[jseeleybmw]

Originally Posted by upsidedownfunnel

That can't be right. I'm almost positive some xDrive cars had 19" staggered wheels as an option of which your car has the factory sizes. They definitely have it in other countries.

That's complete B.S. that they're voiding all those warranty types for using a size that comes as an option the car. You probably even have OEM spec tires and OEM wheels.

I bet if any issue did come up, you could technically sue them for warranty service under Magnuson Moss and win. Whether it's worth the effort is a different question, of course.

It's showing signs of transfer case failure (stuttering on acceleration) which is one of the reasons I brought it into the dealer. They are 100% OEM wheels and tires, just not the original to the car (but it's the way I purchased it used) I'm sure suing them would not be worth the time/money.

Originally Posted by upsidedownfunnel

If the car is a CPO, then you probably should have them replace the tires. If it's not, then there's nothing for them to do. A used car in America is purchased as-is.

It's not CPO, its from CarMax, but I did get them to put matching tires all around (225/40R19) Doesn't help with my now voided warranty though.

I can't understand any of this, Audi allows for up to 5% deviation on their AWD setups, and this is only 0.4% with BMW wheels and tires... so not happy.

[upsidedownfunnel]

Originally Posted by jseeey

It's showing signs of transfer case failure (stuttering on acceleration) which is one of the reasons I brought it into the dealer. They are 100% OEM wheels and tires, just not the original to the car (but it's the way I purchased it used) I'm sure suing them would not be worth the time/money.



It's not CPO, its from CarMax, but I did get them to put matching tires all around (225/40R19) Doesn't help with my now voided warranty though.

I can't understand any of this, Audi allows for up to 5% deviation on their AWD setups, and this is only 0.4% with BMW wheels and tires... so not happy.

It's just the dealership trying to avoid warranty work. Whatever you do, do NOT get the repair done at that dealership. Spend your money at a different dealership, or better yet, find a good independent mechanic that will do the work.

I have no idea how hard you tried, but I would keep pushing for them to cover it under warranty. Send BMW NA a letter. Detail that your car is using tire sizes that come standard on other BMW xDrive vehicles. Ask them how that could possibly cause a warranty issue. It's technically possible there is different software in xDrive cars with staggered tires. However it is unlikely.

[jseeleybmw]

Originally Posted by upsidedownfunnel

It's just the dealership trying to avoid warranty work. Whatever you do, do NOT get the repair done at that dealership. Spend your money at a different dealership, or better yet, find a good independent mechanic that will do the work.

I have no idea how hard you tried, but I would keep pushing for them to cover it under warranty. Send BMW NA a letter. Detail that your car is using tire sizes that come standard on other BMW xDrive vehicles. Ask them how that could possibly cause a warranty issue. It's technically possible there is different software in xDrive cars with staggered tires. However it is unlikely.

I have an extended 5yr warranty with CarMax that is supposed to be somewhat decent, so I hope they cover it. If not I can go to my trusted mechanic for the work. It's more the principal of the whole situation. I did write BMW of NA a letter via email, but I'll try another one via "snail mail" to see if I get any further.

Thanks everyone for hearing my rant.

[kern417]

The stupid part is dealers don't lose money on warranty work. BMW pays them the labor costs. So I have always found it strange that some dealers want to be overly critical of warranty work.

Also putting 225 tires all the way around is worse. Now you're stretching the tire on the rear wheels which exposes the edge of the rim and risks them getting beat up a lot more. You should use at least a 245 wide tire on a 8.5" wide wheel.

[jseeleybmw]

Originally Posted by kern417

The stupid part is dealers don't lose money on warranty work. BMW pays them the labor costs. So I have always found it strange that some dealers want to be overly critical of warranty work.

Also putting 225 tires all the way around is worse. Now you're stretching the tire on the rear wheels which exposes the edge of the rim and risks them getting beat up a lot more. You should use at least a 245 wide tire on a 8.5" wide wheel.

225 is acceptable for a 8.5" wheel; According to tire manufactures its the minimum but still in spec (very little stretch)

It's a temporary solution until I can get a square set of wheels (or get BMW to accept my staggered wheels, which sounds unlikely)

[jseeleybmw]

FWIW I dropped off my car at the dealer today (check engine light is on again for the DEF system) and the service manager I got this time said he never heard of a warranty being voided for tire sizes and also stated there are xdrive cars with the same staggered setup. He said we would look into the issue for me, but I'm not hopeful

[upsidedownfunnel]

Originally Posted by kern417

The stupid part is dealers don't lose money on warranty work. BMW pays them the labor costs. So I have always found it strange that some dealers want to be overly critical of warranty work.

