New-ish tires!

[kweiske]

I bought a 2018 i3 REX with 14k miles on it a couple of weeks ago and have been reading up here and elsewhere about it. Read about the short tire life, and coming from a Prius, tires either lasted 30K miles or 80K.

Based on the ratings on the tires on my car (440 AA), assuming they'll be on the low-end. I'm OK with a grippy compound, since there's so little contact area to grip!

I looked at them and through they looked pretty good, thought it was tire dressing. Looked closer and they appear pretty new - still have the little leftover rubber bits on the tread and have a lot of tread depth. Found the date code and it reads 4620 (week 46, 2020).

It looks like someone replaced them at some time before I got the car - it was a fleet car, then looks like it was leased, then it got to me with 14K miles. Somewhere along the line, it looks like they replaced the tires.

As an aside, I've always made it a point to rotate tires regularly. Given that the weight distribution is close to 50/50 (45/55 with the REX) I wonder if it would make a difference at all? Was thinking that buying two rear rims and having the same size tire front/back might be an improvement in handling and tire wear.

 

[JoyfulAldridge]

I bought a 2018 i3 REX with 14k miles on it a couple of weeks ago and have been reading up here and elsewhere about it. Read about the short tire life, and coming from a Prius, tires either lasted 30K miles or 80K.

Based on the ratings top 3 methods to get rid of man ****s on the tires on my car (440 AA), assuming they'll be on the low-end. I'm OK with a grippy compound, since there's so little contact area to grip!

I looked at them and through they looked pretty good, thought it was tire dressing. Looked closer and they appear pretty new - still have the little leftover rubber bits on the tread and have a lot of tread depth. Found the date code and it reads 4620 (week 46, 2020).

It looks like someone replaced them at some time before I got the car - it was a fleet car, then looks like it was leased, then it got to me with 14K miles. Somewhere along the line, it looks like they replaced the tires.

As an aside, I've always made it a point to rotate tires regularly. Given that the weight distribution is close to 50/50 (45/55 with the REX) I wonder if it would make a difference at all? Was thinking that buying two rear rims and having the same size tire front/back might be an improvement in handling and tire wear.

Buying of two rear rims is a good idea.
I think this will make it better for you.

 

[kweiske]

And, here I am, a year and a half later. I've put 15K miles since buying the car, and am replacing the tires next week. All have outer edge wear to some extent, but the left rear is the most worrisome. I do a once-weekly 150 mile round trip commute, and my nightmare is blowing out a tire 75 miles from home where special order tires will take a day or two - not to mention being in the middle of a rainy winter.

(With any other car, I'd tow it to a tire store and chances are they'd have something in stock. I wonder if BMW dealers stock i3 tires still?)

I did notice that my tire pressures were low, I didn't pay attention closely enough - and I trusted the TPMS system. Two of my pressure gauges showed the TMPS readings to be low. I think I was at 29 front, 39 rear. I'm going to keep these at 34 front, 44 rear as I started doing that and find the ride acceptable.

 

[kd7iwp]

I had my front tires replaced and one was newer than the other and had decent tread depth so I kept it in case I lose a tire in the future and need this until they get one in stock. Probably not necessary since I have a set of winter rims I could use, but that was my thought at the time.

 

[Clanduncan]

I always replace a pair as a minimum, never a single tyre. On the theory that uneven treads side to side might be a handling or safety risk. Recently replaced two front tyres because one had a screw through side wall and could not be repaired. So I now have a part worn front tyres as a spare for the future (bagged and wrapped).

 

[alohart]

I've put 15K miles since buying the car, and am replacing the tires next week. All have outer edge wear to some extent, but the left rear is the most worrisome.

i3's tend to wear the right rear tire faster than the left rear tire, so I've always rotated side-to-side every 5k miles. The fact that your left rear tire is wearing faster suggests that either the alignment needs checking or maybe just running it underinflated is the cause. I check the inflation pressure every 3 months and always find it to be ~5 psi lower than what I inflated them to 3 months earlier. I don't know how much pressure loss is required for the TPMS to display an alert.

I did notice that my tire pressures were low, I didn't pay attention closely enough - and I trusted the TPMS system. Two of my pressure gauges showed the TMPS readings to be low. I think I was at 29 front, 39 rear. I'm going to keep these at 34 front, 44 rear as I started doing that and find the ride acceptable.

During my 11+ years of i3 ownership, I've always inflated the rear tires to the sidewall maximum pressure of 51 psi. The recommended inflation pressure difference between front and rear was 8 psi for early i3's and 5 psi for late i3's which I have followed. I'm willing to accept a slight decrease in traction and increase in ride roughness in exchange for slightly longer tire wear, slightly greater range, and a lower risk of wheel damage when running over potholes.

For some reason, BMW increased the recommended inflation pressures on U.S. i3's from 33F/41R on early i3's to 39F/44R on late i3's despite the same tires being used and i3 weights increasing only modestly over the years. So instead of my inflation pressures being 10 psi over recommended, they're now only 7 psi over.

 

[bmwnomad]

Just to add my data point, I run my pressures at 42 front and 46 rear. Tires have 10k miles and very minimal even wear across the tire but the left rear does wear more than the right. Side to side rotation evens that out.