Press Release on new Bridgestones for the i3

[ted99]

Another Forum site is reporting a BMW press release about new Bridgestone tires for the i3 and i3S. Are these the ones we already knew about for the i3S? If so, the presser seems to be saying that these will also be fitted to the normal i3.

 

[EVMan]

Looks like the tier was launched early and now we have the press release . Talk about delay
But if the new ones can be fit to the older i3 , then is it possible to have all 4 tires in Rex as same ?

For Rex , while the EV range is not as important, the rear ones wear out early, and cannot be swapped with front
In my opinion , BMW re invented the wheel , but forgot about tire rotation.

 

[jadnashuanh]

Looks like the tier was launched early and now we have the press release . Talk about delay
But if the new ones can be fit to the older i3 , then is it possible to have all 4 tires in Rex as same ?

For Rex , while the EV range is not as important, the rear ones wear out early, and cannot be swapped with front
In my opinion , BMW re invented the wheel , but forgot about tire rotation.

People that have (mistakenly) installed the wider rear tire on the front quickly found out that it doesn't work...quickly ruined the tire while it rubbed on things. So, at least without maybe a spacer to give it a bit more space, and then, may end up illegal or rub on the fender, too, no, you can't get the wider wheel/tire on the front of a stock i3. The i3s is designed to handle wider tires and wheels on the front.

Many BMW models have staggered tires/wheels, and the rears won't fit on the front. This isn't unusual on performance cars. I think part of the reason the i3 was built to enable larger tires on the rear was to help accommodate the extra 300+ pounds of the REx...using them on the BEV was a side benefit. The base models and winter tire sets all are square using the smaller front wheels/tires.

 

[ted99]

Looks like the tier was launched early and now we have the press release . Talk about delay
But if the new ones can be fit to the older i3 , then is it possible to have all 4 tires in Rex as same ?

For Rex , while the EV range is not as important, the rear ones wear out early, and cannot be swapped with front
In my opinion , BMW re invented the wheel , but forgot about tire rotation.

People that have (mistakenly) installed the wider rear tire on the front quickly found out that it doesn't work...quickly ruined the tire while it rubbed on things. So, at least without maybe a spacer to give it a bit more space, and then, may end up illegal or rub on the fender, too, no, you can't get the wider wheel/tire on the front of a stock i3. The i3s is designed to handle wider tires and wheels on the front.

Many BMW models have staggered tires/wheels, and the rears won't fit on the front. This isn't unusual on performance cars. I think part of the reason the i3 was built to enable larger tires on the rear was to help accommodate the extra 300+ pounds of the REx...using them on the BEV was a side benefit. The base models and winter tire sets all are square using the smaller front wheels/tires.

So you would see no problem with fitting the "fronts" of new tire sizes (with wheels) all-around on an older i3?

 

[rtanov]

Checking with TireRack - it looks like the 195 mm wide for the i3s rear only come in 20 inch wheel size - Ecopia EP500. So, if one wants to upgrade older i3 would have to use 20" wheels and spacers. The specs don't give the rim width range for the 195's but I'm guessing they would be OK on the standard 20" wheels. The Ecopia EP600 which is for the 19" wheels has 175 mm as widest option so no wider upgrade there for now.

 

[alohart]

So you would see no problem with fitting the "fronts" of new tire sizes (with wheels) all-around on an older i3?

2014-2016 i3 BEV's with 427 wheels (standard on North American Mega World) had the same size wheels and tires front and rear (not sure about the slightly heavier 2017-2018 models). However, all other i3's have had wider wheels and tires on the rear.

I would have preferred to be able to rotate tires in the normal fashion, but not enough to fit narrower wheels and tires on the rear of our 2014 BEV. The rear tires tend to wear faster than the front tires as is, so installing narrower tires on the rear would likely decrease rear tire life. The additional weight of the REx concentrated over the rear wheels might result in the load supported by the narrower rear tires exceeding their load rating when an i3 is carrying its maximum load.

 

[jadnashuanh]

I've not played with measuring the offsets and clearances of the tire/wheel packages on the i3. But, I do know that if you try to put a rear tire on the front, you'll not get far! The i3s, can't say...I'm sure you could probably put the wider front tires on the rear of the i3s, but not sure if the rears would fit. The fronts are maybe the harder one to measure since they both turn, and it's difficult to verify at full bump stop positions. Then, you have the safety and cosmetic issue about the tire edge sticking out beyond, or into the fender. The plastic fenders wont' take well to a flaring tool!

Personally, I don't see the allure of wider tires on the i3...they weigh more, they will have more drag, and cost more...I much more yearn for a few more miles than I do for g's on a turn.

SPacers were developed so that aftermarket wheels could be made to fit on more cars to minimize stocking the more expensive wheels. Some people use them to move stock wheels further out, gaining wider track, but that can throw off the stability and longevity of the vehicle if not done properly. IOW, the primary reason for spacers is to get the outer edge of the wheel where it needs to be when they aren't an exact match for the OEM wheel's offset. They move the tire to the proper position in the wheel well when the wheel's offset doesn't match the OEM configuration.

 

[EVMan]

In US market
So my rear Rex tiers are due replacement, front look little better than rear.
I was happy to see local Costco ( one stop, no hassle ) carry these tires. The issue is they have promotions always as set of 4. I am waiting for their next bridge stone promotion. They have /had a nice promotion for Michelin just now

Before i get all of them changed together, any other suggestions , would be welcome. Ideally, i should change 2 at a time , based on their life, but financially it may be even more expensive , with no real gain.

