Replaced the rear tyres today only to find that the inside shoulders were severely worn. Indicating that the wheels are leaning in.

Obviously it's going to need some work to put this right but what is likely to be the cause? Something worn that needs replacing or just badly aligned? Or even when the rear suspension failed, maybe the correct ride height wasn't dialled back in.

I'll upload a pic tomorrow as I can't work out how to do it from my phone.

 

What brand of tyres? Run flats?

 

No it was on my winter wheels.

Dunlop winter sport sp3. 225/55/r16.

 

Heavy inner wear of the rear tyres seems to affect some brands more than others. Definitely worth getting the alignment checked but I suspect you'll find it within spec unless the cars been slid into a kerb or the like somewhere in its life. How are the summer tyres?

 

Bizarrely the only one I've worn out is worn in the middle of the tyre.

That smacks of it being over-inflated, but I do check them regularly.

All the others have been changed as they burst.

 

burst!? Can you elaborate?

 

I've mentioned elsewhere that this is probably the unluckiest car I've ever had. Suffered three blow outs in 5 years. That's more than in the rest of my 20+ years of driving put together.

In fact I only ever remember one puncture - when I was about 17.

Anyway - here's what the tyres looked like - there's still a lot of tread on the outside, but the insides look like someone's used a blur tool in Photoshop.

 

I did a quick search and see you've been having tyre issues for a while. My own experiences have been fine; I ran a 535d for 40K miles on 18" Pirelli non-RFTs that wore quite evenly as did the Vredesteins that replaced them. The 17" winter Vredesteins also wore evenly. I can only offer the following:

Ditch the RFTs - don't seem to be doing you much good particularly when they blow out!
Check your pressures regularly (when the tires are cold) and run them within a few PSI of the BMW recommendations. Don't rely on the tyre pressure warning system - it won't detect all 4 tyres losing a PSI or 2 every month or as the ambient temperatures change.
Get your alignment checked to make sure there's nothing wrong. It needs be a 4 wheel alignment but a decent tyre shop should have the kit - no need to go to BMW. You might wish to try http://www.alignmycar.co.uk/CentreLocator
Make sure any tyres you fit have a high enough load rating - check the sticker on the driver's door jamb

 

Kell, I could not understand 100% if these winter tyres are RFT or not?
Because the wear looks exactly like underinflated RFTs...

Generally: There have been numerous threads on extreme rear inner edge tyre wear, and every time a thousand people say: Alignment! Tyre pressure! And every time the OP reports that both are completely ok

The conclusion is: some brands/models/years of tyres are very sensitive to such wear and in general the BMWs with their negative camber in the back do a lot to intensify this wear, thus taking it to a dangerous level.

My own experience has been very interesting:
1. Kumho ECSTA RFT 245/40/18 summer rear - after 20,000 km worn out to the wire on the inside edge, until one tyre went burst during city driving... after I had done 800 km on the motorway with 160km/h the evening before! I was mad and scared!
2. Pirelli P-Zero RFT 245/40/18 summer rear - after 37,000 km the tyres have almost perfectly even wear. How do they do that? Don't know but the problem was obviously not with the car! Alignment and pressure have been checked all the time.

One note: the Pirellis have a "belt" of harder rubber (almost like plastic) around the whole tyre midway between the center of the tyre and the inner edge. My understanding is that Pirelli designed this strip of hard plastic to take the wear burden while the car goes in a straight line on the motorway (while having weaker friction than the normal softer rubber). When you turn, the outer half of the tyre comes into play, and there the normal soft rubber sticks to the road as normal.

Hope this makes sense and helps a bit.

 

I had this for numerous sets of rears, then at last service (c. 240,000 miles) BMW replaced both the rear balljoints. The car now sits with significantly less negative camber on the rear and is wearing evenly. The initial symtoms (other than wear) were a 'floaty' feeling in bends and crests during spirited driving and sometimes squeaking from the rear (which stopped on one side when the joint was completely knackered). Replace in pairs - BMW did one side first then I drove off with the car feeling like the air suspension unit had failed on the other side , they then immediately did the other side and all was good !