilover spring you have, as it may effect your wheel fitment.

Aftermarket E6X 5 Series Suspensions Known To Reduce Inner Clearance (includes but not limited to):

  • Bilstein PSS9 & PSS10
  • KW Height-Adjustable Spring (HAS) kit
  • KW Variants
  • KW Clubsports
  • Öhlins Road & Track

Big Brake Kit Clearances

We have tested many brake kits with the wheels listed in this guide. Please email us with any questions related to brake clearance, we’ll be happy to help.

Still have questions?

Fill out our Fitment Recommendation form Call us: 925-245-0773 Email us: support@apexraceparts.com

If you like cheap gear you will hate this newsletter.