XSeries-forum

Hello,

Just had a call from my local main dealer. The car is in for new alloys. It's third set! It's the 20 inchers which are suffering from corrosion near the centre caps.

The service lady has told me that the front tyres I have are not star rated and the vibrations will cause issues with the transfer box if I don't change them. I have no idea on this one so looking for opinions.

She also told me that two of the wheel bolts are sheared and they can not put any new nut on them as there is no thread left. Looks like this may have happened when the tyres got changed at a local garage. I doubt if I can ever prove that now so I'll have to replace the hubs. £600 is what they are quoting for two hubs.

Is replacing the hubs something a normal garage / specialist could do?

That doesn't sound right. Aren't the X5 wheel studs screwed into the hub thread, not threads with nuts on?
Unless they mean someone has stripped the hub thread?

Star rated types I heard were an issue on the X3 but not heard the same for X5. Plenty on here running non BMW star rated tyres.

The threads in the hub may have stripped, especially if the bolts were over tightened with an air wrench (as many are) rather than a torque wrench.

Star marked tyres are specifically for BMWs.  The garage are right to flag the potential issue.  A lot of people get away with it, but those that don't face expensive repairs to diffs and transfer boxes.  Both have happened to members of this forum.  It is only a 'potential' issue, not a certainty though.

Some tyres are worse than others with the rolling diameter and different tread depth front to rear seemingly the cause for issues.  The transmission is not designed to be as tough as a true off-roader.

Yes it's the thread on the bolts in the hub, not the nuts.

It has been suggested that I get a local garage to drill the bolts out and just replace them.

Sounds more sensible to me.

8mm tread on the fronts, 6.8mm on the rears at the moment. Fronts are the none run flat none * tyres.