XSeries-forum

Im trying to work out whether BMW would try and get out of the warranty if i fit non oem alloys with winter tyres?

Anyone any experience or thoughts?

I would think they would look for any possible excuse. What they might do is refuse to cover certain parts. I'm basing this on an experience with a windscreen replacement where Dealer told me that if a non-OEM windscreen were to be used then they would not cover any part of the vehicle around or below the screen should there be a problem later. That meant the screen, paint, trims, dash panel, interior trim and electrics would be excluded.

Another thing to bear in mind is that sme (not all) insurers will happily accept fitment of winter tyres with no problem provided they are fitted to OEM approved/supplied wheels and the tyres were the same type as used by BMW. Certainly mine (Aviva) was happy as long as I used BMW alloy or steel wheels and the right tyres that they supplied as new or an option. Non-OEM rims/tyres required referral to the underwriters and a charge. I have style 268's with Pirelli Scorpions - the standard winter option for the X6 so no issues.

This was last January and things changed due to the public outcry about insurers playing silly buggers about the use of winter tyres. All you can do is ask, or take a chance and swap the wheels back before the car goes in....

I kinda thought BMW would try and get out of anything to do with the warranty. It says in the wording about they wont cover modifications. Have emailed the dealer i bought the car from to ask. I have a set of non oem alloys and looking around the tyres i have on them will fit the standard se type 209 wheels so might have to take a hit on the alloys and get genuine bmw wheels. Is crazy really.

I already spoke to Admiral and they were quite happy to cover with no extra charges.

Especially crazy when you learn there have been problems reported with BMW wheels cracking ... It's clearly all a ploy for them to make lots of money on their very high profit margin wheels.

I had this issue a couple of years ago. Ended up spending a couple of months tracking down style 99 alloys (18 inch) for the 4.8.They appear to be the only approved BMW wheels for this model. Found them in the end on ebay.de

Managed to get a set of style 209 bmw alloys on ebay. Fortunately the Vredstein that i have on the other ones will fit straight on them. Will now have to sell the Alutec 18's. All of this just to stop BMW wriggling out of any warranty stuff......and having the adaptive suspension that could be very expensive it might just be worth the agro.

Had a chat with the warranty guy at BMW Park Lane today and his opinion is that non-oem alloys would possibly void the warranty if a related component failed.
Interestingly enough as long as the run flats are replaced with equivalent tyres there is no warranty issue.