[Akshay1234]

Originally Posted by Nikhilganju

- Akshay - good point, but too late to too anything about it now. Either way, my contention is that BMW should not be selling these 'light alloys' when they are prone to damage despite very careful driving.

Well if the vibration has been felt only after the service then it probably can only be that one of the service people has driven your car roughly causing the bends. Also if the bends are not visible, then the vibration might actually not be from that. Send your car for alignment and balancing. Also ask some of the Delhi members for a good tyre shop that caters to BMWs etc, and get them to check out the alloys. Sometimes they can be repaired too.

Last option, if you intend on keeping a car for a while buy a nice new set of alloys, BBS or even some other BMW ones. You can also ask your dealer if any 3 series or 5 series owner has upgraded his wheels, and put those on your car.

[NinadJoshi]

I believe this is a known issue. There are many forums on non-Indian Auto sites discussing this. BMW's usual defense is a lame disclaimer is that low profile tires can (and very often will) lead to tire and wheel failure.

There is also a common consensus among sufferers that the rims are designed too weak to take the impact of normal on-road driving. The problem can be exacerbated by the run-flat tires if you happen to have them - as rightly pointed out by Akshay above. Run-flats are made of harder rubber and have much stronger sidewalls than normal tires, which may result result in too much of the normal road force from small bumps being transmitted to the rim rather than getting absorbed in part by the tire itself.

I do not have proper info on what OEM tires the BMW's in India come with, but in my part of the world the combination of the inherently weak 17 and 18 inch rims and Bridgestone Potenza run-flat tires is a well known and guaranteed recipe for expensive disaster.

[sagarpadaki]

All 4 alloys bent at same time is definitely fishy.Are you sure that the dealership has not swapped your car alloys with some other car.Have a close look at the alloys to make sure that they indeed belong to your car.Before you remove any of the wheels park the car and observe if all four bends are at the same spot relative to each other(Mark with a white chark the position of the bend). If true, then the only possibility is that the lift failed and your car has come crashing down .If this is true then you have all the rights to confront them with this info!!! .Take lots of pics and a detailed video too of the damage in broad sunlight before you proceed !

If the damage is very less then you can get the alloys repaired.Its quite reliable too.Many of the members here have done it and are satisfied with the results.You can get all 4 alloys repaired for 2K bucks.Cheap!

[Nikhilganju]

Mod team note: Back to back posts, please use Multi Quote (Quote+) instead. Thanks

Jaggu - The tyres might be covered in the package, but the alloy rims are not. In fact you might be referring to the new BMW Secure package (for the new 5 series cars) which probably includes the alloys as well. My car is the previous version of the 5 (the Chris Bangles design) and was bought in May 2010, just about the time the new 5 was being launched in India. I checked the warranty as well (in hindsight of course!) and the alloys are not covered for 'user induced damages'. Beautiful inclusion by very smart lawyers obviously - allows them to blame everything on ambiguous 'user induced damages'!

Drpullockaran - Thanks for the insightful suggestions. I'm absolutely certain that the BMW workshop guys are not capable of investigating the bends with such thoroughness. They simply and easily recommended that I buy new ones. Almost making one suspicious that they might be doing this just to make people buy expensive spares. Even if that were not the case, as a customer, I'm nervous about the prospect of spending 1.3 lacs every 18 months on new alloys! whats to prevent the new alloys from getting bent again due to 'user induced damages'?!
To your point about german reliability - i agree that i wasn't buying a tank, after all it is a car only. But when one pays so much, one just expects it to be built a little better than other cars I've driven before. Never faced this with a much cheaper Honda Civic I drove for 4 years! And that also had alloy wheels!

[Jaggu]

Yup it is newer 5 and its covered in secure package, 2 tyres per year also IIRC. But i understand for tyres its pro-rated based on kms it has done.

[sgiitk]

Sounds like the story in the 1990's when snow 'derailed' British Rail. Europeans rails systems were running normally. The minister (sound more like one of ours) said that the snow was very fine and hence messed up the locomotives. The press of course had a field day with the ministers superfine snow.

Maybe BMW learnt from this minister!!

[shankar.balan]

Here is something I came across in a car mag in Australia a week or two back.
Thought I should share it here since I realized while reading this ad that there was a thread on TBHP about BMW alloys and wheels and damages etc.
Hope it gives a perspective because it looks like one needs to insure the wheels and tyres and so on if one wants protection - atleast this seems to be the scenario in Oz and quite possibly other parts of the globe too.

[rajeshchand]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

Yup it is newer 5 and its covered in secure package, 2 tyres per year also IIRC. But i understand for tyres its pro-rated based on kms it has done.

Yes, the current set of tyres and rims are covered, they are of course on pro-rata basis.

Originally Posted by sagarpadaki

All 4 alloys bent at same time is definitely fishy.Are you sure that the dealership has not swapped your car alloys with some other car.Have a close look at the alloys to make sure that they indeed belong to your car.Before you remove any of the wheels park the car and observe if all four bends are at the same spot relative to each other(Mark with a white chark the position of the bend). If true, then the only possibility is that the lift failed and your car has come crashing down .If this is true then you have all the rights to confront them with this info!!! .Take lots of pics and a detailed video too of the damage in broad sunlight before you proceed !

If the damage is very less then you can get the alloys repaired.Its quite reliable too.Many of the members here have done it and are satisfied with the results.You can get all 4 alloys repaired for 2K bucks.Cheap!

There definitely seems to be something fishy.

