Bmw x5 Diff Failure

Hi , i am wondering if you can advise me. I have a e70 x5 3.0 Diesel. I upgraded rims exactly 1 year ago to 20″ staggered Vossen rims . Yesterday the Diff broke and i am in the process of trying to source a new diff .

My mechanic is suggesting that the cause of the diff (rear axle drive) failure is the wider Rims and tyres that i had put on. I am not sure since i see the sport package came with those same sized rims and tyress i used.

Do you agree that the wider rims and tyres caused the diff (rear axle drive) to fail ? I am worried as i dont want the same to happen again.

I will admit that since i upgraded , i normally get the traction light blinking at time when the road is slightly uneven when accelerating.

If you can advise me i will be very thankful.

Thanks
Khemy

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2 thoughts on “Bmw x5 Diff Failure”

  1. If the bigger tires get better traction and the better traction caused the axle to break, then yeah I would just not drive it as hard. And who knows, you may drive it hard enough that it would have broke with stock tires.

    If the car has over 100K, I would blame it on the axle/bearings. If it has less than 50k, you might wanna put the stock tires back on.

  2. The X5 does not have a solid axle. It has independent suspension, any extra loads created by your choice of wheel, would be borne by the outer hubs. A failed diff is usually a symptom of harsh treatment, or lubricant loss. Remember, they are no bigger than a 7 series, although there are two of them usually the front wheels are only engaged when the TCM detects slip. So they are not over engineered units. Prone to failure I`m afraid. You could get lucky with used one. Flush it, and fill it with premium oil, with new seals is a minimum> Good luck…

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