I noticed that the front tires are worn in the outer edges (please the pic). The rear tires are fine (another pic). The tires are OEM Michelin 18''
Questions:
- is it normal wear at 23k miles? In my previous BMW tires were worn faster on the rear axle and rather in the inner edge.
- do you think the alignment should be checked?
- should I rotate them or it is too late?
Hi guys. With the weight of the x5 and the front wheels being driven as well, it's very common to wear out front tires before rears. What you are experiencing is normal.
Staying diligent with frequent tire rotation is a must if you want to prolong the life of the entire set.
This is a common problem (I am sure ARD will chime in) with BMW's. These 5-6k pounds trucks are meant to handle like a 3k car. To accomplish this the camber on these cars are set up just for just that, handling. To achieve that, you compromise tire wear due to the aggressive but within spec settings. You can have a competent shop dial that back closer to zero (which will be out of BMW performance spec but still fine) and achieve a more consistent longer tire wear. But you may loose some of the driving performance. Some people won't even care or notice the difference, others may not like the loss of performance. That will be up to you to make that decision.
Personally, almost 30k on a set of BMW tires is good in my book but I am also jaded considering I have only owned V8 BMW's and the cars I drive usually eat tires up rather quickly.
This is a common problem (I am sure ARD will chime in) with BMW's. These 5-6k pounds trucks are meant to handle like a 3k car. To accomplish this the camber on these cars are set up just for just that, handling. To achieve that, you compromise tire wear due to the aggressive but within spec settings...
Too much toe will accelerate the normal proclivity to wear the outside of the front and the inside of the rears.
Report the toe numbers on all 4 wheels. DEMAND that they set the to to 0.01 to 0.03. BMW allows up to 0.08 on each or a cross toe of 0.16, WAT too much
At 23k miles you are no getting horrendous wear, so I dont expect grossly bad numbers....but I bet it could be optimized for wear.
As ARD knows, I was having some issues with my X5 (2009 which I recently purchased) drifting, etc. Replaced
some worn bushings, etc. in the front end (made a big difference in handling) and then had an alignment done last week when I had my snows put on. Unbelievable difference. I'm sure I'll have better tire wear now ... :drink:
No. Check the alignment. Rotating won't help... well, swapping front/rear will add some mileage, but won't fix the problem. Do you corner hard? No necessarily @ high speed, but say there's a sharp turn with incline that you take daily? As funny as it sounds, it could be the reason.
The BMW spec (by memory) is 0.00 to 0.08 each side. So asking for 0.02 on each IS still IN spec. But dealerships can be lazy, if they toss it on the rack and the numbers are 'green' (ie in the spec) they USUALLY will not change them. Just have them write your wishes IN THE REPAIR ORDER. Just make it clear you have specific needs in advance and they should accomodate,
On the other numbers, they should just be in spec. I like Camber in the middle of the range AND even from side to side.
finally I got the alignment done. it seems that the toe spec is between 0.03-0.13, so I asked to set it around 0.05. Any comments how it look like now?
finally I got the alignment done. it seems that the toe spec is between 0.03-0.13, so I asked to set it around 0.05. Any comments how it look like now?
Anyway, I've looked at BMW toe specs for multiple cars for 10 years and 0.00 was included. Is this print out from a BMW computer or other? This is the first spec I'd seen that requires some toe.
Rear toe spec it down to 0.00...they are far off that too. Cross toe lower spec is 0.00, you have 0.12. Inner edge of the rears will wear.
why 0.05? you wrote (from memory) that the BMW spec is 0.00 and I should demand toe between 0.01 to 0.03 (i.e. something around 0.02 above the minimum spec). They told me the BMW spec is 0.03-0.13. therefore I thought that 0.05 would be OK since it is 0.02 above the minimum
This is not BMW computer - should I be worried whether the spec are wrong? I think they are using hunter alignment system, if it means anything
is setting alignment out of spec (to minimize the wear) something common?
unfortunately I do not follow the rest about rear toe spec, cross toe, etc.
I have approx. 40k miles on my X5 now. About 16k miles ago I did the alignment and rotated the tires. I have again noticed uneven wear on the front tires. Is this alignment or the end of the tires?
thanks
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