Tire wear at 23k miles

Hi All,

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?

Thanks!

kanar

FRONT



REAR

Hi

I've picked up the same issue with my 2012 X5 3.0d that has about 12,000 miles on the clock.

The front tires seem to be wearing much faster than the rear tires, especially the outer part of the tire. I have Continental 18inch tires on my X5.

I don't recall reading about this issue on the forum so it must be due to wheel alignment or incorrect tire pressures.

I'm going to have my wheel alignment and tire pressures checked in the next week and I'm hoping that this will resolve the issue.

Originally Posted by dostb

Hi

I've picked up the same issue with my 2012 X5 3.0d that has about 12,000 miles on the clock.

The front tires seem to be wearing much faster than the rear tires, especially the outer part of the tire. I have Continental 18inch tires on my X5.

I don't recall reading about this issue on the forum so it must be due to wheel alignment or incorrect tire pressures.

I'm going to have my wheel alignment and tire pressures checked in the next week and I'm hoping that this will resolve the issue.

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.

check you alignment.

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.

A

Rotate now

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 ...

Originally Posted by MRV99

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...

Cool theory, bro; too bad the OUTSIDE wear has nothing to do with it.

Originally Posted by kanar200

- is it normal wear at 23k miles?

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.

Originally Posted by smyles

No. Check the alignment. Rotating won't help... well, swapping front/rear will add some mileage, but won't fix the problem.

Rotating will balance out the wear. Thats what I have been doing atleast.

I've never rotated stock 18"s and after 50K miles all 4 have pretty much even wear.

Thanks! The car is not driven aggressively – this is my wife's DD. I am driving it only over weekends, but rather on highways.

I will try to make an appointment for next week and report back the numbers.

Is the toe 0.01-0.03 the only value I should asked them to set? Is it still in the BMW spec? If not, can they refuse to set it?

Thanks

kanar

Originally Posted by kanar200

Is the toe 0.01-0.03 the only value I should asked them to set? Is it still in the BMW spec? If not, can they refuse to set it?

Thanks

kanar

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.

GL

A

Originally Posted by smyles

Cool theory, bro; too bad the OUTSIDE wear has nothing to do with it.

My bad smyles. I have read so many tire wear threads problems for some reason I was thinking inside and not outside like the OP posted My response was not a theory but is a fact on for tire wear on BMW's. I have gone through many sets of tires on the last 8 BMW's with inside wear so my theory is pretty solid.

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?

Thank you!

Toe was your problem. Now rotate them!

toe should have been set to 0.02

rotation already done, actually I asked them to rotate before the alignment

Originally Posted by RockChips

toe should have been set to 0.02

which is out of spec...

I know that.

If you want to be in spec, then 0.03

Originally Posted by kanar200

rotation already done, actually I asked them to rotate before the alignment

Great thinking!

and what is the reason I should set the alignment out of spec? just trying to educate myself...

Originally Posted by RockChips

I know that.

If you want to be in spec, then 0.03

Originally Posted by kanar200

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?

Thank you!

Why ask for 0.05?

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.

Originally Posted by kanar200

and what is the reason I should set the alignment out of spec? just trying to educate myself...

Why? Because you want to minimize 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.