I went Brittany Ferries last year for a long summer break driving through France and came back from Bilbao. Found the service very good. The St Malo route (overnight at least) is much more civilised. Generally 8pm - 8 am so you can get on have dinner, drink, kip, up, breakfast etc. which I much pref...

Just out of interest I notice that the 4 x 99 alloys (with tyres at 7mm) on ebay.de went for about £325.
That's a good deal.

If a German dealer is prepared to have them delivered in Germany (and quotes a price), there is no major drama (for him) in simply getting a different price from his shipper for the UK which will be someone like DHL. I've been pleasantly surprised at how reasonable freight costs can be - think I onl...

I found mine on ebay.de. (admittedly a dealer rather than private punter).
Always worth asking.
Cut and paste with google translate.
Bought some skiis last week from Milan off ebay.it which were over £100 cheaper than UK and only cost 10 euro to ship.

Just to confirm, 17s will not fit over the front brakes on a 4.6/4.8 which is why I'm on 18s. These are the BMW recommended alloys which I have on (same size all round) - http://www.ebay.de/itm/BMW-X5-E53-Winterrader-Dunlop-Grandtrek-Styling-99-18-ZOLL-/150958132532?pt=Auto_Reifen_2&hash=item232...

My tuppence worth (as a grumpy 46 year old) - 1. Don't bother with dodgy DVD. If you look on ebay, the prices for OEM secondhand ones tend to work like car prices depending on year. I picked up a 2009 one for £25. 2012 much more expensive. 2. I've just done LED angel eyes which were plug and play bu...

I run mine at what it recommends for the size of tyre (on a sticker on front door I think). I think the point on pressures is as follows (from Blackcircles) - For every 5°C that the weather drops a tyre will lose about 1 psi of air pressure. Consequently providing you are checking/adjusting pressure...

On the alloys from Tyremen, if you remove the Alutec centre caps and replace them with BMW ones (loads on ebay - OEM and cheap knock-offs), they will be virtually identical to the 209s and I suspect only trained forum members would tell them apart.

On winters, although the sport pack gives you 20 inch wheels, I don't think you have the larger front discs of the 4.8iS so you can go for 17 inch wheel for the winter tyres. Usually plenty of them available on ebay and reasonably cheap - people on here have picked up sets for £50 but £100 is more n...

I bought my 4.8iS in 2009 having previously owned a 3.0d from new (2004) with staggered 19s. Car was at a BMW dealer on the AUC programme and had done 28k - it had the original Michelin Diamaris on front with pretty new Bridgestone Dueller on back. Delighted with car other than noticing it was far m...

+ 1 for the Vredestein Wintrac Extremes. I have them on 18s on my E53. Brilliant tyre. Happy at 120 on the autobahn and very grippy an hour later on packed snow. Also wearing well.

I run a 4.8iS on OEM 20s in summer and on 18s in winter (type 99). It doesn't look too weedy. I wouldn't bother with 20 snow tyres - difficult to find staggered and expensive. I'd suggest something like the rims below - http://www.tyremen.co.uk/product/11968/18-design-e--bmw---x5-2007-%28e70%29.aspx...

I bought a 3 ton trolley jack from Costco (cost around £70) and use it with a rubber ice hockey puck (cost around £5 from ebay). I also have some aluminium jacking pads from US ( about £20 off ebay) that fit into the slots - neat but not really necessary. I was being charged £20 a corner for bi-annu...

Last ones I bought were over 3 years ago. Then around £660 for 4 Diamaris on 19s.
If you ring them up they'll tell you.

For info, just had latest Costco offers book arrive (5-25 Nov) which may be of interest. For tyres, it is the usual 20% off for 4 on all Michelin including Alpin and Diamaris. Usual pretty competitive pricing before the discount for 4. For oil , Castrol Edge 5w/40 and 5w/30 4 litre it is £23.98 (inc...