Hi Guys,
I have a BMW lease return and on my current tires, they all measure 5-6/32”. However, on one of the tires, while all tread grooves measure above the required minimum of 4/32”, the sipe or shoulder is slightly below. Probably due to alignment. Does BMW only measure tread grooves? Wondering if I should chance it with this or get another tire. Appreciate any insight. Thanks!
Just buy a used tire on e-bay. Same model, make, speed rating and of course RTF for BMW and replace. Will be much easier and cheaper that taking chances of getting charged.
going to return a BMW soon. can anyone confirm whether the front and back tires have to match the brand name? The front and back tires came with different size originally. Thanks!
My dealer told me front and back don’t have to match, just have to be quality/factory runflats (any model that BMW sells). I’m going to be very angry if they lied about that…just bought some different used tires.
Double check with your dealer
BMW’s website states that the tires must be the “same specifications as original equipment supplied on your vehicle (size, speed rating, and run flat, if applicable).”
There is no mention of all four being the same brand, so you should be ok.
Audi may be different, but I returned/inspector didn’t care that I had completely different set of tires on my car. It came with summer tires- I put on some good all seasons. They had plenty of tread left. Inspector didn’t mention anything/no charge.
Tread is more important than the actual type of tire.
When I worked for BMW, our manager would charge for tires if the brands or tire name (i.e. Pilot Sport 4S vs Pilot Sport Cup 2) did not match. It is also not recommended to run different brands/tire model on an AWD vehicle if you have xDrive.
Thanks, guys. it seems there is no universal answer. I just done the pre inspection at the dealer. luckily the tires are still barely acceptable but I was told that I could return with any tires as long as they are all run flat. I really doubt that.
Nah its true. Just returned my lease with Pirelli RFT’s on the front and Conti RFT’s on the rear. No charge for tires.
maybe just because you returned with all the good brands? I was planning to return with cheapo used tires.
Yea gotta return them with name brand run flats. Look on eBay, there’s plenty available, comes out to about 80-120/tire including shipping for used rfts.
My lease turn in inspector measured several places on the tire to find the spot with the most tread and took a photo. The right rear tire was at 4/32nd at the highest point with half the tire at the wear bars. The other three were at 5 or 6 32nds.
Car passed with no charges for tires.
He also said as long as they are runflats, brand does not matter.
My brother turned in a 3 series car with chinese runflats. The OEM Bridgestones were $330+ ea, he found Chinee tires for $78 ea. No issues
The OEM cannot discriminate by tire brand. That would obviously open the door to illegal bundling (say BMW mandates that you can only return with Bridgestone… well that wouldn’t just happen organically. Bridgestone would pay BMW for that pseudo monopoly and then turn into pharma bro where they’d charge $800 per tire).