[Dragon88]

Cheers Rich, that's probably why I read about people also replacing their tyres, other than the tyres actually needing changing at the time.

[Pat@sonictuning]

Originally Posted by Dragon88

Cheers I thought so as well.

As I read a lot about people getting BMW to replace the alloys FOC under goodwill, but having to fork out for new tyres themselves.

Some dealerships will unfortunately though if the wheel and tire warranty offered by BMW isn't purchased they are really under no legal obligation to have to replace the wheel or tire or both.

[no golf clubs]

Well. Approximately 2 months after I get the offside rear replaced under this scheme and 1 week after sailing through its MOT. I put the car in for a headlamp washer not sitting right and some telematics diagnostics.

They call me to tell me that the rear NEARSIDE is now cracked and that they want to do the run out test. I am now due to pay them £25 for the priveledge of them telling me that the wheel is 4mm cracked and therefore outwith the tolerance which BMW will pay so they wont even go near BMW.

I am sickened by this whole affair, I want rid of these wheels asap.

What should I do? try another dealer?

Buying a replacement wheel there is no guarantees that it wont crack either I guess. :-(

Shame, the 330D e92 is a cracking car, just a shame that the wheels are too.

[Mole]

Hello All,

I've just replaced my second rear alloy and runflat tyre. Third time I will re-evaluate if the BMW is worth keeping. Currently £1500 out of pocket. Ouch.

Quick question. Are cracked alloys a problem inherited when fitted with runflats or is this common across the board?

Has anyone taken out a separate insurance policy specifically for wheels/tyres AND actually won a claim for a full refund?


The 330d M Sport Coupe is a fantastic car and it will be a sad day should I sell it. However the ROI is very much not in my favour now!

Many thanks,
Huw

[no golf clubs]

Had it with these wheels and BMW not paying out for anything above this 2mm level.

Awaits new car.

[Aufwiedersehen]

Originally Posted by no golf clubs

Had it with these wheels and BMW not paying out for anything above this 2mm level.

Awaits new car.

I've had 6 very happy years with an 07 325d and an 09 330d coupe. The 325 had the standard wheel which gave me no problems but the 330 has the 19 inch optional wheel, which this year alone has cost me a fortune for 3 new rear tyres and two new rear wheels.

Wheel one was spotted when the car was serviced a couple of weeks ago and then last week wheel two failed when I was in northern France, taking the tyre out with it.

BMW replaced the first wheel but not the second (at least not yet) because it has failed the run-out test.

I've had the car from almost new and apart from our excellent road surfaces ( I know that I've done nothing to cause any damage to either wheel.

Really disappointed with BMW's response - I think that they must know that there's an issue with this wheel and I think they should have been a little more proactive in doing something about it. This thread has only served to confirm my worst fears.

I was awaiting the release of the 4 series and I'll no doubt still enjoy looking when it eventually gets here. But my money will not be heading to the local BMW dealership - I've bought a Golf GTD and when the 220ps Mk7 turns up, I'll be buying one of those too!

I've concluded that a BMW out of warranty is just not a sensible proposition for a private owner.

[jimpom23]

I'm flabbergasted that no-one is challenging the run out test?! BMW's Corporate Comms Manager said it would be scrapped and ALL wheels would be replaced independent of the test unless on a visual inspection there was clear damage!

[Subzero2003]

Just got some new Goodyear Eagle F1 Assymmetric 2's fitted today. Tyre fitter noticed one of my rear wheel is cracked. It has been on Bridgestone Potenza RE050A Runflats it's whole life. I've emailed BMW customer services saying how annoyed i am and i'm waiting for a response.

Will they give me a hard time because the car now has non runflats on?

I'm even more annoyed, because the car was supposed to have had a complete inspection at the main dealer as part of its service and this crack was obviously not picked up, even though it is quite large and on the inside edge.

[Subzero2003]

anyone else been told that BMWs goodwill gesture is only for 5 years? Apparently anything over 5 years "is never covered by goodwill" according to my local dealer...

