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[timlang]

I am anxiously awaiting delivery of my new 325i, which will be coming with the Bridgestone Turanza EL42 RFT tires (205/55R16).

This tire has absolutely horrible reviews and ratings on tirerack, it makes my Goodyear Regattas on my current car seem like ultra high performance tires if you go by the horrible traction ratings for the EL42s....

What do people that have them think about them? How are they handling so far in dry and wet conditions?

Is anybody else even making runflat all seasons in 205/55R16 yet? There seems to be very limited options for replacements that are runflat. I would love to get a set of the Michellin Pilot Sport A/S, but as far as I can tell they are not offered in runflat in my size

[greenscape]

They are awful.. taking mine off..

[StewtheBassman]

Greenscape, have you played with the pressure? You could save a pile of money and wear the tires down quicker by pumping them up a little at a time until they work better. BMW specs the tires to feel comfortable for **everyone**, so maybe if they were a little harder they'd perform better. I had that problem in my '05 Subaru Legacy GT with the Potenza RE92 215 45-ZR17 (CRAP tires if there ever were), and by jacking my psi up to 42 front 40 rear (more weight on front axles) my ride improved A LOT.

Don't go over the max on the sidewalls but you can play anywhere within the limit.

I'd be interested to hear how that changes their performance.

[timlang]

Hey Greenscape, what are you going to replace them with? That is the only tire I can find that is runflat in a 205/55R16 :mad:

If you decide to play with the pressure first , let me know how that goes - I might try the same with mine when I get the car next month.

[greenscape]

They are coming off hopefully next week. The El42 is horrible in every aspect with the exception of being able to drive on them without air. That is the only redeaming quality that tire has and BMW had no business shipping this car with them. Its noisy, has poor traction in both dry and wet weather. What good is one safety characteristic at the sacrifice of 3-4 others. Makes no sense to me. Bridgestone is shipping me new tires and I am having them mounted next week. I ordered Bridgestone Turanza LS-Z's. Can't beleive BMW would leave the buyer of a 40+K automobile with 2 tire choices at $1,000 a set that last 15-20 thousand miles and they are terrible in almost every regard with the exception you can drive on them with no air... I will share my findings on how the new tires perform..

[E90X3]

so did you ever change the el42's ?

if so how are the new tires ?

I am also in CT ----so know your comments about the tires !

[mds82]

i had a flat in one of mine the other day. honestly i dont like they very much and i'm going to keep my stock wheels / tires for winter use only. I just ordered a set of Breyton Vision 19's for the summer use. I'm thinking of Toyo proxied T1R or Goodyear Eagle F1's

[Matt_UKTX]

They suck. I've got my Pirelli PZero Nero M+S tires on order. Much much better )

Don't get RFT's if you replace them. Just buy the slime kit, or Continental kit from TireRack.

Originally Posted by timlang

I am anxiously awaiting delivery of my new 325i, which will be coming with the Bridgestone Turanza EL42 RFT tires (205/55R16).

This tire has absolutely horrible reviews and ratings on tirerack, it makes my Goodyear Regattas on my current car seem like ultra high performance tires if you go by the horrible traction ratings for the EL42s....

What do people that have them think about them? How are they handling so far in dry and wet conditions?

Is anybody else even making runflat all seasons in 205/55R16 yet? There seems to be very limited options for replacements that are runflat. I would love to get a set of the Michellin Pilot Sport A/S, but as far as I can tell they are not offered in runflat in my size

[steveww48]

My '07 328xi just arrived at the dealer and will be prepped for delivery in the next day or two. I stopped by yesterday to look at the car on the lot (CA was off yesterday) and I saw that the car was fitted with the Turanza EL42 tires (ugh). I've read the miserable reviews of those tires here and I've looked at the dismal ratings on Tire Rack.

I left a message for my CA, asking if he would swap my EL42's for Conti's as part of the dealer prep (I saw that several cars on the lot had Conti's with the correct size); I explained to him the reason for my request. I haven't heard back from him yet but I'm wondering what you guys think is a reasonable expectation on my part: is this something that I should really push or is it unreasonable to expect the dealer to do this swap for me?

