Tyre Wear

[Sheepy]

Finally got my winter tyres fitted yesterday.... Guessing it's still worth it up here in Scotland as we'll surely see more snow in the next couple of months....

Anyway, when loading up the summer tyres for storage until things warm up, the fitter pointed out heavy wear on the inner edge of both rears and on the outer edge of both fronts, saying that it was typical of X5's due to the suspension set up. On closer inspection, the wear is so bad that the car wouldn't pass an MOT with them fitted!

I should point out that these tyres have done less than 14,000 miles and have plenty tread left in the middle 2/3's and otherwise fine. Anyone else checked their tyres recently - is this really a common problem? Surely I should expect more life out of a set of tyres?

Cheers,
Mark

[AW8]

Sorry to hear this.

Inner edges are known to wear on the rears & more so if tyres under inflated & outer edges can wear on the fronts, (more so if cornered hard). Attention to tyre presures, alignment & even balancing can make a difference as can differences between some premium and cheaper tyres. Softer compound tyres also wear quicker. My last Diamaris were slightly worn on inside of rears & slightly worn on outside of fronts. I accept the rear situation due to the cars stock alignment settings & I expect the front edges to suffer a little due to cornering forces influenced by the weight of the car.

Diamaris can go for 30k miles but I have heard of others struggling to get anywhere near that.


If you want further help in trying to identifying possible factors please seperately answer each question below (quote or cut & paste if quicker/easier) :

1. Roughly how many miles ago, (on those tyres), did you last have a BMW dealer or suitable alignment specialist check the cars alignment ?

2. Roughly how many miles ago, (on those tyres), did you last have the wheels balanced ?

3. From memory what pressure did you run the tyres at ?

4. Roughly how often did you check the pressures ?

5. Do you often accelerate brake & corner more aggressively than most other car/4x4 drivers ?

6. Are all bushes & suspension components ok to the best of your knowledge ?

7. Have you had any suspension work done when you were using those tyres ?

8. Could the alignment be out (e.g from kerbing or suspension work) ?

9. What is the exact make & type of the tyres fitted ?

10. Have you checked that the tyre load index is correct, (I think it's 103 for the fronts & 107 for the rears) ?

[Turks]

I have the 20's on my X and they are prone to wear on the inside edges due to the width of them (315/35 R20). However, I wouldn't expect that the wear be excessive - Smooth on the inside with 4-5mm on the outside. I would recommend getting the alignment checked out to make sure that the wheels aren't towing in excessively. I'd do this before your softer compound Winter Tyres suffer the same fate.


Turks.

[StumpyPete]

The wear on inside of rears and outer of fronts is exactly the same as I had. Admittedly though I got 30k out of my bridgestone duellers. On my e53s I got 35k out of the Michelin mxvs. Maybe I'm just easy on tyres?

[mcgroa]

i have 20s and the bridgestones. 19.5K and the rears are almost thru all the rubber on inner edge. front outers still legal but very worn edges. I reckon its just the way it is - 20K for a set on an E70 3.0sd is probably not bad really. I was going to get the KDS tracking thing done by dealer, but its 200 +vat quid and I'm sure they know that the tyre wear I have is normal, but wont tell me. I'm considering going down to 19' instead (you can buy 4 19' alloys with tyres on, used for about same price as 4x20 new tyres- and then you can get winter tyres too).