[Sparky68]

Do they have another thing coming?

[Subzero2003]

Now BMW are saying that they cannot replace the wheel because they weren't the original wheels fitted to the vehicle. They need proof of purchase - which i, of course, don't have.

I'm quickly losing my patience with BMW as a whole.

[Sparky68]

Are they 18 or 19?

[Subzero2003]

Originally Posted by Sparky68

Do they have another thing coming?

The nice lady on the phone told me that she would talk to the warranty manager at the dealer tomorrow who would call me back and "reiterate what i've told you and go through any details as to why we need the receipt" - in other words she didn't want to talk to me anymore and wanted someone else to take the bitching. I told her i don't want someone to "reiterate" what she's said, i want someone to inspect the wheels. I don't have the proof of purchase of them because the previous owner fitted them.

If this warranty officer does not bring good news with him tomorrow when he calls, i'm afraid i will be starting a campaign of emailing every single day until they get bored. It is ridiculous. I bought a BMW, maintained full BMW service history and paid £500 for a BMW fully comprehensive extended warranty to help protect me from these things. They have a knack for trying to weasel out of everything for the smallest details. I will not have a big company exploiting me because they are bigger. Lest we forget, in the last 3 years this manufacturer has have categorically denied that:

A) BMW wheels don't crack but instead owners must be going down pot holes. Following BBC Watchdog they backtracked on this.

B) BMW's are not susceptible to getting stolen via the OBD theft. Following BBC Watchdog they backtracked on this too.

BMW seem to have developed a nasty habit of denying all responsibility for things until forced to admit them and trying to weasel out of everything put in front of them for the smallest of details. This will certainly be thought about next time i buy a new car, i urge other people to think carefully also if they want to keep spending tens and tens of thousands of pounds with a manufacturer who has no care for them whatsoever.

[Sparky68]

Hopefully they do something about it mate. Sucks if you ask me.

[Subzero2003]

Originally Posted by Sparky68

Are they 18 or 19?

18s.

The funny thing is, the car came with 19s from the factory, which the previous owner removed because in the time he had it, i think they cracked 3 or 4 times and in the end he just got sick of them cracking constantly, so got the 18" MV3 which were less susceptible. But obviously not impervious.

[ringy]

Originally Posted by Subzero2003

18s.

The funny thing is, the car came with 19s from the factory, which the previous owner removed because in the time he had it, i think they cracked 3 or 4 times and in the end he just got sick of them cracking constantly, so got the 18" MV3 which were less susceptible. But obviously not impervious.

I had my rear 18" MV3 fail MOT for a crack a couple of weeks ago.... they had me over a barrel too for replacing as I needed to be somewhere so got stung for £400. I have an outstanding good will claim with BMW (it was within spec on run out test).... very frustrated as car is less than 4 years old, has BMW AUC warranty and only 35k on clock

[no golf clubs]

Mine were 19.

Ruined what was my dream car.

[originalgoods13]

hello from Canada.

I, too, have the same issue.

I talked to the Service Advisor here in BMW Gallery and they gave me the usual "you must have hit a pot hole" and I pretty much said "No, and I want you to prove if this is actually caused by an obstacle on the road or is it a manufacturing defect?" At this point it is the customer's word against assumption.

He told me to bring the vehicle in and use BMW Assist to tow the car, then I told him the car is on jack stands as it is missing one wheel due to me taking it to the Tire Shop to remove a puncture.

Then he told me to bring the wheel in and their Shop Foreman can take a look and decide if we can claim Warranty on the wheel. So crossing my fingers for Thursday to see if they can warranty it.

