Three random questions...
 

I've got three questions:
1) I put my summer wheels/tires (the ones that came with the car) on yesterday. Since I did that, the car feels a little less stable on the road.. More floaty. It sometimes feels like the road is steering the wheels, because they grab. Why does it do this? I've got Goodyear Eagle RS-1 tires on it.. They don't seem that good... I'm getting new ones anyway, so it doesn't really concern me all that much. But I'm just curious (har har) why the car does this. I noticed it sometimes in the X5 too.

2) How does the service indicator count down both mileage to service and mileage to oil change? I was thinking of it today. On the E46, instead of the green bars it has a mileage count. Mine is around 11900. Is that to the service or oil change? It doesn't say.. I know BMW sets the oil change intervals insanely high. That brings me to another question...

3) I need to get an oil change soon. I have an independant BMW service place literally right down the road, and I've got the dealer >45 miles away. If I had it changed at the independent place, would it screw up the intervals, etc.? BMW reccommends something like 15,000 but my dad says every 3,000. Would that screw with the service interval computer? This is all very confusing to me.

1. Sounds like trammeling (not sure if this is the right spelling :dunno: ). Much more pronounced because your summer tires are wider and have more grip to the road surface.

2. It could be the countdown to either. Once it reaches 0 it will tell you whether you are due for an oil serice or an inspection service.

3. As long as he doesn't reset the service interval it will have no impact whatsoever.

That's what I thought, about the tires.. Once in the X5 I remember it really yanking the wheel... Thanks for clearing the service thing up. I really need to make an appointment SOMEWHERE soon! I'll probably go to the dealer..
Thanks again, UCrew.

The tramlining (feels as if a tire was caught by a street car rail) relates largely to wider tires, some tread designs being better/worse than others. Since you mention the floating feeling as well, I would start with tire pressures.

Jeff

Excellent point on the tire pressure. When I put my 19's on this spring it was tramlining big-time, to the point I was looking for new tires. However, when I dropped the pressure from 38-40 PSI down to 30 PSI it helped tremendously!!

Jeff

I had a tire fixed with a plug/patch on a former sports car in the UK, and the 'tyre shop' set both rear tires the same (they didn't touch the front!). I didn't realize until I was driving home, fighting to stay on the road. Turns out they had set them at 30 (I suppose it seemed like a safe assumption....). The car had a factory recommendation of 18 psi with 2 people on board. Quickest handling fix I've ever done.

Jeff