Stupidmia

Hi Dave, The Lower arm was out by 22 seconds (0.006 deg)...he said it was so little, but the machine is that accurate it picks it up and it gets reported! Not sure how bad that is? I have comprehensive extended warranty that says it covers suspension below a certain mileage....however, I have an £100 excess, do depends on what it would cost at a good independent (Couldn’t imagine I have the gear to diy). on the report it says O/S/F lower arm...which I think may refer to offside front? If so, not sure how the rear damage could have caused that (given it was more a very slow speed swipe to rear panel and wheel)? Maybe just a bad pothole or result of kerbing? Or maybe O/S/F means something else? cheers

Just picked up my car and got home and had a look at the paperwork I was given re. The 4 wheel alignment and noticed the ‘vehicle’ stated as 3 Series (F30) STD and not F31 Touring XDrive? now I am wondering if the wheel alignment nominal values could be different between the 2 models? I spoke to the garage and they said there was various models specified, but they all had similar values, so they took Prolines advice and used the average values! They were pretty confident they have done it correctly and pointed out it was quite a bit out....especially at the rear as expected!! would have posted a pic of printout but need to work out how😕

Thanks again everyone for your advice😀 Definitely gonna go for the alignment👍 Thinking about all the potholes I have ‘slammed’ into and the many speed bumps I go over each day (especially those ones with the slopes side that force the wheels apart) it seems the most sensible thing to do! Asked my usual indie (when something isn’t warranty work) if he had the gear (which would have been ideal as he is very good)...but he only had the laser alignment gear....however, he recommended our local Toyota dealership in West Cumbria (Myers & Bowman) as the best around here! I used them for my MR2 and RAV4 and found them to be good back then ...the service manager even helped find a local company that would remove the awful RAV4 BSRs (Bridgestone Support Rings) from my SR180 and several other customers! it will be £102 inc vat and they said it takes about 1.5hrs...so gonna try and get it in next week. it dawned on me today that someone hit my car and damaged the rear alloy (on the side that has worn the most) a few months before I first changed my tyres!!! That alloy was replaced by the insurance...but I now wonder if that could have knocked them out of alignment? It was actually my rears that were lower in tread than the front then😯 Following that, within 6 months, BMW changed them all under warranty due to them showing signs of corrosion from the centres! Bet they didn’t line anything up following that either! Cheers

Hi again I think a nearby Kwikfit may have the Hunter setup....and there is another in my town that uses ‘SuperTracker’...is that any good? would a garage be able to tell me if bushes were worn by inspection only? Is it quite common for them to wear out within 26k? Or are you all suggesting that the bushes be replaced as caution? the car is covered by extended BMW warranty....is there anything that may be covered by that? Cheers...Patrick

Hi again I think a nearby Kwikfit may have the Hunter setup....and there is another in my town that uses ‘SuperTracker’...is that any good? would a garage be able to tell me if bushes were worn by inspection only? Is it quite common for them to wear out within 26k? Or are you all suggesting that the bushes be replaced as caution? the car is covered by extended BMW warranty....is there anything that may be covered by that? Cheers...Patrick

Thanks Dave....a lot to consider there. Mine are staggered and having had the car from new, I have only replaced with the exact same tyres as what they came with factory fitted (F1 asymmetric 2s). They are 255/35/R29 rear and iirc, 225/40/R19 front. out of interest, I had the tears replaced less than an hour ago and they confirmed fronts had 6mm tread left across them both!!! They also told me that the tyre manufacturer provide a ‘better mould’ For factory fit tyres...so people come back fir them again! Will look around for somewhere to check alignment....other than that, it’ll be due service in December at the dealer....so I’ll be quizzing them too!!! i especially want to ask them why they told me at the beginning of Feb 2018 that it would soon need new brake pads and had maybe 3k left in them!!! That was about 6k ago, so I got a price for 4 new ones of a local indie (he’s a friend) and he quoted @£300 (inc new wear sensors if required...else it would be less). Was quite pleased with that...but now I’m even more pleased in the fact that Protyre did a free brake check and said I had 8mm on all pads (estimated 21k left)😮 I find it hard to believe that I have done 26k on them since new and still have that much left? But at least it’s more than the 3k the guy at BMW told me!!! feel like popping in over weekend tbh😡 thanks again

Thanks for the reply Apparently my car favours a 60/40 split in favour of the rear...and it is a 330d, so has a bit of power to send to them! So I can understand that rears will not last as long as fronts for me...but half as long as the last set?!? I've read about the rolling circumference issues, but also read it was more an issue on the older X3 models? Mines an F31 330d and of course has staggered sizes front and rear. I’ve read on some threads that the F30/F31 rolling circumference issue is not as big a problem...assuming you keep same tyres/sizes and correct inflation pressure I would imagine? as it stands now, I reckon my fronts will have between 4.5 to 5mm and the rears are at the markets...so potentially @ 3mm difference now,....yet it isn’t throwing up any error messages? So my thinking is if I change the rears, then it will just flip the 3mm difference (until the rears start catching up with the fronts again). If it doesn’t like it or the car feels odd...then I will sort the front 2 as well. the thoughts about the setup are interesting...maybe need to talk to dealer next time I’m passing...cheers! I have since noticed the rear tyre wear would suggest a bit of camber in the wheel alignment, as they seem to wear more across the surface from outer to inner edges!!! Is this common for these cars? Or do I need to get something adjusted? Tbf though, I would say it’s a mm difference from one end to other, so maybe not massive!!! Thanks again ...better get the wallet out (again😢)