I do realize that if they do the swap, they are just moving the problem to someone else's car. At the same time, I sort of feel victimized, at least a little-- as I understand it, the EL42's were used on the '06 models but BMW has now changed to Contis (seemingly for good reasons!). Nevertheless, I'm paying the price for an '07 but getting stuck with last year's crummy tires.

Opinions? Suggestions?

[highnotefan]

I also have the EL42s on my 325i with 14,000 miles on them. Don't know about harshness issues (this is my first Bimmer and I have nothing to compare to), but wow, it sounds like I have a wheel bearing or two going out. It's getting worse and worse every day. I even submitted a complaint online to the NHTSA.

My dealer is 120 miles away (local guys screwed me over), and I contacted him ti see what he would do about this. Much haggling, long story short, but they got BMW to agree to replace the Bridgestone RFTs with Continental RFTs **AT NO CHARGE**. On top of that they are going to pick up the car from me here next week and leave me a loaner. What a deal!

I'm going to have them do the 15,000 mile service at that time, and install the iPod Integration system.

Looking forward very much to the QUIET car I had when new and maybe a better ride as well with the Contis.

Interesting that I was told that BMW recommends that you do NOT rotate tires due to the setup of the front and rear suspension. Anybody know anything about that?

[joepikapp]

I have an appointment with my dealer tomorrow morning to see if they will replace my EL42 tires. I have 17,000 miles on them now but have asked them to look at them the last two services and they said everything looked fine!! Then I read the forum threads about them.......Audi, Acura, and others have severe issues with them. I am going to use your experience to my advantage if possible and tell them other dealers are replacing them. Wish me luck - I may have to make a scene to get it done.

[ShinyRedCar]

Originally Posted by highnotefan

...Interesting that I was told that BMW recommends that you do NOT rotate tires due to the setup of the front and rear suspension. Anybody know anything about that?

I was told the same thing by my SA when I brought our 2004 E46 in for service.

[joepikapp]

I got a call from my service advisor and they supposedly submitted a claim to BMW and they are willing to half the cost of a new set of tires to replace the Bridgestone EL42's. Any comments or suggestions??? I am thinking of the Conti's RFT's??

[highnotefan]

The dealer from 140 miles away from hereis sending a driver to pick up my '06 325i with the dreaded Turanzas. They will replaced FREE with the new Continental runflats, which supposedly are much better noise-wise and ride-wise (see tirerack review pages).

Meanwhile, I get an X3 loaner.

Anyway, I'm going to get the 15,000 mile service done and get a iPod system installed ($495 installed, is that a good price?).

Tires have a weird wear pattern...tread is nearly gone from the outer edges, but almost intact on the inner edges. Strangest I've ever seen. And incredibly NOISY.

But kudos to my dealer and BMW for going the extra mile on this one, I'm very impressed. That is SERVICE.

I'll post again once I get it back and have run the Contis for a while...

[UncleWede]

The independent who installed my Contis today said that my alignment was just barely out of spec, but that the wear on the fronts on both edges was more related to chronic under-inflation.
I didn't even have to touch the steering wheel on the onramp where the 'stones would grab and throw before. . .

[Old guy still barefoots]

I am also getting conti's tomorrow. At 13,000mi on an XI the Bridgestones were replaced, at 26,000 they are as loud as before.
I hope the continentals do the trick or every person writing in with an XI is screwed. We will all have cars that need tires every 12,000 miles, that will be a unique used car selling feature.

If someone out there with a 2006 XI has 10,000 miles on some continentals without problems please speak up.....

[WallyF]

Hi,

I have a 2006 325xi which came with the Bridgestone EL42in 205/55-16. They are the worst tire I have ever owned. They are extremely noisy and hydroplane terribly. I have complained to my dealer and BMW NA about the tires. Since I have 15600 miles on these tires, they have gone half of their tread life(tread =300). They (dealership and BMW NA) have agreed to pay half of the cost of replacing the tires.

I originally thought about the ContiProContact SSRs (RFT) but decided to go with the non RFT Michelin Exalto A/S (rated highly by Tirerack and ConsumerReports). The dealership Service Manager said that this was OK with him. The Michelins are a much better tire and I already own a mobility kit. Besides, they are easier to come by since Sears, Tirerack, Discount Tires and others stock them.

