I do rotate my wheels from front to back. I have 10.5 inch rims on all four.

Your uneven wear is due in part to the factory alignment of the rear wheels. You will notice that your wheels tilt in towards the vehicle. BMW set the suspension up this way to promote a bit of understeer which aids in the stability of the X5.

You can neutralize the rear camber (reduce the tilt). This will bring your wheels to more of an "upright" position. I have had my X5 set up this way for about a year now with no adverse effects on handling. I have been known to take an off ramp at a high rate of speed here or there with no problems. (We have no corners here in South Florida!!!)

JCL - How the hell did you go 45,000 miles on one set of tires??!! Wow!

I don't know the # off hand, it's whatever is recommended on the door sill.

the thing is though the inward tilted part has the most tread left, which is why I'm asking - it seems like an anomaly b/c the inside should be the most worn, instead it is the very center and more of the outside

I had read recently that BMW is recommending NOT to rotate tires on their vehicles. Now don't ask me to back that up, because I'll have to spend 2 hours looking for the source...and I'll do it too! ;)

The reasoning went something like, due to the different wear patterns on the front and rear tires over time (caused by different cambering), rotating can cause the tires to not grip as well by exposing unexpected wear patterns to the road surface when cornering.

By keeping them at 32 psi all around, 35 psi when fully loaded, reasonable cornering (it isn't a sports car), no spinning on snow/ice, etc.

I am sure they would have gone another 10,000 miles, but I didn't measure the tread depth when I sold the vehicle so I can't be sure. They didn't look worn too badly. OE 17" Michelin MXV4 all seasons.

That number on the door sill you are reading may be the maximum load PSI, suitable for when you have 4 people plus luggage. If you are running with just the driver and not much luggage, that is likely too high and is the reason for the centre of the tread wearing out early.

Correct. If you rotate them very frequently, you can get away with it without too much of a performance degradation, but in general you are better off not to rotate them.

Def. not a 220A summer tire like the Diamaris ....unless you only drive downhill everywhere


Edit - just read rest of posts - JCL ran MXV4 tires that are ~ a 400 rated tire so 40K is not unheard if.

I had a recent experience regarding rotating tires:
In Norway, as well as in other snowy areas of the world I guess, we use winter tires during the winter months. They are rougher and comes with, or without steel studs to increase the grip. Well, after putting the winter tires on last winter, after a few months, it felt like I was running on a bumpy road. Eventually I found the cause of of this, the studs, having the previous winter being rotated in one direction, had now been unintentionally rotated around on the car (left to right and vice verca), and were now rotating on the road in the opposite direction from last year. This gradually not only loosened the studs, but also softened parts of the rubberlayer underneath, causing parts of the tire circumferencis to swell out, and consequently giving a bumpy ride. All tires had to be changed out. I got the dealer to split 50/50 with me on the new tires..as they had done the last tirechange, but I on the other hand had done a season or two with them allready.So - be aware if you are running with studs. PS: The tires were Michelins "Snow&Winter" or some similar type name.