Continental Runflats losing tread at insane rate

landau88 · 07-09-2011, 08:13 PM

Yo guys,

I bought a CPO 335xi this past Feb. The sales associate told me that brand new tires were just put on the car. I didn't know anything about cars back then and I actually personally know the sales associate so I took his word for it. I noticed that I've been breaking traction a bit when cornering hard lately so I checked how much tread I have left on my tires. I've put approx 13k miles on the tires since they were allegedly brand new. I did the penny test and the sides of the front tires barely passed -- the middle of the tires still has a decent amount of tread left. Rear tires have a decent amount of tread left. Of the 13k miles I've put on the tires, 80% has been highway and 20% has been suburban/city. Granted, that 20% suburban driving has been extremely aggressive at times, but this speed at which my tires are wearing is still perplexing. At this rate, if my driving was 0% highway, my tires would have lasted like 5k miles -- this just doesn't make sense to me.

Does anyone have any advice for what I should do to investigate this? I asked my SA if there is any documentation proving the tires were changed and he said BMW doesn't keep service records of that for some reason.

chromisdesigns · 07-09-2011, 11:10 PM

check front end alignment, the rears generally wear about twice as fast as the fronts. Unless you are going sideways a lot...drift much?

It wouldn't be unheard of for rears to be toast at 13K, depending on driving style.

But get some real tires when you replace them, not more runflats.

pcockley · 07-10-2011, 01:17 AM

You probably don't have enough air in the tires. IMHO continentals always wear very quick!

edirtaynine · 07-10-2011, 05:20 AM

if the sides of the tire treads are wearing out quicker than the middle, sounds like you just have low air.

cb4 · 07-10-2011, 08:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chromisdesigns

check front end alignment, the rears generally wear about twice as fast as the fronts.

I have a square setup on a 335xi running conti extreme contact DW. I rotate every 5k so can't say for sure on the tire wear front to back but it seams fairly equal and not twice the wear in the rear.

A few questions for the OP:
- what tires do you have model and size
- what tire pressures do you run and how often do you check your pressures?

landau88 · 07-10-2011, 06:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chromisdesigns

check front end alignment, the rears generally wear about twice as fast as the fronts. Unless you are going sideways a lot...drift much?

It wouldn't be unheard of for rears to be toast at 13K, depending on driving style.

But get some real tires when you replace them, not more runflats.

I understand that the rear tires wearing faster in a 335i, but shouldn't the front and rear wear pretty evenly in a 335xi since it's AWD? Unlike the 335i, the 335xi never breaks traction and gets wheelspin from acceleration.

My fronts are wearing much faster than my rears, particularly on the sides of the tires. My intuition tells me that this would be caused by cornering way too hard way too often, although my intuition comes from someone with no knowledge of tires or how they perform/wear. I DO tend to drift/skid through corners when driving conditions allow me to drive "enthusiastically", but this is only a small percent of my 13k mileage since about 10k of those miles were from my highway work commute.

Quote:

Originally Posted by edirtaynine

if the sides of the tire treads are wearing out quicker than the middle, sounds like you just have low air.

I'll check the air tomorrow. I believe they were around 35 psi last month when I checked. I'm pretty sure recommended is 36 psi.

chromisdesigns · 07-10-2011, 09:59 PM

Missed that you had an XI -- it's certainly possible that spirited driving could burn through a set of Conti RFTs in that amount of mileage, they don't have a very high UTQ rating. One of the other posters mentioned rotating tires if you have an XI and square setup, sounds like a great idea to me, as the front tires have to bear steering and cornering loads as well as driving load on an XI.

No matter what you do, the edges are going to wear first, unless the tires are drastically overinflated.

Gimmethecash · 07-10-2011, 10:33 PM

The front tires also need to bear braking loads (along with steering/cornering, as chromisdesigns said).

I'm hoping my Brickstone RFTs wear quickly, I need an excuse to get rid of them. I'm going to be happy the day I find a nail in one (or two or four) of them and/or see the TPMS light come on.

07-09-2011, 08:13 PM	#1
landau88 First Lieutenant 30 Rep 303 Posts Drives: 2007 335xi Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Philadelphia iTrader: (0)	Continental Runflats losing tread at insane rate Yo guys, I bought a CPO 335xi this past Feb. The sales associate told me that brand new tires were just put on the car. I didn't know anything about cars back then and I actually personally know the sales associate so I took his word for it. I noticed that I've been breaking traction a bit when cornering hard lately so I checked how much tread I have left on my tires. I've put approx 13k miles on the tires since they were allegedly brand new. I did the penny test and the sides of the front tires barely passed -- the middle of the tires still has a decent amount of tread left. Rear tires have a decent amount of tread left. Of the 13k miles I've put on the tires, 80% has been highway and 20% has been suburban/city. Granted, that 20% suburban driving has been extremely aggressive at times, but this speed at which my tires are wearing is still perplexing. At this rate, if my driving was 0% highway, my tires would have lasted like 5k miles -- this just doesn't make sense to me. Does anyone have any advice for what I should do to investigate this? I asked my SA if there is any documentation proving the tires were changed and he said BMW doesn't keep service records of that for some reason.
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07-09-2011, 11:10 PM	#2
chromisdesigns Lieutenant Colonel 49 Rep 1,753 Posts Drives: 2008 BMW 335i sedan Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: San Francisco iTrader: (0)	check front end alignment, the rears generally wear about twice as fast as the fronts. Unless you are going sideways a lot...drift much? It wouldn't be unheard of for rears to be toast at 13K, depending on driving style. But get some real tires when you replace them, not more runflats.
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07-10-2011, 01:17 AM	#3
pcockley Banned 53 Rep 1,719 Posts Drives: 335 Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: sydney iTrader: (1)	You probably don't have enough air in the tires. IMHO continentals always wear very quick!
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07-10-2011, 05:20 AM	#4
edirtaynine Major General 91 Rep 6,088 Posts Drives: e92 Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: SoCal iTrader: (0)	if the sides of the tire treads are wearing out quicker than the middle, sounds like you just have low air.
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07-10-2011, 09:59 PM	#7
chromisdesigns Lieutenant Colonel 49 Rep 1,753 Posts Drives: 2008 BMW 335i sedan Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: San Francisco iTrader: (0)	Missed that you had an XI -- it's certainly possible that spirited driving could burn through a set of Conti RFTs in that amount of mileage, they don't have a very high UTQ rating. One of the other posters mentioned rotating tires if you have an XI and square setup, sounds like a great idea to me, as the front tires have to bear steering and cornering loads as well as driving load on an XI. No matter what you do, the edges are going to wear first, unless the tires are drastically overinflated.
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07-10-2011, 10:33 PM	#8
Gimmethecash Lieutenant 153 Rep 485 Posts Drives: F90 M5 Comp Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Pasadena iTrader: (1)	The front tires also need to bear braking loads (along with steering/cornering, as chromisdesigns said). I'm hoping my Brickstone RFTs wear quickly, I need an excuse to get rid of them. I'm going to be happy the day I find a nail in one (or two or four) of them and/or see the TPMS light come on.
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