Visually, I do not think the wheel is Out of Round

Here are some pictures

pictures can be found at http://photobucket.com/19inch

Nice mint wheel, I am really anal about it getting scratched or curbed


OMG, two cracks about 5 inches apart above (bottom one is a tar splatter)

[originalgoods13]

Added new pictures and included the brand new 225 Wheel with completely different Barrel and Lip design (looks very strong compared to the old wheel)

http://www.photobucket.com/19inch

[Subzero2003]

An update from me:

Following on from what i previously said, the Warranty Officer spoke to BMW UK and said it's not covered under warranty (I was confused, as i already knew this and had already accepted this). I told her i know, and that we had talked about this, and i was wanting it replaced under BMW's good will scheme, like many others had had. The customer services rep wasn't having it, but i was persistant and she said that i could pay £120 to have the wheel diagnosed by it having a Runout test. So i was sitting thinking "right, i can pay £120 for a run out test, or buy a whole new alloy off ebay for £170". I obviously wasn't happy, so she passed me through to her manager, who was nice and helpful. She told me this was the only way anything could be done, and i told her the predicament i was in, and that £120 was ridiculous. I mentioned that i had seen some people on the internet have been quoted about £25 for it and asked why was i being quoted £120? She told me she'd find out the correct price, as £120 was very high, and she came back to me 2 minutes later to say it was actually £36 for the run out test, which i accepted. She booked me in for my test.

The run out test was complete and the wheel was in tolerance and the dealer submitted a manual claim to BMW. 2 days later, the dealer called me to say that BMW had offered to pay for 50% of the alloy wheel cost, leaving me to pay 50% of the alloy price (£204) plus the cost of fitting the alloy at £73!!!!

So i went back to BMWUK and talked to another customer service rep who looked at my account and said that the managers had deemed my Goodwill claim could only go to an absolute maximum of 50% of the alloy. I wasn't having this, but he was adamant that there was no one who could increase this. I knew there is ALWAYS someone who could change it, and i didn't want to talk so a customer service rep, i wanted to talk to someone in charge who could actually make decisions. So i got passed through to his manager and spoke to a really helpful guy. I explained everything to him and he said he'd look into this and get back to me very soon as to a decision but he was going to try his hardest to get this changed for me.

He called me back an hour later and said that BMW would now be happy to cover 100% of the price of the alloy, but i would have to pay for the labour. I thanked him profusely for his help.

The dealer then called me back saying that BMWUK would cover 100% of the alloy and i would have to pay for the price of fitting the alloy. They wanted to charge me £73 for this. SEVENTY THREE POUNDS TO FIT ONE SINGLE TYRE!

I was horrified - this was simply a mental price. I asked if i could just have the alloy and get my tyre fitted to it elsewhere, but, surprise surprise "this would not be an option". I wonder why? Maybe it's so they could try and charge me £73 to fit a tyre. Again, i wasn't going to let someone charge me £73 for 15 minutes work, so i asked her to reduce it (knowing full well there was PLENTY of room for negotiation), so she reduced it to £49. I asked her how she thought it was acceptable to charge someone £50 to fit ONE tyre. So she reduced it to £36. I cut my losses and accepted. I'm having it fitted on Monday.

Although BMW have eventually offered to provide the alloy for free, which i'm grateful for, it has left a VERY sour taste in my mouth, with all the bitching and moaning i've had to do. I've had to be so persistent to get anywhere with BMW, despite many BMW customer service reps telling me "There is nothing anyone can do about this, sorry" about 10 times and no dealer offering to help one bit. Then there is the dealer who has tried to charge me hilarious prices for fitting a tyre, because they know i can't go anywhere else to have it fitted. Just wow, BMW. Wow.

[Frobius]

£36 ain't too bad I guess. That's disgusting hiw much they've tried to charge you initially. I'd have expected that before the initial admission that there was a problem by BMW. Not now! That said, it's a problem, the run out test was carried out and it was in your favour. That should have automatically gone in your favour!

I'd love to know how far you took it on the phone!!

[jimpom23]

Originally Posted by Subzero2003

anyone else been told that BMWs goodwill gesture is only for 5 years? Apparently anything over 5 years "is never covered by goodwill" according to my local dealer...

Seriously?