Help save my X6!

I've owned my 2011 X6 35i for 5 months and am on the contemplating trading it in. When I test drove this beautiful vehicle, I never left fresh pavement. It rode so well. When I left the showroom and headed out on Colorado's many less than perfect roads, I quickly realized how much BMW expects its owners to sacrifice for the X6's enhanced performance. Slow speed rides on less than perfect roads, particularly the concrete roads of Highlands Ranch make my drive a misery until I reach the relative oasis of the highway. I know I should have test drove this vehicle more thoroughly, and realize I am the only one to blame.

Before I take a $7 – $10k trade-in loss, I want to explore (and am willing to pay for) possible remedies. The most obvious is replacing the run flats. Will this make a significant difference? What else can do? I am willing to sacrifice performance. Please help!

the stock runflats are VERY stiff and noisy. changing to non runflats will help.

see this thread over at xbimmers

http://www.xbimmers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=453489

Fully concur in scraping RF's, there expensive and not great on bad surfaced roads.

I am a little out of place here, since I don't own an X6, but I would like to chime in.

Just turned in my end of lease E92 coupe for an '08 X3 couple of weeks ago. E92 came with horrible run flats and sport package. It was harsh, but I got a new set of wheels with non-runflat tires and it made a world of difference. It was much softer.

So I would try new tires, and if that does not completely solve the problem, perhaps try some aftermarket coilovers?

My X3 is equally stiff. It's pretty bad on concrete freeways...

I swapped mine for convention tyres, and the performance doesn't suffer that much, and helps with the road noise. It is a lot softer, but you will need to get the tyre repair kit from BMW in case of a puncture.

Originally Posted by Scrib

Fully concur in scraping RF's, there expensive and not great on bad surfaced roads.

Thank you all. I'm off to find some quality all season non-run flat tires. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Originally Posted by X6bump

I've owned my 2011 X6 35i for 5 months and am on the contemplating trading it in. When I test drove this beautiful vehicle, I never left fresh pavement. It rode so well. When I left the showroom and headed out on Colorado's many less than perfect roads, I quickly realized how much BMW expects its owners to sacrifice for the X6's enhanced performance. Slow speed rides on less than perfect roads, particularly the concrete roads of Highlands Ranch make my drive a misery until I reach the relative oasis of the highway. I know I should have test drove this vehicle more thoroughly, and realize I am the only one to blame.

Before I take a $7 – $10k trade-in loss, I want to explore (and am willing to pay for) possible remedies. The most obvious is replacing the run flats. Will this make a significant difference? What else can do? I am willing to sacrifice performance. Please help!

I am curious to know what kind of sacrifice you are implying? performance ? ride quality? noise? please specify and what size tires do you have? bigger tires makes it more uncomfortable to drive, run flat or not! thanks

I drive the concrete roads of Highlands Ranch every day as well. I have the 20" wheels and put on the Continental Extreme DWS tires. I have noticed a difference, but it's still not the smooth ride we would all like. I don't notice a difference in handling and overall I'm pleased. The tires were about $1,100 installed and reviews say they last about 50k miles.

The x5/x6s definitely aren't what you would call 'riding on a cloud' and could be an acquired taste an rough pavement. I had an e53 with sport for 7 years and it had a tight suspension. When I test drove an x5d, it was fine on smooth pavement, but all squishy and bouncy on speed bumps and rough pavement. I hated it. I added adaptive drive to my 35d and it was night and day. I only take it out of sport mode if adults are in the back seat and may hit the roof if I hit a bump too hard (which I tend to take pretty fast).

Yesterday I drove an x6 without a sport package because I was hoping to be able to get away without spending the extra $4700. Unfortunately no. I could tell almost right away that I wasn't going to like it even on moderate pavement.

I want my car to hit bumps and without bounce and sway so that I am exactly where the car is because that is what I'm used to. It makes me feel that I'm in control of that 5k lbs of metal. But that's been the behavior of my cars since my first turbo Volvo (don't smirk, that car was a bullet with a standard xmission) 25 years ago. So when I drive anything different I find it disconcerting.

However, if you are used to driving, let's say, more Japanese-like or high-end American cars, I can see where you may find the ride of an xWhatever disconcerting over even a speed bump.

What I'm getting to here in a roundabout way is that I think that you should wait a while before doing anything drastic like getting rid of the car. Changing out of RFTs? Ok, but I think that that perhaps some purposeful thought on embracing that the ride is 'different' and not 'worse' it may help. Keep in mind that you can plow anything off the road that is smaller than an expedition and outrun almost anything even on that crappy pavement precicely BECAUSE of that stiff suspension, maybe you will be thinking: i love my car.