Quick Q, before I got to war.
 

I picked up a 307/sottozero winter wheel/tire package from a BMW dealership two months ago and installed them about two weeks ago. I set the pressures to 32/35 f/r in accordance with the manual for the tire size.

After installation I noticed the car had a slight vibration above 90km/h and I found the car tended to wander or "tramline".

I chalked up the vibration to a poorly balanced tire and the tramlining to lower tire pressure and taller sidewalls.

I took the car to my local dealer yesterday to check the above issues and the dealership stated the tires are flat spotted and I they won't do anything about 'em. They advised to go back to the original vendor (BMW dealership)

OK, so let me get this straight... BMW winter wheel packages are not covered by the manufacturer but by the dealership. :mad: what the hell!

Anyway, I don't intend to drive back and forth between dealerships to have my genuine BMW parts fixed properly.

Should I go directly to BMW with this issue? Thoughts?

Do the tires still feel flat after 20 mins on the highway at speed? If so, press the dealer you bought them from to change them. If the temp is below 32 f, 0 c, the tires might flat spot for the first few miles until they warm up. It usually goes away. I've had flat spotting issues with bridgestones and heard it happens with non oem pirellis. Michelin don't do that :)

Thanks Tango131,

The vibration doesn't go away. I suspect one of the tires is a dud as there is a string of about 6" of wheel weights on the inner and outer part of the rim. It happens to be on the front left wheel too which would transmit vibration to the steering wheel.

Is it even possible to flat spot a tire with ABS? I did some serious emergency braking on my winters once. No problem with tires after that. I think you are right if you suspect a bad balance

The dealership suspects the vendor of the tires did not store them correctly, i.e. did not lay the tires flat when in storage.

My experience is that fat spots will go away in the first 10 minutes of driving. I'm pretty much 100% confident your tires need to be road force balanced.

First thing you could do is move the front tire with all the weights to the rear. You should then feel the vibration in your seat but not the steering wheel. I would then find a vendor with a hunter GSP 9700 machine and get the tire road force balanced. They may spin the tire 180 degrees on the rim.

I had this issue on my Acura MDX and chased it at three different tire shops until I had it road force balanced. The machine will also tell you if the tire is bad and then the tire company will replace it based on the printout from the hunter machine.

http://www.gsp9700.com

Thanks for the suggestion c3uo.

All good suggestions I think the dealership should take to resolve the problem.

Like I said, I don't intend to run around to fix BMW's problem.

Me thinks the tires were balanced with the flat spot in them already so when they heat up, it does not go away. (and to the one poster, the flat spot we speak of is not braking related, but cold weather sitting for a while related).

Lbj, I would drive the car for 20-30 mins in the highway at speed to warm them up, and then have the tires road force balanced at the dealers cost. If that does not solve the issue, have the dealer replace the tire.

Good luck

How long do they need to be stored in a wrong position to get permanent flat spots? I keep mine on the rack vertically and didn't have any problems.

Sent from my GT-N7000 using Bimmer App

lbjgh: How did this play out in the end? I am picking up my winter tire package from the same dealership this week...just curious if it got resolved?

I wrote a letter to BMW Canada, and both dealers.

The local dealer agreed to address the issue by using the Road-Force balancing unit to fix the vibration and if necessary, replace the tire if it is defective. It was the outcome I was looking for but unfortunately I had to put pen to paper (the old fashioned way) to convince BMW to do the right thing.

The work hasn't been done yet as the dealership is waiting for a part related to another issue.

EDIT: got home from work to find a message from the dealer... going in next Monday. ;)

This is part of the reason I soured on BMW.....They claim 4/50,000 warranty yet look for just about any excuse in the book to get out of honoring it.

I suppose there is a bit of wiggle room for BMW on this one. Had I gone back to the BMW winter wheel package vendor I might not have had any grief.

As I pointed out in my letter to BMW I've spent very close to $70,000 on my x3 if I include the purchase price and the winter wheels. That may seem like chump change to BMW but it is a pile of cash to me.

When I purchased a premium car I expected a different level of service. :dunno: What did George W. say? Fool me once... fool me again (or something like that). Anyway I hope my impression of the level of service changes after my next appointment. :eeps: