What happened to the tires
 

Our 12 X5 just hit 20k miles on OEM Michelin RFT.

No more than two months ago, we have checked the tires before a long trip and each tire was ok; But just yesterday, we have noticed that both front two tires have some damage on the surface, however the rear two tires are still in perfect condition.

It appears the materail is falling off from surface on those two front tires, there is no single scratch on rear tires. We mostly drive in the city/highway, sometimes also drive on the paved roads of the state park and national park, but only in very short distance and only a couple of time, never drive off road.

I took some pictures, one is the front tire, the other is the rear one.

Does anyone have opinion what happened to those tires? can this be covered by warranty?

I would like to get some suggestions before taking it to the dealer.

Thanks

Some thing abraded/lacerated/cut the front tire(s)...no idea what or how.
Odd that the object that cut the fronts, missed the rear tires, as in my experience an object is often 'set up' by the front tire(s), and nails the rear, no pun intended.

I hear you on you the odd look, and don't know what a dlr will do or cover for you.
Maybe the dlr can get the tire rep tech guy to come by and look, but that's a long shot...I suspect they will simply point at you as having run over some sharp object.
GL, mD

20k miles are a lot for RFT, my Z4 tires were totally done after 12k miles.

Do you often take very low speed sharp turns?
That looks to me like you do a lot of hard cutting of the wheel when the car is not moving, which is pivoting the tire on a small contact patch and tearing it up.

It only happened to both front tires but no rear tires, and it happened to the whole tires, I would think it's unlikely cut by something

Looks to me that you may have a manufacturing defect, which IS covered by Michelin's warranty.

DO NOT bother with the BMW dealer- they will screw you. They dont really knopw how to run a warranty claim to michelin. You want to go to a tire store and say "something is defective in how the tire was bonded, could you look at it please?"

My two cents

A

Wife drives the X5, she is usually gentle on things except me.

I don't think there is driving pattern change recently. And those two tires were perfecly fine two months ago, around 17k miles.

Thanks for your suggestion. I will check my local tire store closeby.

My point exactly. I would bet good money that her cutting the wheel (lock to lock) while not in motion is the issue. Which explains why it's only the fronts. I've seen this type of damage a number of times and that's always the case. You probably didn't notice it because it starts as light circular gashes that you may not have seen, over time the tire starts chunking.

Either way, good luck. I hope you get it sorted

Do not delay. Report back what the tire shop says tomorrow. IMO you want them to see the delamination