Time to rally the troops!! I recently had the displeasure of a cracked 20" wheel and the standard text book excuse from BMW of "you hit a pot hole", which I did not! I have researched the issue on the internet and found hundreds of accounts of similar experiences with the same dialogue given each time. Too many to be dismissed as driver induced. I had a left rear wheel crack right after having the tires replaced. It was cracked bad enough to need replacement so why wasn't the front tire also damaged? It would have hit the same "pot hole" first!! The tires are not damaged & as I have been told they would be from a hit. No problem with the other three wheels. The wheel shows no dents, bulges, scratches or protrusion associated from an impact, only a 1" very clean crack. There is an apparent problem with the weak alloy used in the wheels when combined with the rigid side walls of run flats. BMW has been aware of the issue for quite some time and is not addressing it. Instead they tell the standard line of driver fault and make the service manager the bad guy. Do a simple web search and you will discover just how many problems exist and for how long. I love my X5 and Z4M Coupe from Greer S.C. but am distressed at BMW's dismissal of the costly problem. As a club, would the members contact BMW to express dissatisfaction with their stance and encourage BMW to re-engineer/design the alloy content of the wheels and the lip design while providing relief to those that have not contributed to the cracks but have suffered the financial burden of replacing the expense wheels, in some cases several times. I am really surprised BMW would close their eyes to an engineering induced problem and tarnish their reputation of such beautiful products. I own 2 BMW's and am looking at a third X3, but now cautiously. I have been to the Driver Performance Center, toured the amazing factory in Greer, am a club member and local club magazine contributor, and live the BMW life style with enthusiasm. I want BMW to step up to the plate and deal with it. It would garner much respect from many CCA members and restore my faith in "the ultimate driving machine". Let's rally the club to encourage the design department and factory to help its customers. I will continue writing, documenting the problem and relentlessly pursuing this until a plausible resolution is reached!! Thanks Rick St Louis Chapter
never been a fan of the run flats. . . my aunt actually had the same thing happen on her E93. The tire was slowly losing pressure. after a few weeks, she took it into our local tire shop. Of course, they couldnt find any issue with the rubber, but found it coming from a micro crack on the inside of the wheel itself. They unmounted the tire and the wheel itself fell apart into several pieces. The tire was holding it together. Complete garbage.
I have also spent some time reading the different accounts of damaged wheels on many different sites and threads, and the one thing that is outstanding in the vast majority of stories is that the rim size is usually 19" and larger. Seems to me that the same manufacturers make the larger diameter wheels as the 18" and smaller wheels, so from my standpoint, unless you have incredibly smooth roads where you live, stay with 18" or smaller wheels. I have an acquaintance that works at a local wheel repair shop, and he says there is a direct correlation between larger wheel diameter and wheel damage, on any manufacturer's product. The less rubber between the wheel rim and the road surface, the higher incidence of wheel damage. Seems logical to me...
