jon dee

My 2008 e92 was factory fitted with runflats so no spare, jack.or wheelbrace. Had to hunt them down and chuck them in the boot as the car is running on standard tyres. Yours would most likely be the same. A worn brake pad may make a noise but it would not account for unusual tyre wear. I'd be looking at things like rear camber and tyre pressure. Looks like your tyres have a bit of stretch so the pressure should be a few psi higher than standard. Low pressures would be working the sidewalls harder and if you are running negative camber that could be causing the inner to heat up and wear faster. Cheers... jon dee

Yeah... I don't do a lot of km in a year, so wear life is not such a big deal. What I want are tyres that are suitable to drive to a sprint event and do a few runs without having to change wheels. From what you say and what I read I think these would do the job. Just got to hunt down a set at an acceptable price. Another option I am still considering is the Zestino Gredge 07R that are a similar design. These seem to be a little more "race" focussed and maybe not so good for primarily road use. Prices are pretty good though Cheers... Jon Dee

Tried searching these but didin't bring up anything, so wondering if anyone has used these tyres ? They look mean, are available in the OEM 335i sizes and get good reviews. Cheers... Jon Dee

Fair comment. The tread pattern looks like it should be directinal but the only sidewall marking was "this side out". I looked for a "rotation" marking but could not see one, so you are on the money. Never came across that before and wouldn't buy such a tyre myself, so that is the new thing I learned today Cheers... jondee86

OK, so bit of an update. Apart from the bumping / clunking /whatever issue, there was a bit of that waaa.... waaa... waaa... waaa... sound that varies with wheel speed coming from the front. It was more noticeable at low speed and when slowing to a stop, and I was picking probably a wheel bearing on the way out. But reading a lot of posts on many different forums indicated that sometimes a tyre can cause this kind of noise. So off came the front wheels (Goodyear 235/40-18XL assymetric tyres 50% worn) and on went the front wheels from my new set (Neuton 225/40-18 directional tyres 20% worn). Went for a drive and dang me... not only did the waaa... waaa... noise disappear, but the tyre thumping over road surface irregularities was also considerably reduced !!! The ride and noise level is now pretty much in line with what I expected from a BMW I have never never owned a car that used anything lower that 55-series tyres, so had no experience with 35 and 40 series tyres to guide me. With such short sidewalls the tyres cannot absorb much bump energy which means that the suspension does more work. The upside is much crisper handling and I'm all for that. Looking at the Goodyear tyres, they are XL rated which I gather means that they are stiffer to handle Xtra Load. They are also assymetric AND directional, which as I understand it means that they come with 1 x RH and 1 x LH tyre to make an axle pair. However, it looks like the tyre shop mounted two identical tyres which means that one was rotating in the wrong direction. I think the combination of a heavier tyre and greater wear caused the thumping and the incorrect mounting and/or tread wear contributed the extra noise. Cheers... jondee86 "The only reason I make mistakes is so that I can learn from them...".

When I got my Corolla one of the first things I did was install a complete set of TRD rubber suspension bushes, followed shortly after by lowering springs and short stroke shocks. I like to know that those things are new even if the car is old. With this car the plan is to replace as many wearing parts as the budget allows, but not to mess with springs or shocks as I like the way the car rides now. When your message arrived I was just ordering front wheel bearings. Found some at a pretty good price so I thought I would grab them so they would be on hand when the rotors are due for replacing. Will be looking at the M-Series arms next. Cheers... jondee

Good comments... all of them Perhaps, I should have emphasised the fact that although I have driven hundreds of thousands of kilometres in assorted Japanese cars over the years, I had never driven a BM or even a Merc prior to buying this car. Neither had I driven a car with 35 and 40 series tyres, so I had no reference to help me establish what was normal. Now, thanks to the responses received, I am reasonably certain that there is no real problem beyond the typical wear and tear that can be expected after 85,000 km. I will do some further checking myself and get a professional inspection of the suspension when that can be arranged. There is a lot to be learned about this car, and you can expect me to ask a few more (possibly dumb) questions as I come to grips with it. Thanks for the help so far. Cheers... jondee

