After a lengthy search on this forum and others, I cannot find how large of a tire that will fit in the spare compartment. Any ideas for an 05' X5

I do know that 18" tires fit fine with Toyo Proxes fit fine in my old 03' model X5.

The second question is that I need a good recommendation for a tire setup. I went with 18" Toyos for a couple years on my last X5 and was debating on whether I should make the jump to 19"s with rims and whether a spare would fit in the compartment. I live in SF, commute to work, and then commute to Tahoe almost once a week from November through June. So I need a a high rated M+S at the minimum to get up there without chains, and a spare on hand for obvious reasons. I could easily just go for the same tire setup as I had before, but that's too easy and boring. Full winter tires seem overkill since I'm only in snow WHILE I'm in Tahoe. I do hit an occasional 4X4 access road in the summer to get closer to the snow line, so lo-profile tires are probably out of the question.

Anyone have any suggestions? If not, no worries, just thought I'd ask

skier

If low-profile tires are out of the question, then I guess 19's are too. All the wheel/tire combo's are the same over all height, whether they be 17", 18", 19" or 20", the profile is what changes and it gets lower as the wheels get bigger.

Therefore, the problem with the spare not fitting is not a problem with the diameter of the wheel you get, it's the width of that wheel. The X5's with 18" and larger wheels get a smaller spare because the wheel gets wider as it gets larger in diameter and the wider wheels won't allow the load floor to lay flat.

Thanks for the information, much appreciated.

Yeah, that's my issue....and what I thought. I definitely go off-road enough, I know, I know, weird concept with an SAV ;)

I'll probably just stick with some high-performance 18's, and get some black rims. This way its suitable for touring all over the place.

on 18s I would recommend Pirelli Scorpions or Geolandars