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[TerpEvo]

2008 335i sedan. Stock Sport Wheels 162s.

Have 255/35/18 Potenza 760s on the rear. After 1.5 years over 12,000 miles they are worn all the way through the belts (they didn't blow out but audible hiss this morning while driving that caused me to pull over). This seems EXTREMELY early to me. I had them installed at a local Pep Boys and paid the $90 to have aligned back then. Went in today and they first pointed to Bridgestone saying go to them for warranty information. Bridgestone says their 3yr warranty only applies if installed at Firestone. But comment that 12,000 miles is way too soon and the tires HAD to of been installed incorrectly.

Back to Pep boys who claim they installed to BMW specs, and they claim they see BMWs come in with early inside tread wear all the time due to their baseline aggressive camber.

This is a tough pill for me to swallow, needing new tires every 12,000 miles. What are my options here? Do I tell Pep Boys to screw off and have the car towed to say Firestone and have them do a re-install and learn my lesson? Raise a shit storm with Pep Boys social media and hope for the best? Accept that 12k about all I'm going to get out of decently sporty tires on this car with this camber? Different Brand all together and hope for the best?

Help.

[Bluewater328iT]

It's worth a call to your Firestone store to see if there is any chance the warranty might pay off. Maybe an email with some photos will save a tow or drive over. But if you are going to buy Potenzas again, definitely have Firestone install them instead of Pep Boys. Otherwise, look at another brand.

If they are wearing that fast, I recommend checking for tire wear more frequently than every 1.5 years. You might have been able to catch this sooner by looking at the tires more often.

My understanding is that BMW dealers have the best equipment and procedure for alignments. I've never had a problem with them and I don't think it is worth taking a chance with anyone else.

[Fundguy1]

Get michelin pilot Super sports. 30k tire if rotated. If not because staggard, I typically got 20k rear, 35k front. Worth the extra dough.

[GottWhat]

I had similar mileage on my rear runflats. My mechanic says my rear upper control arms were shot and should hold camber alignment better after replacing. I only have a few hundred miles on my non-runlflat replacements (Continental ControlContact Sport AS) but love them.

[1QuikWS6]

Personally I wouldn't let the hacks at PepBoys OR Firestone touch my car - let alone do an alignment

But anywho - my car from new with staggered setup wears inside edges of rear tires slightly more than rest of tread, and inside edges of fronts even more aggressively.

This is with an alignment thru BMW dealer every year. According to the dealer this tire wear is 'normal' due to Toe & Camber alignment specs. I had them adjust front Toe to end of range which helped with the fronts.

Last set of tires (same specs as yours) I got roughly 22k out of the rears & 12k out of the fronts.

I buy all my tires mainly thru DiscounTireDirect or TireRack. Current Hankook Ventus Noble2 HP A/S tires state 50k warranty.

I always just call DTD and tell them of the abnormally fast wear & they adjust the price of new replacement tires no questions asked - but I have been a customer for long time & buy a lot of tires from them for my (4) cars. New fronts were $60/pr & the rears were 2 for price of 1.

>>It should be noted that no matter what the tire mfg. warranty states - if you are running a staggered setup (hence NO rotation at all) the mileage warranty is only valid for 1/2 the stated warranty. This is true for any tire mfg. So my 50k warranty is really only good for 25k...


Actually have had several different mfg. tires - used to use dedicated HP summer tires & blizzak winter tires, but temps in my area regularly dip below 45deg in the spring and fall/winter which is not good with summer only rubber.

So I started using HP A/S for summer so that I can leave them on much longer.

Have used Michelin, Kuhmo, Hankook - all with same warranty (50k). Kuhmo gave longest wear, followed by Hankook, with Michelin being worst for wear

[Fundguy1]

Nothing magical about a bmw alignment vs firestone etc. I got lifetime alignment from firestonr/tiresplus for $120. Ive used it 10 times no issues. How much is the dealer? Same as nothing magical about an oil change. Skip the stealer.

[1QuikWS6]

Originally Posted by Fundguy1

Nothing magical about a bmw alignment vs firestone etc. I got lifetime alignment from firestonr/tiresplus for $120. Ive used it 10 times no issues. How much is the dealer? Same as nothing magical about an oil change. Skip the stealer.

You pay for what you want - and I'll pay for what I want - I'm not hurting for $$

The assholes that work for either of those places in my area get paid $7/hr and are lucky if they graduated high school...

I have experience with several specific techs at my local dealer & they are the only one's I let touch my car if I ever take it to the dealer.

Frankly, the ONLY thing I take my car to the dealer for is an alignment - any maintenance I have done myself - not because I can't afford to have someone else do it, but because I actually enjoy working on cars (been doing it for 40yrs now)