[Dirty Tool]

Originally Posted by Dirty Tool

I picked up an 07 e92 335i a couple weeks ago, my mechanic who works for BMW looked at the car and informed my NSR alloy has a crack in it. Its not leaking air pressure at the moment, but the crack could get big enough to leak pressure at any moment.

I called Stephen James in Enfield, they told me a run-out test would be performed at a cost of £106 and I would have to pay for that. Then a good will gesture would be submitted to BMW UK. If its accepted then they will change the alloy, if not I will still have a cracked alloy and be £106 out of pocket.

Had to deal with BMW goodwill gestures in the past when the subframe collapsed on my E46 328ci...they gave me the run around then but fixed it in the end.

Wish me luck!

Just a quick update on my situation - got an alloy supplied and fitted free of charge through BMW goodwill. Initially I was quoted £106 for a run out test but throughout the entire process I was never asked for the money. I was expecting to pay the money upfront before they did the test (went through the same thing with my E46 Subframe repair, they wanted the cost of labour which I was then refunded). Maybe they just say about the £106 to put people off?

Had to wait 2 days for a reply from BMW regarding the goodwill but all in all a happy bunny!

[Dirty Tool]

Originally Posted by Dirty Tool

Just a quick update on my situation - got an alloy supplied and fitted free of charge through BMW goodwill. Initially I was quoted £106 for a run out test but throughout the entire process I was never asked for the money. I was expecting to pay the money upfront before they did the test (went through the same thing with my E46 Subframe repair, they wanted the cost of labour which I was then refunded). Maybe they just say about the £106 to put people off?

Had to wait 2 days for a reply from BMW regarding the goodwill but all in all a happy bunny!

Another Update - went to pick up the car and I was presented with a bill for £106 for the run out test. I told him that I was told if it was a manufacturing defect then I wouldn't have to pay.

After 5 mins of light hearted arguing he went to see his manager...came back and agreed I wouldn't have to pay for the run out test but then presented me with another bill for £45 to re-fit and balance the tyre! In the end I paid it but its pathetic how they have to squeeze something out of you just because BMW cant do proper R&D on their alloy wheels.

[newmac78]

I got a 59 plate 335i at the end of Jan through BMW, have driven only about 2k miles (actively avoiding potholes), and BMW have just told me the two rear alloys (19" with run flats) are cracked. It's booked in on May 17th so they can do their checks on the wheels. I'll let you know how I get on...

[Ed Edwards]

Well, it's just happened to me Below is my letter to 'What Car' who showed an interest in this issue. I CC'd it to my Main Dealer. I hate to admit it on my first ever post on this forum, but after reading this thread, owning 5 BMW's in a row and driving many enjoyable miles I've pretty much reached my limit of tolerance. I've seen a lovely 2010 MB E350 Coupe so we'll see what happens when I see my main BMW dealer on Thursday:



Dear What Car

I'm not sure if this topic is still being looked into, but I suggest the problem with BMW Alloy Wheels is still there and what's worse now my car (E93 M-Sport with MV4's) has suffered the same fate! I have three lovely cracks in my wheel.

If you read this one thread (below) on the E90's Owners Forum you can see the pains people have gone to to try and resolve this expensive issue. The frustrating thing is that the very redesign and temporary withdrawal from sale by BMW of the MV4 proves in all but words that there was/is a problem, but it's the loyal BMW customer who is still left footing the bill.

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showth...190162&page=27

Frustratingly, those who argue the point with their main dealers seem to get a better repair deal than those who just rely on the professional advice during their visit. Prices vary wildly in what can only be described as a form of Russian roulette, purely dependant on who you talk to on the day. I for one am not a fan of causing a scene, instead I tend to naively rely on reliability, integrity and professionalism when dealing with a company's staff.

I have found plenty of info regarding the problem, but none on any real resolution. No press release from BMW and no stated procedure for the fair policy of replacement of this defective part for customers.

The inconvenience of having this failure is huge, but more concerning is the constant worry that wherever you may be driving and at any time your MV4 may fail, leaving you, your passengers and your next pay-check/s stranded in the wilderness. Run flats are fine, negating the need for a spare wheel, but this ideology is completely flawed if you can't rely on the integrity of the wheel itself.

