tire questions.....

[bmwrocks]

I have noticed my tires have become very noisy as of late, it sounds like it mostly is coming from the rears......so I looked at the tires for tread wear.....and I see the rear treadwear indicators are flush with the tread surface, but the fronts are only worn about halfway down.

Questions:
1. Is this a classic wear out, the rears going way before the fronts?
2. Would the exposed indicators cause the roar?
3. Should I replace all the tires at the same time, even though it seems the fronts have quite a bit left?

I have about 23K miles on the tires. I could probably acquire the exact OEM tires if I were to just do the rears, if you think that is an option.

 

[northstar]

To bmwrocks:

Here are some answers to your tires questions -
(1) Yes, this is a classic wear. Since the vehicle is rear wheel drive. You can expect the opposite from a front wheel drive vehicle.

(2) Yes, when the tires have less and less treads, it will increase in road noise and noisy in general.

(3) It is all up to you. But realize that the front tires will need replacement soon.

 

[Big Daddy]

On my roadster I replace the rear tires once than when they wear out again I replace both front and rears. It seems to regularly wear the rears 2:1 over the fronts.

 

[bmwrocks]

Well I got the new rear tires delivered today from Tire Rack. $128 each + $23 shipping. I am taking them to Discount Tire locally here for mounting/balance/stems tomorrow. They hand tighten everything by hand and promised me they won't scratch my rims. $25 per mount including disposal fee.

BTW they sell the same tires for $168 each. So I saved about $57 maybe? I bet they don't charge $25 per wheel tho when you buy from them and they mount them. So it may be a wash. I will check tomorrow.

I am still worried they will do something wrong. Keeping my fingers crossed......

 

[///M SPEED]

On my roadster I replace the rear tires once than when they wear out again I replace both front and rears. It seems to regularly wear the rears 2:1 over the fronts.

You need to lay off the gas Mr. Leadfoot!! This tends to happen when you do burnouts...

 

[Big Daddy]

......Who me?

 

[aNoodle]

Well I got the new rear tires delivered today from Tire Rack. $128 each + $23 shipping. I am taking them to Discount Tire locally here for mounting/balance/stems tomorrow. They hand tighten everything by hand and promised me they won't scratch my rims. $25 per mount including disposal fee.

BTW they sell the same tires for $168 each. So I saved about $57 maybe? I bet they don't charge $25 per wheel tho when you buy from them and they mount them. So it may be a wash. I will check tomorrow.

I am still worried they will do something wrong. Keeping my fingers crossed......

The Discount Tire in Atlanta is great. I wouldn't worry at all, it's all good. I LOVE the fact that they don't use an electric socket wrench "the threader of death." I got my last set of tires there and I watched them hand tighten each bolt with a torque wrench.

Oh, if you havne't left yet...be sure to ask for the weights on the inside! I'm not sure if they'll do that if you don't ask. Iguess they might, I'm not sure. It was no extra cost.

 

[Big Daddy]

I love Discount Tire, they treat me good ( I buy a lot of tires) and have given me greater discounts when I mention I am a BMW CCA member (the manager of one store had a BMW and although not a member enjoyed one of our driving schools). They have never scratched a rim and always done a professional job.

 

[Uncle Rusty]

I've always rotated tires on my car when I change the oil. I have always worn all for tires evenly. In fact, I also measure the wear across the tire treads and adjust tire pressure to insure even wear. (And that's with my old Toyota truck. My new 325i is at about 950 miles, so no rotation yet.)

Is this an uncommon practice?

 

[jrt67ss350]

I've always rotated tires on my car when I change the oil. I have always worn all for tires evenly. In fact, I also measure the wear across the tire treads and adjust tire pressure to insure even wear. (And that's with my old Toyota truck. My new 325i is at about 950 miles, so no rotation yet.)

Is this an uncommon practice?

I like to rotate my tires, but some of the guys here don't rotate theirs.

 

[aNoodle]

I like to rotate my tires, but some of the guys here don't rotate theirs.

BMW does not recommend rotating tires. At 132,000 miles, with the 50/50 weight balance, mine have always worn out about even, more or less. (I don't have the staggered tire sizes in an M like Big D above.) I've experimented and done the rotation for the full life of the tires...and another time i didn't rotate once. What I settled on is to leave them be until they start to get down to the end, then I switch back to front only (not left to right)...that gives me a little extra corning since the front tires loose their edges more than the rears.

http://www.cartalk.com/content/columns/Archive/2004/September/03.html

"Dear Tom and Ray:

The owner's manual for my 2000 BMW 328i says in the interests of safety and handling, I should NOT rotate my tires. And it implies that tire rotation will not extend the life of the tires in a meaningful way. But the instructions with my new tires (not to mention those from the tire reseller and the mechanic who services my car) all suggest periodic rotation. To rotate, or not to rotate? -- Larry

TOM: This was one of the great civic debates of the 20th century, Larry.

