Questions about Tires due to Dry Rot?

[explicitdwk]

I apologize in advance for i know this topic has been discussed before however i am an amateur to owning a car in general. therefore your advice is EXTREMELY appreciated!
I was in BMW of manhattan for service this past week and my SA asked if i wanted to replace all 4 tires because of dry rot and there is a fairly deep gash in one of my rear tires. I have realized the discolor of the tires these past few months but thought noting of it. I have the OEM MICHELIN Energy™ MXV4® Plus 255/55R18 105H and it is a 2006 model with 28,xxx miles on it.
BMW quoted me almost $1,500 for all 4 and an alignment

Normally i would think nothing of it and ignore the dealership offer and head to pepboys or something. however it is my first luxury vehicle so i was wondering if that would be okay? or for suggestions?
I spoke to someone at pepboys and they said they could order michelin tires for me but I'm not sure how they would be then charging me for their services.
Are there better tires preferably all seasons in the Michelin price range(or a little higher is not a problem if better)?
Are alignments normally $200 plus tax? im sure i can find it for cheaper but i wonder if BMW's quality of work may be more suitable(because they know it better?)? HELP PLEASE! thanks!

[Naz24]

trust me, there is no need to replace them with the dealership. especially manhattan (ive heard they are crooks). I would stick with a place you trust, i'm sure pepboys is fine, i would make sure that they use the touchless tire mounter though (sometimes if they dont, you can get scratches on your rims).

dont waste your money ESPECIALLY 1500$ from the stealership, thats just a plain rip off

[explicitdwk]

okay, i just checked and the dry rot is fairly apparent. Initially i was considering changing just the rear two and switch them up to the front in maybe another year or so, then buying a new pair again for the rear. would that be okay or might that be too late?
are there better brands or tires than the ones i currently have?

[explicitdwk]

also, an alignment at somewhere like pep boys shouldnt be very different than one from bmw right?

[motordavid]

Hit the TireRack site, make a choice, get the set shipped to a Tire Rack rec'd installer, drive happy.
(Assuming you don't have a reasonably priced local joint in Queens.)

Tire Search Results

I've seen sidewall cracking, ("dry rot"), on my 8 yr old wheelbarrow tires, some RVs that are parked for
9 months a year, really old motorcycle tires, etc. But, hard to understand how a 4 yr old set of Micheys
go "dry rot" in that time.

As for needing an alignment, I realize driving around the streets of Gotham can speed the need for
that but, it is not a req'd job with new tires, imo, if the current tires don't show unusual tread wear
patterns and the steering feels good.
GL, mD

[Naz24]

you can go with the Toyo Proxes ST II. theyre great tires with a cool tread design also...

They are fairly priced too

Tire Guide

[dkl]

Originally Posted by explicitdwk

also, an alignment at somewhere like pep boys shouldnt be very different than one from bmw right?

with mD that an alignment isn't necessary unless there's a need for it. For the 6 years that I've owned the car, I only had 1 alignment done, which was to correct for the slight toe-out issue that I initially had that was causing some excessive inner edge wear. It's been almost 4 years since my initial alignment and the car is still tracking true and tire wear has been pretty even. I had my alignment check last year and everything was still very much within specs (my local joint hooked everything up, said nothing needed to be done, and printed out the specs for me - told me that everything was within specs and didn't even charge me for the efforts).

For some reason, Pep Boys doesn't seem to do alignments on BMWs...probably because of the hassle of having to put weights on the car while performing the procedures.

[mark scheurer]

My car is 9 years old and has over 100,000 miles, and I've never done an alignment. All the tires wear evenly and the car tracks completely straight down the road.

I would agree that you should wait for symptoms to appear before doing an alignment. Also, see the previous threads on tires. I started one myself. I've been running General tires for about 10,000 miles and couldn't be happier. Got them through Tire Rack for (I think) around 400-500 dollar range (all 4).

I have a feeling that the info on this board may have saved you about a grand.

[jst2878]

what size are your tires? generally, you should have tires that were not produced after six years of current date. you need to find a place such as bay diagnostics or any place with the right alignment equipment. search for prices on tires everywhere. the going rate for mount and balance is roughly 100.00 for a set of four. any decent alignment will be 150.00, get it done. try tire rack. youprob want some michellin lattitudes or bridgesstone

[faz]

I am a big fan of Discount tire stores, as they have consistently beat Tire Rack's prices in every purchase that I have done form them. In fact, they bring up the Tire Rack website and check the latest pricing there before quoting me.

If you have one of these stores in your area, I suggest giving them a shot. Here is a locations map for them. Discount Tire/America's Tire Stores