Kell

I've said before that this 5-series is the worst car I've ever owned and the list just goes on.

Wanted to get some new winter tyres for the rears so ordered them and duly waited for them to arrive and be fitted. Trundled down to the garage to get them on and when the old ones came off, they were virtually through the rubber on the inside shoulders.

So then I need to get a 4 wheel alignment done.

In the meantime however, the warning light for the rear pads came on. As they were fitted at Kwik Fit, they do free replacements. So took it back there only to find that the pads looked fine, but the discs were getting near the limit. So that was £195. But, fair play, that's a wear and tear item so ...

Got the car back and the warning light was still on. Took it back to Kwik Fit and they couldn't clear it - even with a laptop plugged in.

As the car was going in to the independent, I said leave it, they'll know what they're doing. But while the car was plugged in at Kwik Fit, all the lights and stuff were on and the battery went flat in about 10 minutes. Not good. They gave it a quick charge, and it was fine for the next couple of days.

Anyway, the wheels were massively out, so the independent garage sorted that out and looked at the warning light for the pads. The pads were replaced, so something was obviously not right elsewhere. They couldn't clear it either, and investigated further. Turns out it was a faulty sensor, so then THAT needed replacing.

And then when I picked up the car this morning, it woudn't start as the battery is flat.

So now it probably needs a new battery too.

It's just never ending.

vanos

I'm curious why you are mounting winters so early in the season in the UK? Winters are very soft and given the negative camber of the rear on BMW's, this may explain the excessive wear.

Kell

Essentially it's laziness and cost.

I want to swap out my Summer RF tryes for non RFs - but that means buying 4 new tyres and selling the three good ones I've got.

Whereas getting two new winters was cheaper and easier - and I'd be putting them on in a month anyway and I'd still have to buy two more. This way, I can run them until March and worry abotu new Summer tyres then - assuming we keep the car that is.

As we've just moved house, ripped out and installed the kitchen and have two bathrooms to redo, money's a bit tight at the minute.

pjinca

This list is normal maintenance items I'd expect to see on any car, these are not BMW specific "problems".
Wheels go out of alignment over time, especially in cities. Brakes wear, rotors wear, and the sensor is VERY cheap.
To help with the tire wear I had them NOT align the car to BMW specs which are -2.0 degrees in the rear, I had them remove as much negative camber as possible (they got mine down to -0.8 degrees) in the hopes that my rear tires would last longer and wear better, also have the tire shop change sides on the rears - meaning put the right rear on the left and vice versa, every 5-7k miles.

Good luck

Kell

You're probably right in many respects. But combined with the rear suspension failing twice, the whole software for the car failing, the RF monitor failing, the rear wiring loom failing, three blowouts, two new alloys, replacement front and rear screens ... I actually think I've lost track of the things that have gone wrong.

Admittedly, some of them (like the blowouts, wheels and screens) would/could have happened to any car we had, it's the combination of stuff going wrong that's really making it feel like we got the car that was built at 4.55 on a Friday.

vanos

November is still early in my mind to mount winters. I live in a province of Canada where it is mandatory to run winters from Dec.15th to March15th and I always wait and check the weather daily to postpone the install as much as possible. Anything above 5C and you will destroy winters. Same applies when I need to remove them, I try to get them off as soon as possible (in our case not before April).

I'm sure you don't have the same amount of snow fall as we do (in Montreal we average about 2m per season) and you should consider winter tires with stiff sidewalls. For our weather it is preferable to sacrifice dry weather/wet performance and opt for aggressive snow/ice tires which tend to be a softer compound hence why I mount them later.

pjinca

Certainly understand the frustration, we had a similar situation with my wife's previous car (Subaru Tribeca SUV). It had blowouts galore, it was hit 5 times, all except for 1 VERY minor. The kicker for us was when it started to burn oil badly enough that Subaru said it needed a new short block @ 43k miles (warranty was for 40k) - we got rid of it.

So far with my car I consider myself fortunate. I have had some minor issues like window anti-trap didn't work so my window motors were replaced, and my CCC (iDrive) and TCU failed. But other than that it has been purely routine maintenance which can be expected with any car. I do think that the newer 5ers are a little better off with the CIC (iDrive V2) in terms of reliability. But that would be the same with any other 1st generation of complex electronics.

mmitev

I am also a bit frustrated at the moment - the steering rack will need replacement soon, and now the hydraulic pump is making strange noises.. and they're both not exactly cheap

An that's on top of bigger suspension work I have planned for the spring. I just hope no other major items come up in the meantime.

V70Cat

It is the run flats I have regular Goodyear tires and have plenty of tread left at 38,000 miles. I did do a alignment and rotation at 20,000 miles. The Goodyears are known for tread life.

narvselius

Not to hijack Kell's post, but for us living in southern Scandinavia, (e.g. Copenhagen) we experienced our first frost night this night (-1 C). I tend to mount my winter tyres last weekend in Oct or first in Nov - simply because I drive off to work early and it's as most slippery then. It's true that the performance is reduced >5 C, but it's not really true that there will be excessive tyre wear. You simply needs to find a balance between cold, slippery mornings and warm (=less cold...) days.