Presley348

Dear e60 forum members:

I have an tire issue that I need your feedback on...Now I realize not everyone can or will rotate and balancing their BMW tires every xxxx miles, reasons being: due to staggered set are difficult to rotate because one has to dis mount and remount rotate side to side,,, and then there is the asymmetric tread design that in a staggered set up has to stay mounted on the wheel it is mounted on.

Now I am not a BMW race car driver, nor a big time Chris Bangle BMW executive, (Jk LOL), who can afford purchasing a new set of radial every 10,000 miles, but like most here I watch every dollar I spend on my e60 530i Bimmer and get the most bang for my buck and I choose to run all the same size on a four wheels so I can rotate and balanced my Bimmer tires every 7500 miles to insure to get the most out of a set of radials, I hear reports of some e39 BMW owners who practice: Proper air pressure, tire rotations and wheel balancing are reporting getting 30,000 to 40,000+ mile out of a set of radials on a BMW five series, and that is what I need to get out of mine.

QUESTION: For the BMW owners who does rotate their BMW tires, how often do you rotate them, every: 4000, 5000, or 7500 miles?

Also who do you use? Your BMW dealer or ????

Thanks in advance.

Sincerely,

R. Eddie Presley

BILLYBOB

My 530i tires (stock 17" Continentals) have worn remarkably evenly side to side, and at 22,000 miles I had them rotated and balanced front to rear. The rears had worn about 3/32's more than the front, and I expect them to even out as I get to about 40,000 miles and replace them.

subterFUSE

I was not aware we were supposed to rotate tires on our E60s.

I thought the tires were different size between front/back... and that the tread patterns are one-directional?

Rudy

Not all of us can rotate the tires, which, I think, is why Presley said:

Presley348

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Hi subterFUSE:

I think unless you have an "asymmetric tread design" that's in a staggered set up that has to stay mounted on the wheel it is mounted on,


but I think you can rotate from side to side on a staggered set of a non-asymmetric tread design , but it does require dis-mount and remount, but going to this trouble you will get more mileage if you chose to raotate.


But check with you local import or your BMW dealer to make sure you can.

R. Eddie Presley

Rudy

It would be nice to at least rotate them left to right on the rears since the negative camber causes the insides to wear faster than the outsides...

The big question is, do you want someone mounting and dismounting and otherwise wrestling with your wheels and tires that often? These buggers, especially runflats are a bear to work with!

Presley348

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Hi Rudy!

Personally I would not want just anyone doing this to my BMW, I have a good BMW Mechanic friend who own his own import shop, and knows I am very picky and would expect him to either repair or replace my BMW OEM rim if he scratches it, but of course he charges me $30.00 just for a rotation for the same size wheel-tire 8x18 for all four too!!! : (

I cannot imagine what he would charge to dis mount and remount a staggered run flat set!

R. Eddie Presley

Rudy

I know! It might be cheaper to just get new tires!!

EBMCS03

I know! It might be cheaper to just get new tires!!
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Ya I would imagine with staggered set up you would only need to replace 2 at a time... unless they really wear THAT evenly...

gwf545

Because BMW suspension desgin causes a specific tire wear pattern to develop and that resulting wear pattern is supportive of the car's handling, it is recommended that you do not rotate your tires. Ever. I didn't ever rotate my 528i's tires and they wore reasonably well. Each time I replaced my tires, the rears had a bit less tread than the fronts, but the front shoulders were much more well rounded. I don't think that the potential few thousand miles (if that) that you might gain are worth the trade off in loss of handling or the expense of rotating them. If you do rotate them you will have a few hundred to a few thousand miles of less than optimal handling. There is a definite trade-off.