Don't doubt that for a minute but it has been 5 years or so since I last bought US$ and from memory they sat in the 0.80 to 0.85 range back then. Now around 0.60 and with the crazy cost of postage/shipping from the US to NZ plus GST and border costs you don't have to buy much of anything before you have spent a thousand bux. !!!! Doesn't mean I don't buy stuff from the USA as they usually have the best selection and best prices for genuine big brand goods. But I am careful to shop around for the best deal inclusive of shipping before placing an order. Amazon can be quite helpful sometimes Cheers... jondee

Yussss... I have those M3 kits you suggested on my wish list. Only problem is that I have a bit of an overspend situation at the moment, and the NZ$ to US$ exchange rate is terrible right now. I actually found a euro car specialist workshop in Lower Hutt and I am going to see if I can book a time to have them put the car on a hoist and check out the front end just for peace of mind. I've got the 17" wheels up for sale as I have bought another set of E92 189 wheels. Anything wider will have to wait until I really need it Cheers... jondee

@ str8_6 I did try calling Auto 38 a couple of times but no-one picked up and I had to leave messages that weren't returned. So I called in when I was passing (not driving the BM at the time) and spoke to the woman in charge. Jon was under the hood of a vintage BM racecar at the far end of the garage and the lady explained that he was very busy and could not look at my car or do a WOF check until Thursday (this was on Monday). Apparently Auto 38 take their cars down the road for VTNZ for WOF testing in any event. So to keep life simple I went to my usual workshop for the WOF. From what I could see, Auto 38 had a workshop full of cars with only one person working on them. If that is the case, then Jon will be very busy !! Because I live way on the other side of town it takes a bit of organising to drop my car off and then return the next day or even a few hours later to pick it up. Therefore I shall probably wait until I actually need some work done/parts installed/whatever to book the car in. Then it can stay there for as long as it takes, and the full check and diagnosis can be done at the same time. Maybe you should go for a drive in my car and see how it compares to yours Cheers... jondee

OK... perhaps I should not have used "clunking" to describe what I was refering to. Both my other cars have sports type suspension and both make the same basic sound when hitting manhole covers and other similar sharp edged bumps in the road. I guess you could say it is a sort of "thump" sound... not a klank, klunk or klink. If I was to sit in the car and someone else was to give a front tyre a decent whack on the tread wiith a tyre iron, it would make the same sound... as much felt as heard. This is not the sound of something loose; it is the sound of something solid transmitting a sudden impact into the chassis. So the only thing unusual is that I expected a high end vehicle (albeit used) to be better insulated from the sound of tyre impacts. Perhaps it is just a minor downside to the sports suspension package ? From my forum reading I see that there are a variety of rubber bushes and insulators in the car that may be showing signs of wear. These could be contributing to increased noise transmission to the interior, and In due course I will be checking and replacing these if needed. It has been suggested that upgrading the front suspension with M-Sport components to get a little more camber is a worthwhile investment. If I go down that route it would be the perfect opportunity to replace all the front end bushes and insulators Cheers... jondee

Got a new WOF last week from my usual garage and the only comment made was that the front pads are getting low. I had a look, measured the discs and they probably have another 20km in them. But I have ordered some HPS pads and will get some new front rotors organised so that I have everything I need on hand when the time comes. The rear pads and rotors were changed about siz months ago. I'm starting to think that the "clunking" is just what you get with low profile tyres and stiffer suspension. I can live with it, and will get a proper check done the next time the car is in for a service. Cheers... jondee

Some anonymous BBS reps 17 x 8 -35 as in my avatar. They wern't hub centric either which didn't help as I don't like having to use centring rings. No prob... they were an impulse buy as I do like that wheel design... just didn't realise how "technical" it gets when trying to mix and match wheels on Bm's. Maybe somewhere down the line I will look at getting some wider wheels, but that will be a fairly low priority. Cheers... jondee

Did a trial fit on the front with one of my little wheels and it was binding on the back plate .. live and learn... goodbye square setup It's only sheetmetal but I'm not about to start modifying stuff, so those wheels will be on TradeMe shortly. And in view of the fact that I don't plan on tracking this car I have bought another set of the 189's that guarranty no fitting problems. Bonus is that I will now have four spare wheels Cheers... jondee

Doing the sums in my head, I think that front fitting puts the rim about 2mm outboard, but with the extra stretch on the tyre, it should be more or less in the same place as the OEM 18 x 8 +34 wheel with 225/40 tyre. I don't know if there are clearance differences between your F20 and my E92 coupe, but that 8.5" wheel should work for me. Useful information that Cheers... jondee