Thanks for the replies, everyone. I did a little more reasearch and it does seem like the wheels on different models behave a little differently. It does seem, however, that most people with E70's have wheels that heat up just the areas around the spokes (2/3 and 9/10 areas). I've also found lots of complaints about the wheels on these cars just not getting as warm as people expect (unlike Brian5). Now I'm really curious, so when I get home in a few days, I'm going to compare mine to my wifes's F10 5 seriies.
The only other information I could find is that apparenlty there was a software change in '10 to address cold starts where heated wheel, seat heaters, and defrosters all running at once pull too much current for the battery to handle. I did not find reference to what this actual change did, but my guess is that this delays the activation of the heated wheel for a short interval, even if it's switched on right at start up. I'm going to talk to my SA about this and see what he can find out. I'll post whatever I learn from this.
Thanks again all.
P.S. Ard - Good catch. From now on I will try to shut down my accessories and not shit them down.