Also putting 225 tires all the way around is worse. Now you're stretching the tire on the rear wheels which exposes the edge of the rim and risks them getting beat up a lot more. You should use at least a 245 wide tire on a 8.5" wide wheel.

Dealerships make more money on non-warranty work. Also, some service advisers just think they know more than they do. It could be a bit of both contributing to this situation.

[bhenault]

Originally Posted by upsidedownfunnel

That can't be right. I'm almost positive some xDrive cars had 19" staggered wheels as an option of which your car has the factory sizes. They definitely have it in other countries.

That's complete B.S. that they're voiding all those warranty types for using a size that comes as an option the car. You probably even have OEM spec tires and OEM wheels.

I bet if any issue did come up, you could technically sue them for warranty service under Magnuson Moss and win. Whether it's worth the effort is a different question, of course.

When I had my e90 which was x drive, I ran staggered 18's on it, for almost 6/7 months with zero issues. I know some of the e92's have staggered setups as well. As for the newer f series I'm unsure, but I'd think they'd do that especially on m-sport cars

[kern417]

Originally Posted by upsidedownfunnel

Dealerships make more money on non-warranty work. Also, some service advisers just think they know more than they do. It could be a bit of both contributing to this situation.

how? they complete the work and send the bill to BMW instead of the owner. it's the same.

[jseeleybmw]

Originally Posted by bhenault

When I had my e90 which was x drive, I ran staggered 18's on it, for almost 6/7 months with zero issues. I know some of the e92's have staggered setups as well. As for the newer f series I'm unsure, but I'd think they'd do that especially on m-sport cars

My car has has the m-sport option, but apparently still never came with a staggered setup, which is all they seem to care about (whats printed in the my door jam) My dealer is really a bunch of jokers though. I now have the same size tires all around (as they requested to work on the car at all), but still have issues. I have stuttering when accelerating (I assume transfer case?) As well as significant bump steer and pulling under heavy braking. They claimed I needed an alignment to solve my issues (I had it aligned twice in the past month before bringing it to the dealer) I said they could perform an alignment as long as they ruled out suspension bushings, wheel bearings, bent control arms, tie rods, etc. They confirmed and aligned it again and said it was "way off", however when I got the car back it still has the bump steer, pulling under heavy breaking and acceleration stutter. They now claim since my front tires are more worn than my rear it's causing all the issues. (rear tires are brand new, fronts admittedly could be replaced soon)

So i'm out $200 bucks for the alignment to have the car be exactly the same, and they won't work on it further until it has new front tires as well now... good grief, the car only has 38K miles...

at least they fixed the check engine light it had (failed SCR module)

Originally Posted by kern417

how? they complete the work and send the bill to BMW instead of the owner. it's the same.

I imagine the dealer doesn't make any money on the parts in that case, just labor?

[Wires]

Sounds like you need to find a new dealer! Some aren't worth their weight in salt....

[bhenault]

I'm wondering if it's something else, or the transfer case got screwed up somehow otherwise then

[Heel328]

You could look at classifieds or craigs list etc and just buy another set of 403s and use the 225s on all 4 corners. Then sell the 4 255s as a set, someone will like that setup assuming the front wheel wells can run 255s. Or you keep the 255 if you prefer, and sell the 225s.

You should be able to find a set for under $1,000, mostly depending on condition and the tires. When you sell 4 you get your money back.

I found new 400m on CL and almost broke even selling original crappy 393s.

[kern417]

Originally Posted by jseeey

I imagine the dealer doesn't make any money on the parts in that case, just labor?

Nah they do. I worked on the other side of warranty claims for a few years. A group of engineers gets the bill for parts, labor, and comments from the service tech. The only risk is if i read it and can tell that something out of the ordinary happened, like if they say customers interior lights stopped working after installing an aftermarket radio or something. Then we can call the dealer and charge it back to them. but there were several times that we got billed for $100s just because it took techs a while to figure out what the issue was, then maybe a $5 part fixed it. But those claims push BMW to both reduce issues and make it easier to fix issues, which are obviously in the customer's best interest.

the only thing that they might be concerned about is work authorization. usually bigger things like engine/transmission replacements go through a system that automatically sends an inspector to review the issue before sending parts. But again, no ding on them for at least submitting the order and trying to complete the repair. If BMW turns it down, so be it. The transfer case might fall in that category.