Hi I replaced all my Tyres 13 months ago (the first set lasted 2.5 years) with the same Goodyear F1 Asymmetric 2 runflats! Firstly, I cant believe the rears need replaced already after about 8k!! I don’t tear around in it (I don’t even in our JCW), but they look like they are scrubbed ‘black’ evenly(ish) across the full tyre compared to the fronts!! The originals lasted twice as long with me driving it no differently as far as I know. The fronts look like they have plenty of tread in comparison , perhaps 2.5 to 3mm above wear indicators (but not as much as new obviously), but is it ok to just replace the rears? Or will it affect the Xdrive etc? dread the thought of having to fork out £££s for a full change ever year😔 cheers

Out if interest...how do these tyres work with regards to tread depth? The 4 wide grooves that run longitudinally seem to be quite deep, yet the tread grooves that sweep across the tyres are no way near as deep (else they wouldn’t be disappearing)! If some grooves can be deep...why can’t the others be as deep?

Hi I replaces all my Tyres 13 months ago (the first set lasted 2.5 years) with the same Goodyear F1 Asymmetric 2 runflats! Firstly, I cant believe the rears need replaced already after about 8k!! I don’t tear around in it (I don’t even in our JCW), but they look like they are scrubbed black compared to the fronts!! The originals lasted twice as long with me driving it the same The fronts look like they have plenty of tread (but not as much as new obviously), but is it ok to just replace the rears? Or will it affect the Xdrive etc? dread the thought of having to fork out £££s ever year😔 cheers

Thanks for the reply Trevor...will pop to the garage when I’m off next week! I wouldn’t put cheap pads in anyways...but I wasn’t even going to consider changing the discs, based on what I had read on a google search on the matter! 😔 My car is still on original pads and discs...however, it is still a little under 25k, so I would have hoped the discs had a bit more life (maybe until next pad change?). Of course, I will ask for advice when I take it in (the guy, as I said, is trustworthy and really experienced).

Hi there, Looking for a bit of advice re. replacing of brake pads. My car is a F31 330d Xdrive and at the last service in Dec 2017, I recall the guy at the BMW dealer service reception mentioning that I would need to replace the pads soon….he mentioned something about them having around 3k left on them! Fast forward to this week and I remembered that I had not replaced them yet and have done @ 5k more miles! So far, there’s no rumbling, grinding or screeching when braking, and I haven’t had any indication/warning lights?? Yesterday, I checked the vehicle info on the iDrive and there is something in there about brake pad service! It says to replace the fronts before 3200 miles and the rears before 6300 miles….am I correct in assuming that these figures will have been entered at the last service and not a ‘real time’ countdown to when they will likely need replaced? I am going away for a couple of days on Thurs morning(200 mile round journey), so it’s unlikely I will be able to get them replaced before then….but do you think I am dicing with death? Or is it more a case of the BMW dealer erring well on the side of caution (and looking for ££s)? When I replace them, I would prefer to take it to a very good independent garage (owned by a friend, who is very honest, reliable and reasonable)…..but would this affect my BMW Extended warranty in any way? Any advice would be greatly appreciated….Cheers

Thanks Paul....may go for the 512g then😃 probably won't get much use out of the park mode, as when it's not parked on my drive, it spends 40hrs a week parked at work ....and somebody pointed out today that, as I work on a Nuclear Licenced site, I am expected to knock the dash cam off before entering site (for security purposes). Will be handy for the journey there and back as its heavy traffic, mixed with cyclists (5:30 in morning in all weathers) and several idiots who think they deserve to get home before everyone else😡 will install to the under glovebox socket (which doesn't and likely won't get used for anything else) and see how it goes (I am lead to believe it goes on/off with ignition)...if neat enough, will save buying the hard wiring kit😉 saw a video showing best way to do this.

Hi, i am thinking about fitting a dash cam in my F31, as much as I would have liked to have the BMW advanced car eye fitted, I don't want to shell out the silly price that dealers charge to fit (don't feel confident fitting it myself either)! I was looking at the Nextbase 512g that is on offer at Halfords, but wanted to clear up a few things first, if anyone would be so kind enough to help?😉 firstly, I thought about fitting myself and routing to the 12v socket under the glovebox, but I believe that this powers down soon after, thus rendering the park function of the cam useless...is this correct? secondly, I thought about getting them fit it for me (assuming they would power it from the fuse box and know which one is always on)...this would allow the park function to work.........however....I have heard about people getting battery drain warnings? And also wonder if this would mean that the start/stop function would basically never work unless I did a long enough journey to charge it up (my daily commute is 10 miles each way)! I tried searching on this forum, but struggling to find any info (maybe I'm searching incorrectly😟)...so I apologise if the answers are already on here. any thoughts/advice would be welcome...as would recommendations for something that has a similar spec/price, but has proved to not have an adverse effect on battery drain? I have read about people fitting little chargeable backup power supplies that will continue to power it, but I don't want it to be too difficult to source, setup and install😀 thanks in advance