The V8 Bike Bus

[Greg_D]

oh my god.... so much better with the wheels!!!

why anyone powdercoats wheels dark colours baffles me...

i'd personally lose the tints, but it's looking perfectly acceptable, big improvement

[573]

I agree about the tints, but they are functional. I'll be sleeping in it this weekend for instance. I'm going to try to get them replaced with a slightly lighter shade though.

[Usget]

I personally think that now the wheels are sorted the pimp tintz are just about acceptable. They fit the lowered stance and general air of menace.

[spreadsheet monkey]

Great to see cars like this being de-gangstered and returned to tasteful spec.

Who needs a Range Rover Sport?

[dandam]

Usget said:

I personally think that now the wheels are sorted the pimp tintz are just about acceptable. They fit the lowered stance and general air of menace.

100% agree with this

[therealsamdailly]

Yeah it looks fantastic! I never though I'd miss my old one

[S100HP]

Looks great!

[AW10]

573 said:

From the top of each wheel rim to the plastic wheelarch trim the measurements are:

Front: 3"
Rear: 4.5"

Factory spec for a 4.8iS with the sport suspension is 707mm for the front and 709mm at the rear. Converting your numbers to metric (76 and 114 mm respectively) and adding the wheel diameter (508mm) give figures of 584 and 622 mm. You must be just off the bump stops on the front? I'm surprised you don't get the tyre rubbing on the wheel arch when lock is applied and you hit a bump - in theory the height of the front tyre's sidewall is 110mm.

[573]

And yet it all works fine... This isn’t my first rodeo.

It needs a thicker rear ARB to tune out more of the understeer. In fact ideally it needs a thicker one front and rear but a proportionally stiffer one at the back. I’m not confident any of the kits available are spec’d like that though and nobody seems to sell a rear one on its own for the 4.8is so I may need to get creative modifying the existing ones.

[LordHaveMurci]

Looking good, especially the wheels.

Any plans for the grille?

[573]

Yeah, originally I was going to re-fit a standard 4.8is one with the titanium slats. The thing is, I now think the black one suits it, even though the current one is a dog's dinner. I'll probably start by fitting a much better black one and go from there. The grilles on the bonnet have also been painted black and again, need re-doing better.

[SteveR1979]

If you took the pics with the bike rack on where you live, then you live in my village!!

[TheJimi]

cheddar said:

Cleaned up the lights on mine using 'Bug and Tar Remover', took about 5 minutes each side with no power tools.

Aye, and it shows.

Badly contaminated headlamp plastic needs a bit more than 5 mins with bug and tar remover.

OP, lovely thing, this. I really like what you've done with it

Edited by TheJimi on Wednesday 22 May 21:27

[bolidemichael]

There is much want for this car!

[MaximumJed]

bolidemichael said:

There is much want for this car!

There is from here too - we need a new car to bring the bikes etc around Europe and having had a 4.6iS in the past, I'm sorely tempted to get a 4.8 now, just not sure I could manage the running costs these days and should really get some economy-minded diesel of some sort

[shakotan]

SteveR1979 said:

If you took the pics with the bike rack on where you live, then you live in my village!!

I spotted Horsham Waitrose/JL in the car park shots.

[573]

Yeah I'm near Horsham, for obvious reasons not hugely keen on stating exactly where.

[SteveR1979]

573 said:

Yeah I'm near Horsham, for obvious reasons not hugely keen on stating exactly where.

Of course!

[helix402]

I like your X5, here are some grilles:



And some grills:

[Croutons]

helix402 said:

I like your X5, here are some grilles:

Seriously there is no need to spoil an excellent thread.

Keep the updates coming OP, the knowledge you have of the car is really impressive, as are the things you’re doing to it.

I am pretty sure Autotrader has seen a spike in searches for these since you first posted!