RAY: Make that 20th AND 21st.

TOM: We've always felt that tire rotation is of marginal value in terms of saving you money. Why? Because the cost of tire rotation roughly equals the amount you'd save by extending your tire life.

RAY: You can see why mechanics like it. Not only is it an easy few bucks for us, but it also gets your car into the shop again so we can sell you other services -- like engine flushes and fuzzy-dice reupholstering!

TOM: So, our feeling has always been that if the tire rotation is free, do it. In other words, if you're having your brakes checked, and the wheels are already off the car and your mechanic is nice enough to put them back on different wheels for nothing, then do it. That's what we do for our customers.

RAY: Actually, we just get confused, and don't remember where the wheels came from. So we tell our customers, "We THINK we rotated your tires."

TOM: But if you have to pay for tire rotation as a separate service, it's pretty much a wash, as far as we can tell.

RAY: As for BMW, it figures that anyone who buys a BMW places handling above a few bucks. And in many cases, its cars come with directional tires, which are only supposed to be rotated front to back. When you rotate that way, you're supposed to do it every 3,000 miles, which further reduces any economic advantage.

TOM: BMW cites safety because the front and rear tires develop different wear patterns. And for at least a little while -- until the wear evens out, which is the point of tire rotation -- you might have slightly inferior handling with newly rotated tires.

RAY: It's a technicality, and very few drivers would ever notice it, but BMW is, technically, correct.

TOM: Still, we see nothing wrong with rotating your tires. No harm will be done, in our opinion. But if you're paying your BMW mechanic $125 an hour to move your tires around (and eight bucks a wheel for rebalancing, too), it's very unlikely you'll save any money in the long run, Larry.

 

[///M SPEED]

I can't rotate my tires. My wheels are staggard (larger rear than front) with directional tires so I can't even swap sides either....

 

[bmwrocks]

I got the tires mounted today at Discount Tire. It was a brand new store so I was comfortable with their equipment. The place was immaculate. They were very careful (I watched them) and did a perfect job.

My price was $279 from Tire rack for the tires + $53.50 to mount = $332.50 total.
Discount's price was $338 + 23.66 tax (mounted) = $361.66. So I saved a whopping $29.16 by going to Tire Rack for the tires = about 1 tank of gas!!!

Discount actually charges the same price for the fronts which are $12 less at Tire Rack so next time for 4 tires I would save about $50 total. That's pretty much a wash to me.

Now the roaring is gone and the car feels better on the road, no question. What a difference new rubber makes......

Of course no rotations for me with my staggered tires. Thanks noodly.

 

[aNoodle]

Nothing like new tires, huh? Did they put the wieghts on the inside?

Discout Tires will match others prices...just give them the quote and they'll beat it!

 

[///M SPEED]

......Who me?

Yes you silly!! I was joking with ya...

 

[bmwrocks]

Nothing like new tires, huh? Did they put the wieghts on the inside?

Discout Tires will match others prices...just give them the quote and they'll beat it!

Damn it!! I totally forgot to ask for that!! Now I am gonna be annoyed every time I look at them. I will have to wait for next time......crap.

Now about the price match....I asked about that WRT Tire Rack. And the response was something like "we don't separate the tire price from the install price when you buy from us, so when all is said and done the price is very close". I didn't really check for other local tire places that might have my tires, so I didn't have any price for them to match.

 

[Big Daddy]

Yes you silly!! I was joking with ya...

Hardee har har..I new that, hehe. But I don't have a lead foot, it's made of steel and weighs about the same as lead....I think!

 

[Uncle Rusty]

Wow, you learn something new every day! You folks brought up a lot of things that hadn't occured to me.

Regarding tire rotation, I guess if you do the rotation yourself and not concerned with a slight traction loss as the tires "break-in" to their new position, rotation is probably worth it. (Assuming the tires are the same size all the way around.)

Thanks for shedding light on the subject! I'm still getting use to driving such a great car. I'm finding I need to rethink some of my old ideas. This is a great place to do that!

 

[bmwrocks]

Interesting that there are NO visible weights anywhere on the rear wheels!! I have not checked really closely on the inside (closest to center of car) surface of the wheel, but just looking briefly in there I didn't see any.

The wheels are balanced perfectly though as I had her over 90 today and it was smooth as a baby's ying yang and quiet.

 

[Average Jae]

for those rotating at home, how do you balance at the time of rotation? i thought balancing was more important than rotating.. also as mentioned before, with directional tires, you really aren't "rotating"

also if you get your tires at discount tire, they'll rotate and balance your tires for free.