Uneven tyre wear on F10 5 Series

Under inflation?

This is more normal, especially if you do a lot of cornering (in the UK roundabouts).

If the tyres are the same front and rear then rotate them (as probably recommneded in the handbook)

If not and the the tyres are not uni-directional then reverse them on the rim when about 40% worn.

and er don't drive so hard!

Under inflation?

This is more normal, especially if you do a lot of cornering (in the UK roundabouts).

If the tyres are the same front and rear then rotate them (as probably recommneded in the handbook)

If not and the the tyres are not uni-directional then reverse them on the rim when about 40% worn.

and er don't drive so hard!

Interesting comment, so from that I assume if you drive an F10 520d hard (how?) you will put all the suspension geometry out in some cases by more than BMW tollerance allows. No, this is not about tyres or driving because I've had BMW's for decades and never had a problem like this. After I had my last, a 330i, set up by the same garage it always had perfect flat tyre wear and I've never had to rotate tyres on any of them.

Heavy rear loading?

Don't know why the rears are wearing on the inside. If you do a lot of high speed work they tend to wear in the middle.

The front's wearing on the outside is normal, because when you corner more force is exerted on the outside edge, so it wears faster.

Swapping tyres around the car is usually recommended as a service action.

"R. Mark Clayton" wrote

Lets forget about the uneven tyre wear for a moment, why would virtually all my suspension geometry be out so much to BMW's own standard such that one wheel is even outside BMW's own tolerance for camber by quite a bit and will need to go into the BMW garage for work, probably a different suspension arm (there are two lengths, +30 and -30). This is in two years and 24,000 miles of mainly driving two up without luggage or anything heavy in the vehicle. Suspension geometry out of true will cause tyre wear problems and my suspension is out of true in so many ways. The question is why and maybe how many others have a similar problem?

Camber and Toe on both rear wheels is out Camber on the front left is out by some way Camber on the front right is OK Toe on both front wheels is out

I slightly misread the original post.

The main possibilties for being out are : -

Not set up right in the first place (seems likely it was a while ago because the tyres have worn unevenly). or You drive over speed bumps way too fast.

"R. Mark Clayton" wrote

I certainly do not drive over speed bumps too fast, I've always considered myself to be mechanically sympathetic besides that I have a damaged spine so it would cause physical pain if I did. So, you are left with the same conclusion I had reached and my tyre shop technician had reached, that my car has been "out" since it left the factory. That beggars the question, has there been a manufacturing problem and how many others have the same problem, perhaps they fitted the wrong length camber adjustment arm originally. The tyre shop say mine is not the only case they have seen like this with this 5 series.

I'll just have to get BMW to do a suspension test again (half price rate of £150) and then correct the problem at my expense ! but I will then go to my highly trusted tyre shop and pay for their technician to check it all again. (£60) Seeing as I've just saved £122 on two tyres It';s not as bad as it seems.

Because the kid at the tire store doesn't really understand anything about the suspension geometry, he only knows to put it up on the machine with the arrows in the right place and read what the machine tells him to do.

Maybe one of the arrows wasn't in the right place. Maybe you have some worn suspension component somewhere that he didn't catch because he doesn't really know how to check everything before putting it on the machine. One worn control arm bushing will screw all kinds of stuff up.

Take it to a BMW shop, or take it to a place that specializes in alignments. I have seen more cars screwed up by kids at tire shops than you would believe. You need someone who actually understands suspension geometry to look at it. There may be nothing wrong at all.

--scott

I actually trust the tyre shop technician (who is probably about 35 as are most that work there) more than the BMW shop, he deals with very fast cars, i've seen Ferraris and Porsches in there, as well as the mundane like my 5 series. This is probably the premier tyre shop/depot in the UK and I doubt that BMW have equipment any better.

Well, then ask him to explain what he thinks is wrong.

--scott

"Scott Dorsey" wrote in

He considers with the number of F10/11 BMW's he has seen with similar problems that there has either been a manufacturing fault** or the suspension is not up to UK roads, ie a design fault.

I don't know, I haven't heard of anything like that in the US. If you were in the US, I'd suggest you write the bmwcca magazine a letter asking how many other people had seen these issues. The BMW Car Club of the UK is similar, though.

--scott

I'll see what BMW say and do first, get it checked and take it from there. Will let you know what happens.

It went in for a BMW Kinematics Diagnosis System (KDS) and they too found camber and toe seriously out on the rear, toe out on the front but the camber on both front wheels within tolerance, the tyre shop said only the right camber was correct. The BMW garage have adjusted it all and now everything is within BMW tolerance (@ £290.53). No-one seems to know what has caused the problem and I am assured it isn't a common problem with F10/F11 5 Series cars, my own checks have also sown that. I will get it checked again when I get the next set of tyres just in case it's our terrible roads causing damage, although if it was it would be a common problem. It's only money! :-)

So, did they just adjust things, or did they replace things? And if so, what did they replace?

And how does it drive now, compared with beforehand?

--scott

"Scott Dorsey" wrote

According to the invoice they just did adjustments, there are no parts mentioned. However on checking the figures for the two tests, which appear to be on the same type of machine, the tyre shop are using slightly different figures for this model to that used in the BMW test. Not that it makes that much difference to the fact almost everything was outside tolerance.

The difference is noticeable, rather like changing from Bridgestone tyres to Michelin Pilot Sport 3 ones on a non runflat car, a more planted, stuck to the road feel. Especially at the back.

Nobody ever gets quite the same numbers, which is part of why the skill of the operator is so important.

I'm surprised there was anything to be adjusted if the numbers were that far out of range.

THIS is what tells you that there really was a problem. Until you could say this, you didn't really know if you had a measurement issue or a vehicle issue, and now you know for sure it was really a vehicle issue.

--scott

Dropped from height onto the wharf when unloading OR you drove over a hump back bridge too fast...