It looks like model X also has the same issue with tires. but i guess people buying X have deeper pockets.

I am no tire expert, but my Honda civic tiers from costco came with 60K miles warranty for tread Life. and i am talking about the cheaper ones, had paid around $450. Costco and one even better option for $550 , which had even more life , i think at 80K . The factory ones were not as good.

What you save with electricity , goes in the tires. The worst part is for may people, range is not the issue for longer range EV's or Rex

 

[jadnashuanh]

Usually, if you look at the grip, the higher that is, the lower the life of the tire. You may never need maximum grip, but there are differences in stopping distances between tires and a couple of feet can make the difference of missing or hitting something. It's all a trade off. Unfortunately, there aren't many choices on the i3.

 

[EVMan]

Looks like costco is running promotion now
https://www.costco.com/auto-tires.html for Bridgestone

 

[EVMan]

I just checked my tiers

The rear passenger side tire ,, from inside is significantly more worn off , than others.
This is in-spite off, we have the car seat on the driver side and very rarely is anyone sitting on the passenger side.

the 2016 and 2017 have same tires and same max load. the 2017 car is little more heavier as such , due to larger battery.

 

[EVMan]

Costco gives free rotations. Can the i3 have any kind of tire rotation ? I understand , no rotation is possible, as the tires are directional. Will costco be the cheapest based on this ?

 

[Neil]

At around 50,000 miles the rear tires on my '14 Rex were more than ready for replacement. Unfortunately at the time, Costco could not get the fronts as well so I had them just do the rears. The new tires on the rear and the old tires on the front caused the DSC to kick in on curves where it had never done so before which prevented the car from accelerating which was dangerous and annoying. When I eventually replaced the fronts, this problem went away. I guess the size mismatch of worn front tires with new rear tires was enough to trigger the DSC under normal driving conditions. So if you experience this after changing only rears and maybe only fronts, or change tire sizes, this problem may present itself. I'm not sure if you can code for the different size tires so the DSC continues to work as it should. Maybe someone can comment on possible coding.

 

[alohart]

Costco gives free rotations. Can the i3 have any kind of tire rotation ? I understand , no rotation is possible, as the tires are directional. Will costco be the cheapest based on this ?

Only an i3 BEV with pizza slice wheels can have its tires rotated in the usual manner because its front and rear wheels and tires are the same. However, the tires of all other i3's could be rotated side to side which would help even out the faster passenger side rear tire wear that seems to be a common occurrence, at least in left hand drive i3's.

 

[EVMan]

Only an i3 BEV with pizza slice wheels can have its tires rotated in the usual manner because its front and rear wheels and tires are the same. However, the tires of all other i3's could be rotated side to side which would help even out the faster passenger side rear tire wear that seems to be a common occurrence, at least in left hand drive i3's.

Thanks for this info. Since the tires have marked outer-side , and the treads are little not symmetric , but little directional , i thought they are not meant to rotated side to side and Costco will refuse to rotate.

I was thinking , If max life is 20K,
If the outer side cannot become inner side side, then only 1 rotation at 10K ( 1 rotation after original)

if in case, the outer side can become inner side ???
then they can be rotated every 5 K, so the they are in the original origination, after 15K ( 1 side to side swap and then direction rotation)

Thx for the knowledge

 

[alohart]

Since the tires have marked outer-side , and the treads are little not symmetric , but little directional , i thought they are not meant to rotated side to side and Costco will refuse to rotate.

The tread is asymmetric, but the tires are not marked as directional, so apparently Bridgestone doesn't care which way the tread rotates. As installed on a new i3, the direction that the tread rotates differs between right and left tires, so it must not matter. So Costco should not refuse to rotate side to side.

I was thinking , If max life is 20K,
If the outer side cannot become inner side side, then only 1 rotation at 10K ( 1 rotation after original)

On our Honda Insight's Bridgestone low rolling resistance tires, I did a full rotation every 5k miles because both inner and outer edges of the front tires wore much faster than on the rear tires even though I inflated the front tires to the sidewall maximum pressure to try to accelerate wear on their center tread area. These tires wore out after ~40k miles.

I planned to rotate our i3's tires side to side every 5k miles also. I bought a tread depth gauge to measure the inner, center, and outer tread depth in line with the valve stems every 5k miles. At 5k miles, I didn't detect any tread depth difference between left and right side tires, so I decided not to rotate and to measure tread depth again at 10k miles. I am happy not to rotate because I prefer the rotational direction of our Giga World 19" wheels as they are now mounted, but apparently BMW doesn't care which way any of the i3's wheel rotate because BMW eliminated side-specific wheels at the end of the 2014 or early in the 2015 model run.

if in case, the outer side can become inner side ???

One sidewall is marked "Out", so Costco should refuse to mount the "Out" side on the inner side. So there's no need to unmount the tires from the wheels except to repair a flat tire or to replace a tire.

The inner and outer tread are quite different. Unfortunately, the inner tread wears faster due to the negative camber setting and is also more shallow when the tire is new.

 

[EVMan]

Can i make a guess that approx 6K miles mileage tires will be acceptable , when i return my lease. Or does it need to be around 4-5K.
I know, they count, the lowest tread among all the tires, and the inside wears out quickly , so they fail the tires rather quickly.
I don't remember well, but I believe i read , they failed 7K miles for one individual..