640D Sport tyre wear

[mchoody]

Just had my 640d in the dealer for some squeaking suspension bolts. I had a call from the garage asking me if I wanted a price on 2 rear tyres as they are nearly down to the wear bars. It's only done 10,000 miles and not been driven hard! Is this normal? I've had M3's that have lasted longer! And, £440 each!

[cslwannabe]

probably - our last car (3.0D XF) wore the rears down to 3mm after 7800 miles and by 15k miles the fronts were illegal too!

Our 640d has only done 2.5k miles so far (its on 18" Dunlops) and last weekend I swapped the tyres over for Winter tyres and the tread depth is around 6-7mm on the Dunlops - about what I was expecting based on the Jag (630Nm torque compared with circa 500Nm).

Have to say I'm more worried that after 2.5k miles iDrive is advising only 15k remaining for the rear brake pads - eek!

[chrisx666]

cslwannabe said:

probably - our last car (3.0D XF) wore the rears down to 3mm after 7800 miles and by 15k miles the fronts were illegal too!

Our 640d has only done 2.5k miles so far (its on 18" Dunlops) and last weekend I swapped the tyres over for Winter tyres and the tread depth is around 6-7mm on the Dunlops - about what I was expecting based on the Jag (630Nm torque compared with circa 500Nm).

Have to say I'm more worried that after 2.5k miles iDrive is advising only 15k remaining for the rear brake pads - eek!

I noticed this last week. Mine is showing 14k left on the rear pads after 3.5k miles!. Fronts are showing 30k. Not noticed any excess tyre wear, and I don't do much in the way of PH driving god apex-kissin' style driving that would use the ESP much..

[gizlaroc]

I bet it is the inside edge that is knackered, if it is wearing runflats.

Probably a good 4mm in the middle and outside and the inside worn completely.

I would get the rears tracked slightly different to stop this happening all the time or just swap for proper tyres and make the car so much nicer to drive as well.

[Blue62]

gizlaroc said:

I bet it is the inside edge that is knackered, if it is wearing runflats.

Probably a good 4mm in the middle and outside and the inside worn completely.

I would get the rears tracked slightly different to stop this happening all the time or just swap for proper tyres and make the car so much nicer to drive as well.

Can you fit run flats to the OEM wheels though? Can't believe £440 per corner, if that's for real it would put me off the car frankly.

[mchoody]

The wear is pretty even. As the car is on contract hire I need to stick with the run flats unfortunately! I have priced Dunlops at £350 each so I suppose it could be worse!! (Although not much!)

[dave_s13]

I couldn't bring myself to pay £350+ for one friggin tyre...madness!! It would be OK if the damn things lasted 50k miles or something, and actually offered some grip like.

My tyre pressure monitor pinged at me last week and it turns out I had a puncture right on the inside shoulder of one of the rears, not in a repairable spot. Oh and yes, I did manage to find a tyre place that will in fact repair RFT's, not an easy task.

So I was faced with replacing the RFT at circa £200+ but I would have had to replace them as a pair, change to non runflats which eases the pain further or, by total fluke, rock up to a tyre place that just so happened to have a part worn run flat tyre, in my size, of exactly the same make and with exactly the same amount of tread left. Fitted for £25 quid. Bargain!

Mine are 245/40/18's btw (I think). What size is on the 6 series?

[chrisx666]

mchoody said:

The wear is pretty even. As the car is on contract hire I need to stick with the run flats unfortunately! I have priced Dunlops at £350 each so I suppose it could be worse!! (Although not much!)

Out of interest what size do you have on the back? 20's? They do sound to have worn fast! Also do you mind checking how many miles the idrive says are left on your rear pads?

[northandy]

Blue62 said:

Can you fit run flats to the OEM wheels though? Can't believe £440 per corner, if that's for real it would put me off the car frankly.

Seriously?, if you were buying a car that lists at what £50k?, you would be surprised if the tyres were £440 each?

[mchoody]

chrisx666 said:

Out of interest what size do you have on the back? 20's? They do sound to have worn fast! Also do you mind checking how many miles the idrive says are left on your rear pads?

275/30/20 on the back. Rear pads show 7000 miles left. Front shows 30,000???

[northandy]

mchoody said:

275/30/20 on the back. Rear pads show 7000 miles left. Front shows 30,000???

