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[Lee-69]

Hello - im sure this topic has been covered many times before so Im sorry to ask some questions. Picked up my brand new E90 M3 back in July this year and I have covered only 2300 miles, of which most have been very relaxed casual driving with only the odd few bursts using the M button since my 1200 mile service. I have checked my rear tread depth and was alarmed to see only 5mm of depth on the rears and only 6mm on the front.

My previous car was the latest AUDI S4 which I got 20,000 miles before I had to change my tyres. Both the M3 and S4 have/had the same tyres - Michelin PS2.

What can I really expect to get from a set of tyres on my M3 - would like to know what experience you have had. - Thanks Lee.

[M3SQRD]

Do you have OEM 18" or 19" wheels? I'm asking because the OEM 18" tires start off with 9.5/32" F and 8.5/32" R of tread whereas the OEM 19" start with 8.5/32" F and R of tread.

Your current tread depth is approximately 5-6/32". Rears definitely wear faster than the fronts. Have you had the alignment checked? A poor alignment can result in severe treadwear. For only 2300 miles I'd say your treadwear rate is a little bit excessive. If most of your mileage is due to highway commuting, which I think it is based on your orig post, then I'd suggest getting your alignment checked. Otherwise it sounds like you are having a lot of fun with the car...

[Lee-69]

I have the 19" wheels and i can honestly say that i have been very careful with the car and have not yet had any serious fun.

[M3SQRD]

Originally Posted by Lee-69

I have the 19" wheels and i can honestly say that i have been very careful with the car and have not yet had any serious fun.

Then I'd recommend having your alignment checked. Perhaps you have excessive toe settings front and rear which would contibute to excessive wear. On the NSX and S2000 Honda had very aggressive toe settings on the first model years of each car and people were only getting 5k miles out of a set of tires. To make things worse the NSX tires had "toe" built into the OEM tire tread patterns!

[Nine]

Originally Posted by Lee-69

I have the 19" wheels and i can honestly say that i have been very careful with the car and have not yet had any serious fun.

Maybe your service advisor or bmw tech took it for a joy ride...

[Ateam]

Alignment has nothin to do with treadwear if it is even treadwear. Alignment can explain uneven wear or wear on outer or inner parts of the tire but a normal wear pattern has nothing to do with alignment.

If you are in really hot weather and even driving moderatly you are still putting down 300-400hp crank which is a lot more than the audi and tires go quickly. Most get 6k-8k if they drive relatively agressively so you are on target for about 8k which is pretty standard. Unfortunately it is the price of admission along with the crap gas mileage etc. Pay to play even for an m3 which itself is not overly expensive. Kind of like a big house. You can get in the door but dont underestimate the increased cost of maintence, cooling/heating, yard work, water etc. Pay to play

[ben@tirerack]

Couple of things to note:

Tires wear the fastest at the beginning of life. If you had a graph of tread depth vs mileage, it would look more like exponential decay than a linear graph.


With regard to alignment, it is possible to get accelerated but relatively even treadwear from a car with aggressive toe settings. Camber is the more common issue for BMW, and that would cause wear at the edge, usually negative camber and inside edge wear.

[Richbot]

That's only 25% worn, the rears come molded with 8/32" of tread from the factory.

8-10k miles out of a set of rears is not uncommon. I got 8k out of my first set and looking like about 15k out of my second set.

Static negative camber, in my experience, has almost nothing to do with excessive tire wear by itself, especially if you do any amount of spirited driving, because what you may grind off the insides is evened out by the periods where you're leaning on the tires and grinding down the center and outside shoulder. Once you start combining some negative camber with some toe-in like BMW does in the rear, you start to see more wear, and in the case of the E9x M3 it is fairly even. On my E46 it ate inside edges with the factory alignment which had even more toe-in. The idea that alignment can't affect tire wear unless the wear is uneven is just plain wrong. One easy way to get better wear out of rear tires since time immemorial has been to set the rear toe at zero. Bear in mind that on a car which is delivered with significant toe-in like the M3 this can have a big impact on cornering attitude and it's not for people who can't catch a slide without the computer.

[IS350]

I've got 850 miles and I'm noticing a strange chipping-like condition on sections of the front tire which are missing. Will post pics when I can get to a computer, does this sound common?