Anyway, I'm now booked in to my main dealer (North Oxford Garage) and I wait anxiously for their verdict. Reading others examples I can only assume that they can't refuse to replace the wheel, because that's exactly what they have done for others, however when will the next wheel fail....? This has completely knocked my confidence and enjoyment of a car that was supposed to be a dream to own. I fully accept servicing costs etc, but not the passing on to the customer of poor engineering decisions.

Second to a house, a car will be for most, such as myself, the third most expensive purchase in your lifetime; after a house and an ex-wife. To think a company like BMW can still deny problems, be inconsistent with its rectifying actions and not even bother with a recall astounds me.

Made worse, is my current personal position. After 16 years in the Military I was injured. Nothing heroic, but no less life changing. My last serving day was the 15th April 2013 and my cracked alloy was detected on my first trip to Civilian Hospital (3rd May) for the start of my ongoing treatment. Add to this the fact that my pension is paid a month in leu and my last pay-chit from work was predictably incorrect; to the tune of -£650.00 and its been an awkward few weeks. I'll not add the £365.00 for the replacement tyre that revealed the cracks as that's just bad luck.

Well, I'm sure North Oxford Garage will do me proud and replace the poorly designed wheel free of charge.......... We'll see.


Kind Regards


Sgt Ed Edwards, Eng Tech Weapons (retired......just)

[windymissile]

Eh! I'm an armourer Oh! I'm an armourer!

Nice one. I would have thought BMW would have just swapped it without question after the last debacle when they got put in the corner by the "Which (?)" investigation.
Really they should be recalling and supplying 4 fit for purpose wheels.

WM
ETP Retired/made redundant..

[Ed Edwards]

Originally Posted by windymissile

Eh! I'm an armourer Oh! I'm an armourer!

Nice one. I would have thought BMW would have just swapped it without question after the last debacle when they got put in the corner by the "Which (?)" investigation.
Really they should be recalling and supplying 4 fit for purpose wheels.

WM
ETP Retired/made redundant..

Ha ha! There's no escaping the 'ABC', (Bloody Sooty!) it's a small world. Wish I'd got redundancy before being binned through injury, but the last tranche was JNCO's only and if you had EOD Q's like me there was no chance. I'd have been so much better off....

Anyway, fingers crossed with my wheels. Two days till I go to the main dealer and it really could go either way..... Been looking at all sorts of OEM/Aftermarket replacements, however there's clearly no cheap option should they not do it for free.

Having one wheel replaced just isn't an option for me personally as I'm unwilling to live with a car I can't trust, but £2.5k on an OEM set of alloys seems a bit daft. I'll wait till Thursday and see what I'm left with.

[windymissile]

I have used that dealer before (when I was at Brize) Mixed reviews really.
I guess the best thing is to do is, not take "no" for an answer.
I too don't see 1 wheel replacement as an answer. Is there a waiting list for the wheels?... Some guys had courtesy cars for months while they waited for the wheels to come into stock..
Be prepared to have to argue for tyres too. They may try to make some of the cost back by selling you tyres that you now "need".
Good luck either way.

WM

[chedixon]

I've been in a loan car for 6 weeks now waiting for a replacement cracked 313 alloy, been told will be the end of the month at the earliest. I've not had to pay anything thankfully but it's just the fact there not bothered. I bought a new convertible and have to drive their tourer for half of the summer!
It's sad but BMW just aren't what they used to be, genuinely wish I'd gone for the Audi.
It seems any of the 19" wheels just aren't up to the job, shame on you BMW, shame on you!

[Ed Edwards]

I'm not sure if there's a waiting list for the wheels but with less than 24 hours to go I still don't feel overly prepared for any arguments. It seems simple to me. They have a substandard product, they've redesigned them, my old set has failed (the very reason they've redesigned them) so I should have the whole set replaced for free.

I'm needing 2 x new front tyres soon so I'd suck that one up, but I've got a brand new and a nearly new rear so they can shove a whole new set! And I don't want a courtesy car. I'd definitely argue against that. They must have a gash set somewhere they can stick on. I'm not going without my convertible during the only week of sunshine on this miserable island!!

We shall see what happens. I've been impressed with North Oxford in the past though, they have looked after my other BM's really well and the free coffee chap is always up for a natter. To be fair I probably eat about a grands worth of biscuits every time I go so they'll be wanting to recoup that too.

I'll report back as soon as I'm home......

[Ed Edwards]

.......and the wanderer returns.