Its funny our f20 1 series is showing similar very low expected miles on rear pads, on ours 18k done saying 6k left. When i swapped to winters had a look and theres loads of pad material left.

[gizlaroc]

mchoody said:

The wear is pretty even. As the car is on contract hire I need to stick with the run flats unfortunately! I have priced Dunlops at £350 each so I suppose it could be worse!! (Although not much!)

Don't mix RE050's with Dunlops, they don't like each other at all.

My old man just did this with his 5GT and it was awful, really, really awful. The traction light came on all the time and the back end kept kicking out.

Sometimes you're fine with a powerful BMW mixing tyres front and rear, but not very often.

I would just stick with the Bridgestones.

[gizlaroc]

Sorry, just as I hit send I realised that it was Goodyear Excellence and Bridgestones that he mixed.

You may be OK with Dunlops and Bridgestones, but trying to save £100 now may cost you £700, I wouldn't risk it.

[mchoody]

It's Dunlops on there at the moment so just replacing like for like. Managed to get them quite a bit cheaper after a ten minute search on the net!

[Blue62]

northandy said:

Seriously?, if you were buying a car that lists at what £50k?, you would be surprised if the tyres were £440 each?

Yes I would. If it was my everyday car I would think seriously given my annual mileage, especially as my last experience with runflats was that a punctured rear (at about 9000 miles) meant all 4 had to be replaced because the handling was lethal! I'm lucky to have owned some serious stuff and I've never paid more than £300 for a tyre yet.

[Sump]

400 quid on a single tyre.....

[northandy]

Blue62 said:

Yes I would. If it was my everyday car I would think seriously given my annual mileage, especially as my last experience with runflats was that a punctured rear (at about 9000 miles) meant all 4 had to be replaced because the handling was lethal! I'm lucky to have owned some serious stuff and I've never paid more than £300 for a tyre yet.

So i assume you had to change all tyres as you couldnt get the same brand?, i dont know what car it was but you are assuming if you had been on non runflats you could have swapped one tyre out?

[Blue62]

northandy said:

So i assume you had to change all tyres as you couldnt get the same brand?, i dont know what car it was but you are assuming if you had been on non runflats you could have swapped one tyre out?

Not quite sure what you mean, but to answer your question it was a 535d. I had a rear puncture and had both rears replaced on advice, but quickly replaced the fronts as the handling was awful, all the same brand. I felt aggrieved that one ruined tyre resulted in me having to replace all 4.

I resented having to throw 3 good tyres with plenty of miles left on them and fork out for 4 new ones. I've had plenty of punctures and the odd ruined tyre in the past, but never had to replace the lot. Am I right in assuming that you think it's acceptable to replace all 4 under such circumstances?

[gizlaroc]

Blue62 said:

Not quite sure what you mean, but to answer your question it was a 535d. I had a rear puncture and had both rears replaced on advice, but quickly replaced the fronts as the handling was awful, all the same brand. I felt aggrieved that one ruined tyre resulted in me having to replace all 4.

I resented having to throw 3 good tyres with plenty of miles left on them and fork out for 4 new ones. I've had plenty of punctures and the odd ruined tyre in the past, but never had to replace the lot. Am I right in assuming that you think it's acceptable to replace all 4 under such circumstances?

I don't think he was saying that at all. It was a genuine question as to why a single tyre with a puncture needed 4 new tyres.

You may have come back on here and said "because BMW told me that all 4 needed to be replaced.'





BMWs are the fussiest cars when it comes to tyres, running with different tread depths on the same axle can make them lethal, running different tyres front and rear the same. Other cars can be a little off, but BMWs are just so fussy!
I don't think many realise just how much, so sometimes we need to explain why in more detail on forums.

[Blue62]

gizlaroc said:

I don't think he was saying that at all. It was a genuine question as to why a single tyre with a puncture needed 4 new tyres.

You may have come back on here and said "because BMW told me that all 4 needed to be replaced.'





BMWs are the fussiest cars when it comes to tyres, running with different tread depths on the same axle can make them lethal, running different tyres front and rear the same. Other cars can be a little off, but BMWs are just so fussy!
I don't think many realise just how much, so sometimes we need to explain why in more detail on forums.

I wasn't being obtuse, I didn't understand his question and I'm not sure I do now! My first (and last) experience of runflats was not a happy one, almost bad enough to put me off BMW and I wish they'd offer them as an option.