View Single Post
  #10  
Old 08-27-2011, 02:26 PM
JCL's Avatar
JCL JCL is offline
Premier Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Vancouver, Canada
Posts: 11,853
JCL will become famous soon enoughJCL will become famous soon enough
Quote:
Originally Posted by ard View Post
Many owners DO get uneven wear, while some do not- guess what? There is NO ONE ANSWER! If your alignment is perfect (ie somehow luckily, within the large BMW specs for alignment you get a good alignment) and your driving is such, you may get away without a rotation.

But if not, rotating tires will balance wear.

The truth as I stated above is that BMW has blasted the market (dealers, techs, salesmen, publications) with a concocted story to allow them to extend maintenance intervals to very long periods and cover it gratis....while the people that MAKE the tires still recommend rotations.

Uneven tire wear, cupping, noise, etc, are all zero concern to BMW= just an aftersales opportunity to sell new tires!
Never let the facts get in the way of a good conspiracy theory.

If you get uneven tire wear, rotating them can extend the life of your already compromised tires. You will increase the time until you need replacement tires, reducing tire purchase cost, and give up something in terms of noise, ride, and handling.

The proper course of action is to correct the reason for the uneven tire wear. And if you inspect your tires regularly, you can catch it before you destroy a tire.

If rotating your tires does not increase noise, or harm ride or handling, then it is hard to believe that they needed rotating in the first place.

I put 70,000 km on my OE Michelin MXV4 tires on my X5, and they were wearing completely even. I sold it with the original tires, and they had lots of life left. I never rotated them, or got an alignment. I did inspect them regularly. I don't agree that I was somehow magically blessed. It is just proper PM procedures.

On my last car (535i) I had the wheels off twice a year at home (I had mounted snows on OE wheels). I always put them back in the same spot as they came off, as they were wearing completely even. Rotating would have had no benefit IMO, even though it was completely free and easy to do since all the tires were the same size. These tires were run flats (Dunlop), but the X5 tires were not. I don't see why this has anything to do with run flat technology, that is a red herring (but at least it isn't a carp).

If one believes that BMW promote this to reduce their maintenance expense in the US, then one has to ask what the rationale is for the rest of the world (including Canada) that doesn't have free unscheduled maintenance? It is illogical to assume that the BMW USA marketing department sets maintenance policies for the entire world. There may just be an engineering reason not to rotate tires.

Tire noise is of concern to BMW during the warranty period, as they end up hearing customer complaints. They are not promoting a non-rotation policy to sell tires, as they simply aren't in the tire business. Some dealers sell tires, but BMW doesn't. And the maintenance recommendations are from BMW, not dealers. They have nothing to gain by discouraging tire rotation, except improved vehicle performance, which is what they are all about.
__________________
2007 X3 3.0si, 6 MT, Premium, White

Retired:
2008 535i, 6 MT, M Sport, Premium, Space Grey
2003 X5 3.0 Steptronic, Premium, Titanium Silver

2002 325xi 5 MT, Steel Grey
2004 Z4 3.0 Premium, Sport, SMG, Maldives Blue
Reply With Quote

Sponsored Links