[michelle]

I've had my 06 325i for almost a year and a half and recently I had to get two rear tires replaced and was told that my shocks are bad, causing my tires to lose thread. I was told I needed an alighment when I took my car to the dealership for a flat tire warning but nothing about my shocks. Any help?

[hmeslice]

what kinda tires. 16 or 17's. bridgestones. or purrelli's(spelling?). what tire pressures are you running. and how many miles did you get on the original tires.

[Chesmu]

rears will lose tread earlier than fronts - normal since our cars are rear wheel drive and the rear wheel generates more friction with the road. Alignment after a year and a half is probably normal as well. If you wre running low pressur on a tire for awhile (remeber our flat tire warning system does not monitor pressure like the e92's does) than you may have worn a front tire assymmetrically from the other, causing alignment issues.

I don't know how long shocks should last. Perhaps you could post this question on the wheel/suspension forum?

[michelle]

yeah I figured what they said was accurate, my tire pressure was running a little bit lower than it should be. I have Bridgestone 16s. Now the question is the shocks going bad? Thanks for the help!

[Jaws]

Originally Posted by michelle

yeah I figured what they said was accurate, my tire pressure was running a little bit lower than it should be. I have Bridgestone 16s. Now the question is the shocks going bad? Thanks for the help!

Probably not. I would run away (fast) from someone who told you that the reason your tires wore out was because of the shocks. The Bridgstone Turzana EL42 tires are known to have wear issues, and as you stated the tires may have been underinflated which would lead to premature wear. When you drive over a bump does you car feel floaty or does it bounce? Put a lot of weight on the back bumper (lean on it), push down, and release. When you release, if the car just returns to its rest position, chances are the shocks are OK. If, when you relese, the car seems to "bounce", there is a problem. I have never known shocks to go bad in a few thousand miles, although it can happen.