The Turner Project X5M is finished in an all-new exterior paint color called Long Beach Blue Metallic. It’s an eye-grabbing color somewhat resembling Laguna Seca Blue offered on the E46 M3. However, that’s where any comparsions to a E46 M3 or any other BMW M “car” end. After having the X5 M for a short period of time, Turner decided that the vehicle was in needs of some wider, more aggressive wheels and sport springs. They set on the Forgeline GT1 Forged Monoblock Wheels. Turner has installed Forgeline’s on a large number of projects and customer vehicles. Their products not only give the X5 M an enhance appearance, they also perform extremely well, thus making the vehicle better as a whole.
The front wheels measure 21×10″ (unchanged from the stock 21″ wheels) while the rears are wider at 21×12″. The latest X5M comes from the factory with very wide wheels and tires. Despite this, having more rubber on the road is always a good thing when you are looking to improve the performance of a vehicle. The new wheels give the X5 M a very menacing and aggressive stance. They really make the vehicle look the part of a world-class, high performance SUV.
In addition to the Forgeline wheels, another area of the Project X5 M that needed to be addressed was the ride height. Because BMW designs their X-series SAVs to be multi-purpose, multi-use vehicles that can tackle grocery-getting or light off-road use. Even though the chances of someone taking a six-figure vehicle off-road are slim, BMW has to take that possibility into account. Since Turner has no intention of going anywhere near an off-road trail, they lowered the suspension with H&R Springs. These springs reduce ride height by approximately 1.3″ in the front and rear.
The kit does this by traditional springs in the front of the vehicle, while the rear is lowered by shims that limit the amount of air allowed into the rear airbags. The result is a much better overall stance and appearance. Gone are the massive gaps between the fenders and the wheels. Even with the factory 21″ wheels, the fender gap was simply too large.
Turner’s goal is to take this X5 M and make it unique. They are going to hand pick the best possible products and accessories for this project car to learn first-hand the true potential of this latest generation of X5M.
