Hi,
I’m returning my x5 lease next week. My pre-inspector did not mention anything about my tire a few weeks ago, but I just wanted to make sure.
When measuring tire tread, do you measure the red part or blue part? My front tires have 5mm+ red, but the blue part is pretty worn out. Rear tires are good.
blue part according to bmw
I may be close to when lease is due for return. Any restrictions on replacement tires from BMW?
you have to replace with run flat tires if it came with run flat tires. 4/32 minimum tread. Matching set, same rating as the tires that came on it, doesn’t have to be same brand. It’s a common practice to buy used tires for the purpose of lease return that match the criteria.
This is a website that sells used tires: https://www.bestusedtires.com
Also see here: BMW lease return
Pre-inspector? Who was that, somebody at the stealership? Did you schedule an actual inspection with the third company that BMW uses?
Go to the same person that did the pre-inspection, one of the main things they look at is tires, and if they didn’t note them your probably OK. But If they end up telling you that you need new tires. Just call a couple of dealers and let them know you will return for the first place that wont charge you for them. (this wont work if you car has other issues such a damage report on the CF)
Yes it’s true that 4/32 is the lease return min. But say they are 5/32, that’s not enough to pass BMW’s CPO inspection and the dealer would need to pay to replace them anyway.
You might not get a dealer to do it out there, but Pre-owned inventory on X5’s is low, and getting a decent car in inventory might be worth it to them to just do it.
I would advise against this. Once you send your car to third party arbitration the “stealership” cant work with you in any way.
Many times we’ve wanted to charge the customer for tires, the customer refuses and it goes to third party and they will charge for tires and then other things. And you just get a letter and a bill. Where I have a dent guy I can just have him pull the dent for $50, third party might want a whole new panel.
Yeah, it was an inspector at the dealership.
That’s interesting…he did not mention anything about the tire. If it is blue part, then…I’m pretty sure it is not acceptable.
Thank you! I will try to arrange him again.
I might be wrong as I was not looking at the picture close enough on my phone.
I was told by the inspector at BMW dealer that when they measure the tread depth, all of the areas on the tire have to be 4/32 min. But the blue part on your pic does not seem to be part of the tread though, it is like on the edge of it.
That might be correct. I had a pre-inspection just a few weeks ago and I only drove about 30 miles since then. The inspector measured my tire and it passed.
All parts. The lowest measurement is what you go by.
You got lucky if he let you slide and you’re under 4/32 anywhere on the tire tread.
Using a penny to measure tread depth Even though a penny doesn’t have exact marks for measurement, a good reference point to estimate 2/32 inches is the top of Lincoln’s head.
