We test drove a 2006 CPO 530i last week and were blown away! The car was equiped with the Performance package and 18" wheels. Did not notice what type of tires where on the vehicle.

This will be our first BMW purchase and have been going through this forum and found lots of great information - so much my head is spinning.

One thing that jumped out at me was the typical mileage on the tires. From what I gather 30K is considered a lot of mileage on a tire and it looks like some folks are having to change at 15K. This was a real eye opener for us, we are used to getting 50K min on all of our old vehicles ranging from Mustangs, Jeeps, Exporers, Expeditions.

Did lots of searchs on tires and could not quite find my answer.

I know individual driving habits are different and forget about the handling, will having the performance package and 18" wheels generally provide less tire life than the non-performance 17" wheels and tires?

I love the 18" inch wheels and the handling of the performance pkg so I'm 90% that's the way we're going to go, just want to go in with my eyes wide open as well as my wallet.

Any insight would be appreciated.

CJ

I think the tire wear issue is more of an issue of type/brand of tire as opposed to the size of tire

+1 ...and add your personal driving style. Please be diligent about looking over your CPO car. Ask to review the official CPO checklist they use. Some dealerships tend to either skip or "skim" over some of the checkpoints on the list. It is fairly comprehensive, but is also a good thing to have should something pop up in the days and weeks following delivery. I had 2 bent rims on my car that supposedly "passed" their inspection. Also found some scratches that should have been repaired. Also, you should expect close to new tires on the vehicle...at least an 8 or 9 out of 10 on tread depth. Otherwise, this car should not qualify for CPO.

Good luck!!

15K Miles is on the very low side, if you're a conservative driver with occasional burst of fun you should be able to get 20-25K miles on OEM tires just fine. Of course you have to be good and check tire pressure's every few weeks to keep them in tip top shape.

Thanks for the tips, especially the one about checking out the CPO checklist.

I don't plan on going crazy too often with the car, but want the handling when needed.

Tallking with my sales rep and searching on the internet, not too many CPO's in the pipeline right now. Hopefully an acceptable 2006/2007 will show up soon.

With the sport package it really just depends on the tire.

I see your in Maryland so a High Performance All Season tire might be your best bet. It will have max tread life and still perform great for daily driving. It will perform well enough for you in the winter (minor snow here and there) to get by safely. If you got a dedicated summer performance tire chances are your also going to need snow tires for the winter as they are not made to run in below 40 degrees and no snow. So a quality all season will save you from have two sets of tires.

Chances are the car your looking at has Dunlop RFT's. Run flats in one word....suck. Maybe your lucky and the previous owner switched them out.


So too recap.....

Summer tires=shorter tire life (25kish, alot even less then that) and must have winter set of tires.

High Performance All Season tires.......should get a solid 35K and should get you by your typical Maryland winter.

Good advise. I don't remember if the car had a spare or not. Most of my searchs indicate that if you have RFT's you don't get a spare.

Can anyone confirm this. Looks like I may need to negotiate a spare if it is not standard equipment.

Most 5's I've seen have a spare(mine does). But I do know that some don't. I'm sure someone on here knows the exact answer. Chances are you have a spare in that car.

My CPO 530i Sport came with runflats and a spare. Change out the runflats immediately!!

I highly doubt that good all seasons will do a good job in the winter on a 530i.

To the OP, if you like the 18's, get a nice summer tire, and buy a set of steel or alloy rims witha a good winter tire.