North Oxford Garage were pretty good to be fair, although it didn't all end up in my favour. They checked my wheels and it was just the one that had cracked (in three places). It's also buckled so failed the run out. Therefore I was left with replacing the one alloy at £560.00 plus VAT, so £672.00. I declined as let's face it next week will be another wheel, then another. One good thing was they replaced my ignition coil for free as apparently mine was crap? Certainly seems to run better now.

Anyway, I'm now left with getting a new set of alloys. Hmmm, what to get. I'd rather stick with OEM, but can't afford to do so. I like the 313's but even with the 'impressive' 5% discount they're very expensive. I've pretty much decided to get an aftermarket set that doesn't look like a chav bought them, get my one cracked wheel repaired and keep them for when I sell the car.

After a little research I could also get a 17'' E46 space saver and jack and fit non-RF to the new 19'' wheelset, thereby not subjecting my car to any more excessive knocks and bangs, thus hopefully avoiding any more 'bad road related' expense.

If anyone has any further advice/ideas please feel free to share.

[Ed Edwards]

.........Oh, the coffee bloke has retired but I still managed to eat my own body weight in biscuits.........

[windymissile]

Book it into another dealer?? Maybe Swindon?
I can't see why they are even doing the run out test still. The wheels have been proved not fit for purpose. Did you ever hear anything back from What Car..?
There is a company who do an aftermarket copy of the 313's, I have seen them recommended on this very site. At a much cheaper price. They are not identical but you would have to get quite close to tell the difference.

WM

[Ed Edwards]

Cheers WM. Nope, nothing from What Car. They insisted the run out test was still valid, although I've seen posts that say it isn't. The main issue seems to be all the internet gen is based on personal experiences and not based on official corporate notices/paperwork; without which you're really *^+%ing into the wind.

If I could find the definitive directive from BMW that says I'm entitled to a certain level of care then that's one thing, other than that it's good will and clearly North Oxford were prepared to help until they determined there was a buckle. At that point it's not their problem and more a problem of the council and who we voted in to fix the roads. I see their point and I see mine, but realistically only one of us can be right and I'm the one asking for a 'favour'. If my car was within the 3 year warrantee there would have been no issue.

My Mrs was bugging me to get the MV4's refinished in black anyway so I shall just go after-market, buy a shell suit, iron kitchen foil over the rear windows, get some extra daytime LED light strips and fill the boot with crystal meth. Then equilibrium will be restored.....

[Ed Edwards]

Oh, I didn't respond to your point 'the wheels have been deemed to be unfit'. That's true and I continually raised this issue, and to different people, but the consensus was to ignore this fact, although to be fair again it's only a fact to those of us who have experienced an issue and not via any corporate admission. As far as BMW are concerned they're fit for purpose, but the roads are 'really bad now'......

[russdx]

had to buy a £600 19 inch M Sport alloy the other day from BMW because one of the rears cracked. Right pain

Any one seen the state of UK roads recently? You literally can not drive any where without seeing a pothole. I now drive new routes just to avoid them. Getting beyond a joke in this country!

[dombera]

Originally Posted by russdx

had to buy a £600 19 inch M Sport alloy the other day from BMW because one of the rears cracked. Right pain

Any one seen the state of UK roads recently? You literally can not drive any where without seeing a pothole. I now drive new routes just to avoid them. Getting beyond a joke in this country!

Yeah, I agree with you. It's so disgusting looking at how much tax we pay..

[newmac78]

Just as an update from my side, it's been a bit of a saga!

The two rears were cracked and one was losing pressure. This is after 3 months of owning the car and buying through BMW. When BMW removed the tyre to do the runout check, there were clear markings on the alloy that a run out test had already been done 5 days before me buying the car (and the chassis number on the wheel was different to my car). The markings clearly showed the alloys were already out of spec!

Armed with this info, there was little they could do to argue - so they replaced both rear alloys and tyres. They also did a run out test on the front alloys - which were ok. I got the car back last Friday, went to get the geometry done - and the local garage discovered one of the front tyres was damaged and needs replacing! I've obviously no way of proving that this was damaged by BMW during their checks - so have had to pay for the front tyres myself.

Although I got the rear alloys under warranty, it's been a bit of an eye opener about how buying through BMW gives you little additional protection about the quality of the vehicle. Also having dealt with two BMW centres for this, it’s really apparent that service quality and communication varies massively between different sites – I’ll certainly be driving the extra distance to get to a BMW garage I can trust.

