It’s a cash cow the bad tire scam

[Trustyct]

BMW has a monopoly with Bridgestone to sell us bad tires that fall apart in less than 10K miles. Funny how they don’t even allow paying extra for warranty. My dealer said it’s a huge $$$ maker. I’m filing a class action on this scam. Why didn’t they tell us BEFORE selling us the cars that there was a “non compete” and stuck with garbage tires exclusively by 1 brand s as need new tires every 6 month?

 

[alohart]

I have read that i3 summer or all-season tires by other manufacturers are available in some markets which invalidates your claim that BMW prevents tire competition, so your class action suit could be crushed by BMW assuming that any lawyer would file your suit.

Buying tires at a BMW dealer would almost certainly be more expensive than buying them elsewhere.

Also, most of us drive significantly farther than 10k miles on our Bridgestone tires, so you should be able to do something to increase the life of your tires.

 

[gt1]

A local dealer quoted me almost exactly twice as much as Costco. I agree that the thread life is miserable, but the prices are reasonable.

 

[Anonymous]

Tirerack is also a great source for i3 tires. Similar prices to Costco, and free overnight shipping to most places in the USA. The even have mobile installers in many cities, who come to you with a fully equipped tire-shop-in-a-van and will install them in your driveway (as a bargain rate compared to other shops).

And a little searching will pull up other owners who have opted for totally different tires, using spacers etc. for a good fender fit.

 

[Obioban]

Continental tires also exist.

 

[Anonymous]

Continental tires also exist.

The Continental Eco Contact 6 tires are not sold in the USA unfortunately.

 

[KrisM]

There are other brands that makes tires compatible with the R19 rims in 155 and 175 if we don't want the Bridgestone Ecopia

Michelin e-Primacy
Continental Eco Contact
Nankang Econex
Tourador I Power
Pirelli Cinturato
Goodyear Ultra grip

 

[Jims5543]

1981 Porsche 911 Targa - 255 rear tires 235 fronts, Kumho MX tires with a tread wear rating of 180. I was lucky to get 10K miles out of the rears, 20K out of the front. Typically two sets of rears to one set of fronts.

1991 BMW 318i - 235 wide all around - same deal as above 2 sets of rears to to 1 set of fronts, since I do not rotate the tires all 4 get replaced every 30K miles, since it is a weekend car that happens infrequently.

2004 BMW 330i - 255 wide rear 235 wide front - ran performance summer tires on in (Florida) purchased with 75K miles on it, sold with 175K miles on it, in the 100K miles we drove it we went through 3 sets of tires all lasting about 30K each die to the performance rating.

2014 BMW i3 - 175 rear 155 front (lol so tiny) current mileage 72K miles - purchased with 25K miles, replaced all 4 at 50K miles with some life left in them. Now at 72K miles the rears could be replaced but still have life so we are pushing the limits.

2016 Toyota PriusV - Soulless commuter that sucks the life out of you when you drive it. I am unsure what size tires it has on it, I know it has over 50K miles on the mismatched POS tires Carmax tossed on it before I bought it 2 years ago. It is a fleet vehicle for my company, the tires still have life and I am changing them next month just so I do not have to think about it for 2 years and another 60+K miles.

2006 Toyota Tacoma 2WD standard pickup - again no idea what size tires because it is another soulless vehicle that just goes from A-B for my work duties - tires on it were put on almost 2 years ago and 50K miles, nearing end of life will contemplate replacing next year after I pass 60K miles on it.

2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser - 3" Lift 285 wide A/T tires never wear them out, typically get over 50K out of them and they dry rot before I can wear them out, great off road, on road? LOL!! Gas mileage? LOL 16 MPG on a good day.

Lesson learned? If you want a car that is a bore to drive and handles like a horse drawn buckboard - get a Toyota - problem free driving no soul.

Look at ze German cars, lots of camber = handling softer tires = grip. The camber is the tires killer, BMW dials it into all their cars, there is no getting around it.

I have not owned a German car yet that gets more then 30K miles out of a set of tires.

If this is your deal breaker.... may I suggest a Prius?

 

[Jims5543]

I finally gave in and changed the back tires, in an effort to get as much life out of the tires as possible, I probably owned myself.