[jseeleybmw]

Originally Posted by Heel328

You could look at classifieds or craigs list etc and just buy another set of 403s and use the 225s on all 4 corners. Then sell the 4 255s as a set, someone will like that setup assuming the front wheel wells can run 255s. Or you keep the 255 if you prefer, and sell the 225s.

Trying to work on something like this now... just frustrating. Only had the car 3 months and its been in for service about 6 times (2x at the dealer and 4x at Carmax), and none of the drivability issues have been fixed yet.

[bimmer456]

Is this a CPO car it is coming off lease with the wrong tires and you didn't put them on seems like fraud to me as the previous owner should pay for damages that occurred during the lease or resulting from it. If they didn't catch it when it was returned that is on them.

[jseeleybmw]

Originally Posted by bhenault

I'm wondering if it's something else, or the transfer case got screwed up somehow otherwise then

Could be something else; This dealer they won't even look at the issue due to the current tries (they are now all the same size, but the fronts are more worn than the rear) New front tries go on this Friday, so it will be brand new rubber all around.

Based on this thread ->
https://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1407191

It seems like BMW knows there is an issue, and they'll do anything to get out of warrantying it. The transfer cases must be made of glass if they can't put up with the factory staggered sets or even square setups that are slightly more worn front vs rear.

I'll update next week when the the car goes back into the dealer.

[bhenault]

Originally Posted by jseeey

Could be something else; This dealer they won't even look at the issue due to the current tries (they are now all the same size, but the fronts are more worn than the rear) New front tries go on this Friday, so it will be brand new rubber all around.

Based on this thread ->
https://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1407191

It seems like BMW knows there is an issue, and they'll do anything to get out of warrantying it. The transfer cases must be made of glass if they can't put up with the factory staggered sets or even square setups that are slightly more worn front vs rear.

I'll update next week when the the car goes back into the dealer.

Best of luck to you! I can't think of anything else it would be beside the transfer case, hopefully something simple and an easy fix!

[jseeleybmw]

Originally Posted by bhenault

Best of luck to you! I can't think of anything else it would be beside the transfer case, hopefully something simple and an easy fix!

Just to update (I'm sure no one was holding their breath besides me) after a very long wait, the 3rd party dealer I bought the car from replaced the 19" Staggered 403M setup with the a factory 18" 400M Square setup and new tires. After that I had no more stuttering from the xdrive and everything is great.

My bet is the stuttering was from the front tires being worn than the rear tires (being brand new) on the 19" 403M's. (too large a difference in diameter for the xdrive) I'm not 100% happy with the outcome as I preferred the look of the 403M 19" wheels, but BMW wouldn't look at the car without the change and that was the compromise my dealer made. There were some other issues found that could have been affecting things too though; They replaced a rear knuckle, drive flange and wheel bearing that had "damage" (I had some strange pulling when braking heavily)

I'm still worried about xdrive failure (per other threads with multiple low mileage cases) but for now I'll just enjoy the car.

[bhenault]

Originally Posted by jseeey

Just to update (I'm sure no one was holding their breath besides me) after a very long wait, the 3rd party dealer I bought the car from replaced the 19" Staggered 403M setup with the a factory 18" 400M Square setup and new tires. After that I had no more stuttering from the xdrive and everything is great.

My bet is the stuttering was from the front tires being worn than the rear tires (being brand new) on the 19" 403M's. (too large a difference in diameter for the xdrive) I'm not 100% happy with the outcome as I preferred the look of the 403M 19" wheels, but BMW wouldn't look at the car without the change and that was the compromise my dealer made. There were some other issues found that could have been affecting things too though; They replaced a rear knuckle, drive flange and wheel bearing that had "damage" (I had some strange pulling when braking heavily)

I'm still worried about xdrive failure (per other threads with multiple low mileage cases) but for now I'll just enjoy the car.

Glad to see the problem is fixed. I would think that could be the problem is the difference in the worn tires.

[jseeleybmw]

Originally Posted by bhenault

Glad to see the problem is fixed. I would think that could be the problem is the difference in the worn tires.

I've also heard that BMW "star" tires and the equivalent non-star tires are slightly different in width and height. In my case when the dealer replaced only the rear tires they were non-star and the front were still BMW star. I guess another thing to keep in mind for xdrive cars.

[lrdimov]

I have a similar question. I'm running 225/55 R17 summer tires(all 4 tires are the same size) on 2017 330i GT xDrive. The winter tires I bought are 225/50 R17(again all 4 are the same size) and dealer is telling that because the tires are a different size(non-OEM sized) this will confuse and possibly damage the xDrive system. Is there any truth to this?