[windymissile]

Watchdog now bbc1. Showing you how to "fight back" against the potholes.
WM

Edit*
Well, you won't believe it. The case file was a 3 series BMW E92! With a cracked alloy wheel!!

Here is a useful link showing you how to prepare a claim.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006...o-make-a-claim

It took the guy a lot of effort but the council didn't even argue. He had a very good case prepared.

Could this be the start of a landslide..??

Wm

[mesonparticle]

I have recently put down a deposit on a Sept 2009 (09/59) 330d M Sport Highline Coupe and I pick the car up later this week.

The car is low mileage for its year (27,000 miles) and 1 previous owner. Reading these forums I believe the M Sport Highline has the problematic 19” rims, all rather worrying whilst picking up a new car! (well, new to me!)

I bought the car from Wood Salisbury, which is a main dealer. The car is sold from the dealer under the approved-used banner and is subject to over 120 checks. As such, it has a 1-year BMW warranty and a new MOT.

My questions are:

1. Can I trust the dealer to pick up any problems with the alloys during the pre-sale and MOT checks? Or should I have someone independent inspect the wheels shortly after I take delivery of the car?
2. If the dealer do pick up a problem during their checks, but it is within the tolerances for the wheel, would these be reported or documented when the checks are made?
3. I don’t want to come to the MOT in a year’s time and have the dealer claim that my driving is the cause of any cracks when they may have already started forming. As it’s being bought by me as an “approved-used” car, is there anything that I can do that would help ensure I’m not in this position at the next MOT in a year’s time?

Obviously I’d rather know up front if there is a potential problem with the 19” alloys as it will be easier to fight my case if a problem should occur in the next year. Inspecting the inner edge of the rims isn’t easy without a ramp (unless I take each wheel off individually to inspect them) and in any case, I’m not sure I’d be qualified to give an opinion on what is a problem or potential future problem!

Any help or advice is greatly appreciated!

[mesonparticle]

Originally Posted by mesonparticle

I have recently put down a deposit on a Sept 2009 (09/59) 330d M Sport Highline Coupe and I pick the car up later this week.

The car is low mileage for its year (27,000 miles) and 1 previous owner. Reading these forums I believe the M Sport Highline has the problematic 19” rims, all rather worrying whilst picking up a new car! (well, new to me!)

I bought the car from Wood Salisbury, which is a main dealer. The car is sold from the dealer under the approved-used banner and is subject to over 120 checks. As such, it has a 1-year BMW warranty and a new MOT.

My questions are:

1. Can I trust the dealer to pick up any problems with the alloys during the pre-sale and MOT checks? Or should I have someone independent inspect the wheels shortly after I take delivery of the car?
2. If the dealer do pick up a problem during their checks, but it is within the tolerances for the wheel, would these be reported or documented when the checks are made?
3. I don’t want to come to the MOT in a year’s time and have the dealer claim that my driving is the cause of any cracks when they may have already started forming. As it’s being bought by me as an “approved-used” car, is there anything that I can do that would help ensure I’m not in this position at the next MOT in a year’s time?

Obviously I’d rather know up front if there is a potential problem with the 19” alloys as it will be easier to fight my case if a problem should occur in the next year. Inspecting the inner edge of the rims isn’t easy without a ramp (unless I take each wheel off individually to inspect them) and in any case, I’m not sure I’d be qualified to give an opinion on what is a problem or potential future problem!

Any help or advice is greatly appreciated!

BUMP! (pick it up soon, so advice appreciated)

[magic77]

To be safe I would get wheels checked asap independently and then get rid of the runflats. Just cause its approved dont mean they are not cracked as many will tell you

[doyleon]

Hi folks, just wanted to thank you for all the info i've picked up on here.

Here's my story.
Run flat light came on, Rear NS tyre had been chewed off.
Result: Alloy cracked (May 1st) Paid for new tyre and Alloy weld.
Then 2 weeks later, light comes on car starts vibrating heavily. Same Rear NS tyre huge hole in it on M1. The AA put new tyre on
4 days Later new £300 tyre goes flat again (the run flat . Alloy needed welding AGAIN.

I've spent £750 over the last 4 weeks repairing the same wheel with 3 tyres.
Heading to BMW 1st thing. with a few quotes printed off from this site & Watchdogs.