Why? Well, 4 tires for this thing ran me $600 last time I changed them out, this time? $920 out the door. I went on Tire Rack to price check, $800 for all 4 then I have get the mounted and balanced. It was cheaper to buy them local.

I would say I wore these suckers out. Seems the back passenger tire does most of the work.

We are barely putting any miles on her anymore. I just found and purchased a 2005 Mini Cooper S with 40K miles on it (yes 40K miles) so the i3 will be sold off soon. We are no longer commuting with it and really do not need it as we do not drive far at all anymore, only for trips and the i3 is not good for those, we have been using the 1991 BMW 318is for those trips. The Mini will take over those duties.

 

[alohart]

Seems the back passenger tire does most of the work.

This is why I rotate the tires on our i3 side-to-side despite its wheels being mirror images of each other.

 

[Fisher99]

Unfortunately, mine (like Jim's above) are directional tires so can't be rotated side to side.

 

[eNate]

Seems the back passenger tire does most of the work.

This is why I rotate the tires on our i3 side-to-side despite its wheels being mirror images of each other.

Do you dismount the tires and turn the outside in?

 

[BL5]

I would say I wore these suckers out. Seems the back passenger tire does most of the work.

This is interesting. On my 2017 with 20” Ecopia’s the right rear (pass side) is also wearing like a mofo, and the L Rear still has decent tread. I am also going to push the limits on these rears. Right now the rears have 26k, which I understand is A LOT for i3 tires.

Best price I can currently find is Discount Tire at $210/tire + M&B, blahh blahh blahh. In Feb 2021 I paid $775 for all 4 tires. Let’s blame it on COVID

 

[Neil]

You guys must be having a lot of "fun" with your i3s, I got about 43000 miles out of my last set of tires, mostly freeway driving. The rears were pretty worn out though, passenger side being the worst, fronts not quite as much.

If you'd like to see them check this out: https://goo.gl/photos/ULwFAJxapkbU2qah6

 

[alohart]

Unfortunately, mine (like Jim's above) are directional tires so can't be rotated side to side.

His tires look like standard Bridgestones which aren't directional. Directional tires have an arrow on the sidewall pointing in the direction of rotation. Instead, these tires have a sidewall that is marked as being mounted facing out (i.e., away from the car), so I just switch the tires and wheels side-to-side without having to dismount the tires.

 

[alohart]

This is why I rotate the tires on our i3 side-to-side despite its wheels being mirror images of each other.

Do you dismount the tires and turn the outside in?

No need to do so. These tires aren't directional, but they do have a sidewall that is marked as facing out, so I just switch the wheels and tires side-to-side.

 

[eNate]

That's the crux of my question – if they both wearing on the inside, what does that do for you? Or do you also notice the right side wears faster than the left?

I wonder how that "outside" indication plays out in day to day driving. I can't imagine a dramatic impact.

 

[Neil]

In my experience, the passenger rear (19" in my case) had quite a bit more wear. By swapping rear wheels, it would help somewhat to even out the wear and give some more life to the rears. Please see link in my post above for pictures of my last set of tires just before replacing them. I haven't done the swap but may do it on my current set.

 

[alohart]

That's the crux of my question – if they both wearing on the inside, what does that do for you? Or do you also notice the right side wears faster than the left?

I measure tread depth across each tire every 5k miles when I rotate side-to-side. The right rear tire does wear faster on our 2014 BEV, but the wear seems to be pretty even across the width of the tread. The problem is that the inside tread is shallower than the middle or outside tread when new, so the insides wear out first. Probably the negative rear camber adds to the faster inside wear.

I wonder how that "outside" indication plays out in day to day driving. I can't imagine a dramatic impact.

The tires might actually last longer if they were mounted with the outside on the inside due to the deeper outside tread. However, there must be a good reason why Bridgestone marked a sidewall as the outside sidewall. The tread design on the outside and inside differ for some reason.

 

[RDanza]

Hi I have a 2018 BEV red i3 I bought brand new here in AZ. I am currently at 28,558 miles and the tires look fine to me. The discount tire guy is saying hey don’t drive more than a month on these. I just kind of think they don’t know how to measure these tires as they are LRR and look fine and seem to stop fine. The car is 80% hiway driven and usually the wx is hot here in PHX. I don’t see any uneven wear whatsoever. What is the longest anyone has gotten out of these bike tires?