Sponsored by The Tire Rack

[Priority 1]

The attached pictures show all four Bridgestone Potenza RE050A RFT 225/35R19 front and 255/30R19 rears after 28595 miles on a 2008 E92 335XI. The front right tire wore through on the inside shoulder and triggered the tire pressure monitor as it deflated on the highway.

All tires/wheels were removed and replaced temporarily with the winter setup of Bridgestone Blizzak LM25 225/40R18 front and 255/35R18 rear. Vehicle has not been in any collisions and there is no reason to suspect that it is out of alignment based on how it drives. The winter tires have nearly 19000 miles and appear to be wearing normally.

First pic shows all four tires arranged as they were on the car with the front right in the upper left corner of the picture. Second picture shows the tread wear on just the fronts. You can see the cracks where the front right finally leaked at the bottom of the pic. pics of the rears can be found on this thread http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=584743

Is there any reason to suspect that the car is out of alignment?

Would different tires handle the aggressive stock camber, but mostly highway driving better?

Would a different tire inflation pressure wear the tires more evenly (36 psi front and 39 psi rear)?

Should I just swerve side to side on the highway like in the recon lap of F1 to get better wear?

[RupertPupkin]

def alignment. Had that happen one time and the toe was way out of wack. Camber may be completely fine. I would check the alignment and bet youll find the toe is way off.

[SilverII]

alignment issue

[Victorae]

Your RFT's lasted you 28k miles??? Is it just me or is that an insane amount of mileage

[Priority 1]

Originally Posted by jimmydever

def alignment. Had that happen one time and the toe was way out of wack. Camber may be completely fine. I would check the alignment and bet youll find the toe is way off.

thanks for the advice...i'll look into getting an alignment along with mounting and balancing the new tires. i've been trying to think of how i could have messed up the toe and i remembered that i used to be a little hard on the suspension when i would swap wheels for winter and summer. I'd sit down and kick either side of the tire to rock the wheel back and forth. That kind of movement on the free wheel might have messed up the wheel sitting on the ground with more weight on it.

Originally Posted by Victorae

Your RFT's lasted you 28k miles??? Is it just me or is that an insane amount of mileage

i'm an insane driver! put 18000 on my stock 18" rfts and then i sold three of them for a little over 400 bucks! They had no less than 7/32nds remaining. at 65k miles my first set of brakes still say they are due in 60k miles...they haven't begun to drop yet. the bummer is that these tires were inspected in june and they recorded them as 7/32 front and 8/32 rear and in the pic you can see there is still a ton of tread depth on the center blocks.

[Sean@PYSpeed.com]

Time for a alignment. Something must have went off for your alignment which caused this problem.

[VMRWheels]

Your toe is clearly out of spec. Aggressive toe out will result in excessive inside wear just like what you are experiencing. I would get it aligned as soon as possible.

-Charles@VMRWheels

[Priority 1]

Originally Posted by VMRWheels

Your toe is clearly out of spec. Aggressive toe out will result in excessive inside wear just like what you are experiencing. I would get it aligned as soon as possible.

-Charles@VMRWheels

Is it possible to have the toe angle out on all four wheels like this? I'm going to start a thread in the local forums to find a good place for alignments where i don't have to worry about then creating new problems!

Any of you guys recommend new tires? I'm trying to see if i can fit the SS or DW's on with matching rolling diameters that don't rub on my 8 and 9 by 19" wheels.

[j&g bimmas]

i had some issues with premature tire wear on orginal tires. replaced with new falken 452s and adjusted front n rear with less toe .....20,000 miles later still got 7/32nds tread left!!!

[ZURICH]

Originally Posted by Victorae

Your RFT's lasted you 28k miles??? Is it just me or is that an insane amount of mileage

Just what I was thinking, I am lucky to 20,000 km let alone 28,000 Miles what are they made of, steel reinforced teflon?

or the roads there made of silk.

def alignment issues, along with DRIVING LIKE MY MUM S L O W

[VMRWheels]

Originally Posted by Priority 1

Is it possible to have the toe angle out on all four wheels like this? I'm going to start a thread in the local forums to find a good place for alignments where i don't have to worry about then creating new problems!

Any of you guys recommend new tires? I'm trying to see if i can fit the SS or DW's on with matching rolling diameters that don't rub on my 8 and 9 by 19" wheels.

Its always possible that toe can be off on all 4 corners. I would recommend getting it looked at.

What offsets are your wheels?

-Charles@VMRWheels

[Priority 1]

Originally Posted by VMRWheels

Its always possible that toe can be off on all 4 corners. I would recommend getting it looked at.

What offsets are your wheels?