Since changing out the Bridgestones EL42s for the Michelins, I am very pleased with the performance. The ride is much smoother and wet traction is very good.

If you don't want to drive on a non RFT, get the ContiSSRs. They are much better than the Bridgestones. Otherwise, look at the Michelin Exalto A/S or the Pirelli P Zero Nero M&S with a mobility kit.

Wallyf

[highnotefan]

I was told that service has a hard time installing RFTs due to the rims and the wide lip they have in order to accomodate the RFTs. Also that many (most?) independent shops do not have the proper equipment to mount a RFT tire on these rims.

This also applies to mounting a NON-RFT to these rims. Takes longer, harder to do, requires special equipment, due to the way the wheel is made.

Anybody else have any experience with this? It would seem to negate some of the argument against having RFTs. If you have a blowout in a small town, you might still be screwed because the shop there might not have the equipment to deal with these rims.

They have had my car for 5 days now, mostly because of ice storms in their area. But my X3 loaner (read: Ford Taurus) is no BMW...

[dmitri]

A Letter Published in the January 2007 issue of Roundel (official magazine of BMW C.C.A.)

Those Tires Have a Warranty

"Relative to Kenneth Berke's complaint about new tires on the 330i, I, too, have had a 2006 330i - and the tires (Bridgestone Turanza) became excessively noisy. I diffedently took them to my dealer and asked whether the noise night be something even more serious than the tires. They said, "Oh, BMW knows about the problem. It's under warranty-but since it is not a safety issue, no recall was issued. However, we'll replace them free of charge."

So they did. At 8000 miles I recieved a completely new set of tires, which are as quiet as the proverbial churchmouse-and I feel a lot safer to boot.

However, it strikes me that even without a safety issue, BMW NA should have told their customers that they had been sold tires which were nubbing and wearing far too quickly."
- John Graham

I still do not know the official answer of whether the turanzas are under warranty or not. When I went to Morristown BMW, the service manager said the humming and wear at 11,000 miles is normal and that they have had a lot of complaints, but would not replace my tires.

[steveww48]

Originally Posted by steveww48

My '07 328xi just arrived at the dealer and will be prepped for delivery in the next day or two. I stopped by yesterday to look at the car on the lot (CA was off yesterday) and I saw that the car was fitted with the Turanza EL42 tires (ugh). I've read the miserable reviews of those tires here and I've looked at the dismal ratings on Tire Rack.

I left a message for my CA, asking if he would swap my EL42's for Conti's as part of the dealer prep (I saw that several cars on the lot had Conti's with the correct size); I explained to him the reason for my request. I haven't heard back from him yet but I'm wondering what you guys think is a reasonable expectation on my part: is this something that I should really push or is it unreasonable to expect the dealer to do this swap for me?

I do realize that if they do the swap, they are just moving the problem to someone else's car. At the same time, I sort of feel victimized, at least a little-- as I understand it, the EL42's were used on the '06 models but BMW has now changed to Contis (seemingly for good reasons!). Nevertheless, I'm paying the price for an '07 but getting stuck with last year's crummy tires.

Since the question of a "BMW warranty" has come up regarding these tires, I thought I'd relate what I learned during my discussions with my dealer. I wrote the above on 11/20/06 and I was successful in getting them to swap the tires but it took some very firm conversations with the sales manager to make that happen.

The sales manager did not want to swap the tires but he was very frank in admitting, "yes, there have been problems with the Turanza tires, but BMW is 'taking care of them' and if I do have a problem later, they [BMW and the dealer] would replace them." Of course I had no way of knowing if that was absolutely true or if he was just trying to get me to stop insisting on the tire swap. I decided not to back down-- I figured I was at the point of maximum leverage before I took delivery and I told him that I simply won't accept the car that way. He said he'd "look into what he could do" and would call me back. Twenty minutes later he called and said they would do the tire swap.

[rmorin49]

What did they swap them for?

[steveww48]

Originally Posted by rmorin49

What did they swap them for?

Continental RFT's