Don't rotate tires on X5?

We purchased our 2005 X5 3.0 Sport Pkg a few years ago. After putting enough miles to warrant an oil change I told my BMW dealer he should probably rotate the tires at the same time. The service manager told me they didn't recommend tire rotation on the X5! Huh? First I'd heard tires should not be rotated. So now we have over 56k on the OEM Michelins. Anyone else not rotating tires?

I don't because my sport package has staggered wheels/tires - otherwise if front /rear uses same setup, I see no reason not to rotate them...

Originally Posted by Grusco

We purchased our 2005 X5 3.0 Sport Pkg a few years ago. After putting enough miles to warrant an oil change I told my BMW dealer he should probably rotate the tires at the same time. The service manager told me they didn't recommend tire rotation on the X5! Huh? First I'd heard tires should not be rotated. So now we have over 56k on the OEM Michelins. Anyone else not rotating tires?

Though I hardy trust dealrs - they may have a point - if yo have 56k miles on OEM tires - they are likely close to be end of life?
If you rotate tires - rotate them every 5k-10k miles, If they are unevenly worn - better not to rotate..

I can't rotate tires either. My '01 4.4i w/ sport package has different sized wheels for front and back - this despite the fact that I have the same size tires all the way around (285/45R19).

We recently replaced the original tires on our X5 at about 51K miles. We have same size tires front and back. We did not rotate them, per the recommendation. I saw no negative effects of not rotating (wear was even, lifetime was fine, handling remained good). I vaguely remember something about the AWD system being the reason to not rotate.

I'd say follow the recommendation and do not rotate the tires.

Originally Posted by ChezWhiz

I can't rotate tires either. My '01 4.4i w/ sport package has different sized wheels for front and back - this despite the fact that I have the same size tires all the way around (285/45R19).

Chez the fronts should be 255/50R19 makes all wheels rotate the same per mile

Originally Posted by Grusco

We purchased our 2005 X5 3.0 Sport Pkg

Stock E53 3.0 SPP X5's have the same width 18" wheels all around and *can* be rotated. Whether or not they *should* is up to the user. I had my OE Michelins for ~50K and was happy with the even tire wear.

OE SPP (Sport Package) 4.4, 4.6, and 4.8is E53's had rear wheels that are wider than the fronts. Combined with directional tread on the tires, rotating these tires would only be allowed F/F or R/R. It would be expensive and probably not worth it.

Most BMW dealers I have been to do not recommend tire rotation in general for most vehicles. I have never rotated on any of the BMW's I have owned and have had good results.

I you have the same size of tires and rims on the vehicle, go ahead and rotate.The brand of tires does not have anything to do with rotating unless, you have different tires in the rear than the front, dont do it. switch tires from the driver side to the passenger side and driver to passenger, that's it. Now, if you have directional thread tires which have a rotation pattern, then there is nothing you can do. Those tires have a marking or arrow of direction on the side wall. Keep this in mind too, that usually if you have a wider tire on the rear of the vehicle, you have a wider rim too unless you have replaced the stock rims and wrapped them with the same tires all around.

My X5 Sport has 255/50/19's front and 285/45/19's rear. In both cases they are directional tires so even left to right "rotation" is out of the question unless as Propellerhead suggests the tires were reversed on their wheels to allow rotation. 56k from tires these days on a heavy road vehicle is good going even if you are talking 56000km not miles. Recent discussion with a tire dealer suggested that as long as wheel alignment was maintained rotation was unnecessary.
Cheers

John