-Charles@VMRWheels

I have the BMW style 313's that are 8x19 et37 front and 9x19 et39 in the rear.

The tires I'd like to get do not come in 225/35R19 and 255/30R19, but they do come in 225/40R19 and 255/35R19, or 235/35R19 and 265/30R19.

The setup with larger profile will further separate indicated speed from actual and I'm worried about rubbing when the suspension is compressed.

The setup with the larger width will barely change the speedo, but may have a greater chance of rubbing at 265.

I'd like to stay away from fender rolling and spacers if i can but i'm open to all options. I can always dump 1500 plus install into the hardest hitting tires ever made (again).

[CJ421]

You can run 235s on the front and 265s no problem on the 313s, I do it on my style 269s w/ zero issues. It will have a more squared look vs. the slightly stretched appearance of the stock 225/255 sizes.

If you want to put on spacers to push out the wheels and get a more aggressive look, then I suggest sticking to OEM tire size, you won't have to roll the fender then (up to 12mm spacer, anyway).

Hit up VAC in Philly for alignment, I'm going there tomorrow. I'm only getting front done, $80.

[Lotus99]

If you run winters, then I assume you'd normally pull off your summers after 6 to 8 months or so of use, so you should be looking at them for abnormal wear at that point. Did you do that the last time around? Was this damage done do you think during this current season, or it's cumulative?

[mike-y]

also, if your tires were low on air at any point with a bad alignment, it would rapidly kill the inside edges like that. happened to me once, and it only took a couple hundred miles.

[Priority 1]

Originally Posted by Lotus99

If you run winters, then I assume you'd normally pull off your summers after 6 to 8 months or so of use, so you should be looking at them for abnormal wear at that point. Did you do that the last time around? Was this damage done do you think during this current season, or it's cumulative?

Good question and in full disclosure I did see this pattern, but it hadn't worn through the tread at the start of this summer. I only remember it cause I was worried where the dealership was going to inspect the tread depth since it was really low in the inside shoulder. They recorded 7/32 front and 8/32 rear so i did a *whew* and thought I'd make it till winter and retire this set. I'd say its cumulative since the start.

Unfortunate that I waited this long to get help and do the research on what that pattern means. From what you guys have said and what I read so far it looks like all four corners are going to have lots of toe out.

I'll update the first post when i get the alignment checked. Anyone have the geometry for the 08 e92 335xi with sport suspension?

[Priority 1]

Originally Posted by mike-y

also, if your tires were low on air at any point with a bad alignment, it would rapidly kill the inside edges like that. happened to me once, and it only took a couple hundred miles.

I'm pretty intense on air pressure and they hold pressure through the winter very well. In fact I deflate them about 2 psi in the spring. Now I could have been putting the wrong pressure in them this whole time, but I've kept 36 front and 39 rear.

[CJ421]

The 335xi doesn't have the sport suspension to my knowledge, the XIs do not get it even with the sport package. XI suspension is an XI suspension. All regular E92 non-XI have the sport suspension though (I'm only referring to US models).

[Priority 1]

Originally Posted by CJ421

The 335xi doesn't have the sport suspension to my knowledge, the XIs do not get it even with the sport package. XI suspension is an XI suspension. All regular E92 non-XI have the sport suspension though (I'm only referring to US models).

That could be true. I thought that the suspension was changed, but the components weren't aluminum up front. One way or another its definitely not the same as the rear drive sport suspension. Anyone else remember what the deal was with xi sport package?

[VMRWheels]

Originally Posted by Priority 1

I have the BMW style 313's that are 8x19 et37 front and 9x19 et39 in the rear.

The tires I'd like to get do not come in 225/35R19 and 255/30R19, but they do come in 225/40R19 and 255/35R19, or 235/35R19 and 265/30R19.

The setup with larger profile will further separate indicated speed from actual and I'm worried about rubbing when the suspension is compressed.

The setup with the larger width will barely change the speedo, but may have a greater chance of rubbing at 265.

I'd like to stay away from fender rolling and spacers if i can but i'm open to all options. I can always dump 1500 plus install into the hardest hitting tires ever made (again).

235/35 and a 265/30 will work without a problem. No rubbing issues and the speedo will still be within spec.

-Charles@VMRWheels

[chromisdesigns]

Originally Posted by Victorae

Your RFT's lasted you 28k miles??? Is it just me or is that an insane amount of mileage

+10 -- most of us were lucky to get 20K out of those pieces of cr*p!

You got a bonus! And, btw, uneven wear on the inside edges is a trademark of BMW's for a number of years now, due to the camber.

[edirtaynine]

get the 265/30 instead of the 255/35.... im running 255/35 rears and its a tiny bit too tall. oh well, ill change it out after i wear these out first.