speedracerF4i

I don't think 530i wears the same size tire than 545i sport. 530i sport has the same wheel all around.

530E60NL

545 in europe has standard 17 inch wheels and can be upgraded in 18 inch wheels with 245 all around (type 123) or 245 in the front and 275 in the back (type 124)..

Casper

Driver's side front tire on my 545i has a wire sticking out, like the inside coming out. I went to my BMW dealer and they suggested I go to a Dunlop dealer, I did and they ordered a new tire for me at no cost, covered under dunlop's warranty. I only have to pay for mounting and balancing. I have 5700 miles on the car.

Aaron

BMW is right that tires are not covered under warranty. It may not be the best from a customer service standpoint, but they cover a lot under their maintenance and the explanation they gave me is that people abuse tires and don't take care them properly so they can't be liable. I think the best route for everyone here is to go to the Dunlop dealer and get them replaced under warranty...the only problem is you will STILL have Dunlops...sounds like the same problem with end up repeating.

This happened to me on my last BMW, with only 6000 miles after I left the dealership. The service dept. were full of "it" and when I spoke to my salesman, he agreed with their analysis that I should have had the tires rotated, but he didn't like their treatment, and he had them replace all four tires for me. They told me I needed to get them rotated every other oil change, and I didn't know that before. At that time, my oil change was every 300 miles or less because of the mileage. You all may need to rotate and balance these Dunlops more often than normal tires. Maybe every 4000 or so miles. Has anyone had any history as far as the need of rotation and balance or runflats? The oil change interval won't work for those with new cars because the first oil change indicator isn't for some time. This is just one thing some of you may want to take into consideration. If dunlop does replace your tires under warranty, see if you can get non runflats...they may ride better and last longer.

JDN

Can't rotate them, Aaron. Staggered widths with directional tires.

Aaron

ooohhh, directional tires! That's a bummer. I asked my salesguy why they even offered runflats on this car in Indiana when the buyer would immediately have to order all season or a winter wheel set as soon as they purchased the car this year. He said that's the cost of BMW ownership. If I owned a dealership (which I would like to one day), I would immediately change out the tires if desired by the customer and try to work out something with Dunlop or BMWNA. Seems like a common sense action to me.

Ushebra

Here's some additional food for thought. I have a 2002 E46 330 CIC whose right rear tire just about came apart from excessive wear. I noticed it when washing the vehicle. All other tires were fine (20K miles) with normal wear. Just the right rear was falling apart. I took the vehicle to a local tire store who replaced all tires (Michelin Pilot Sports - upgraded to 18" from the stock 17" in addition to a new set of wheels). The tire store told me that the unusual wear on the rear was due to an improper alignment setting at the factory (too much camber).

I took the tires to the dealer to show them the problem. The dealer said that because I had already had the problem fixed (4 wheel realignment with mounting and balancing of new tires), they couldn't and wouldn't do anything to compensate me for the premature wear.

Bottom line: The unusual tire wear (premature) may be due to a factory problem in setting camber and toe on the wheels.

Bubblehead

I am also having problems with my runflats (Bridgestone). After ~8000 miles my front tires have become very noisy - louder than any other car I have had. When I talked to the dealership I got the same line as mentioned earlier - that they are not covered by warranty. Holding out for the winter tire change and then I will probably get new tires next spring.

Rudy

I'm still thinking we need to bombard BMW with this tire noise problem. I don't think they're hearing enough complaints to change their current stance on the issue...

MrMack

Well folks.... nice to see I'm not the only grumpy individual about this topic. To answer some of the additional responses:

I have a 530i, so all my tires are the same size........ which means the Bridgestones work just fine..... I can't comment on their noise or ride, as I have not received my car back.

I called BMWUSA and they essentially repeated what the dealership said. Now, I agree that the dealer should not be responsible for tire warranty for obvious reasons...... my complaint was more from BMW manufacturer for not identifying this issue earlier and "bitch-slapping" Dunlop to get it fixed.

UPDATE: After many conversations with my dealer (Robertson BMW in Dallas), including the owner, they contacted BMWUSA and got them to cover a complete new set of Bridgestone tires for my car. We'll see how those work out.

Unfortunately, this doesn't resolve the issue with everyone else's Dunlops...... so what do we need to do to adequately get this issue on BMW's radar?

Thanks for everyone's feedback!

Mack