Originally Posted by Nikhilganju

Jaggu - The tyres might be covered in the package, but the alloy rims are not. In fact you might be referring to the new BMW Secure package (for the new 5 series cars) which probably includes the alloys as well. My car is the previous version of the 5 (the Chris Bangles design) and was bought in May 2010, just about the time the new 5 was being launched in India. I checked the warranty as well (in hindsight of course!) and the alloys are not covered for 'user induced damages'. Beautiful inclusion by very smart lawyers obviously - allows them to blame everything on ambiguous 'user induced damages'!

Drpullockaran - Thanks for the insightful suggestions. I'm absolutely certain that the BMW workshop guys are not capable of investigating the bends with such thoroughness. They simply and easily recommended that I buy new ones. Almost making one suspicious that they might be doing this just to make people buy expensive spares. Even if that were not the case, as a customer, I'm nervous about the prospect of spending 1.3 lacs every 18 months on new alloys! whats to prevent the new alloys from getting bent again due to 'user induced damages'?!
To your point about german reliability - i agree that i wasn't buying a tank, after all it is a car only. But when one pays so much, one just expects it to be built a little better than other cars I've driven before. Never faced this with a much cheaper Honda Civic I drove for 4 years! And that also had alloy wheels!

What is the current status, any updates from BMW ?
Had i been in your place i would have just lost my temper (and that sometimes works with these lazy guys). Within a week of purchase i had an issue with my steering column (some kind of jarring noise) and i took it to the service center guy for check up and the service manager on hearing the problem immediately told me to get a job card done as this was a known problem with the vehicle batch of which mine also belonged, was a two hour wait before they changed some parts and gave it to me. They gave back the vehicle, now i checked and the noise is gone. When i started driving, now some other noise is coming from the bonnet side, i was just on the gates of the service center, called the service manager, he came up with a mechanic and fixed something inside the engine bay after which the noise vanished. Checked couple of times myself, no noise, then i proceeded further, after a kilometer the noise cropped up, i just lost myself after that, picked up the phone and gave mouthful to the service manager as well as the AGM Customer Service on the issue and i said, i am just leaving the vehicle right in front of the main gate of the service center and lock it up and go home, when you are ready to repair call me up and i will come. He said he will get it checked first thing in the morning, i said nothing doing, i want it to be repaired then and there, immaterial whether it is 9 or 12 in the night. He got the message that this customer is not going to relent, to my surprise, two mechanics came in a roadside assistance BMW X3 to my home at 1230 in the night and repaired the issue, as they say the engine bay cover had a missing screw, i just smiled and said, "at least next time onwards you wont forget the screw since you had to put one at 1230 in the night".

One has to understand that Indian customer is treated badly by any brand, forget about BMW, you pick any brand in any area of industry, so let us be Indians with them and that works wonders, just my 2 cents. I am not saying you go and bash them up, but be curt and behave like an a** (mods sorry, i could not find a better word other than this) and that sometimes works, decency do not work always, after all you paid 40L. It is not the company which do not want to respect you for having given the business, but it is those idiots with polished shoes and black ties representing the company who are not ready to acknowledge you and your business, well treat them the way they need to be treated and you get your respect, else they consider you another passing guy, this is just the Indian mindset, it is just another job for him, well i am not the one who can be passed over. Since the issue that happened with me 4 months back, once every month that AGM Customer Service, rings me up to find if everything is OK with me as well as my X1, he wants to keep me in good humor, well i don't mind it.

To add more insight into this, my wife who was in customer service industry for 10 years gave good inputs to me, every company and their sales department categorizes customers into passive and difficult, the airline industry even tags the frequent flier number with difficulty versions and that helps the crew to understand the specific needs of the customer, and he gets better looked after, so it pays to make yourself difficult to those guys, i have learnt it the hard way over the years, now this policy does work in my favor most of the time.

[drmohitg]

Posting this on behalf of a friend who bought a Mercedes 4 months back and is having a torrid time dealing with the dealer and insurance company:

I purchased a Mercedes Benz C220CDI bearing chasis number (VIN) WDD2040026L068340 and engine no.65191131608264 in Polar white color on 17/10/2013.
I drove the vehicle for 2000 km and most of the driving was on Delhi Chandigarh highway. While returning from Delhi the car went over a small pothole and its left rear tyre burst and left rear rim got bent.I tried contacting the 24 hr customer care but they did not answer the phone.
I finally towed the car to Joshi auto zone, Chandigarh from whom I had bought my car and the Insurance guy there told me that this is not because of accident but due to wear and tear and rejected my claim. The dealership also agreed with the assessment and denied any help with this. Since the car is almost new still I expected Mercedes to do this job under goodwill gesture,
Moreover I was told that the alloy design is no longer available as a new Mercedes C class is in the process of launching. On arguing further they somehow managed to place an order and got hold of a new alloy. I had to pay for both the tire and the alloy and total bill was Rs 45k. I brought the car back with the assurance that everything has been checked up and found 100% in order.
I soon found to my horror that the left front rim is also bent and the tyre is losing air. On taking it again to the same workshop I was told that this alloy is also bent and damaged and needs a change. Once again the insurance company people declined to cover it and labelled it as normal wear and tear.

My question is
1.Insurance company has rejected my claim saying it is because of wear and tear and not accident.
Doesn't the 0% depreciation is a bumper to bumper cover where damages to tyres and alloys are covered?

2. Are these rims and tyres so substandard that they have undergone wear and tear in only 2000 kms. My Honda accord has run 1L kms now and is 10 years old and still has never ever had any alloy damage. The car was being driven by my father who is a doctor and was not over speeding or driving rash. Neither was the pothole so gigantic. The Delhi Chandigarh highway is infact a decent highway with no gigantic potholes.

5.Customer helpline did not respond in my hour of crisis.

6.I brought back my car but it was not checked properly and now my left front rim is also bent and needs replacement.

Surely we dont expect this from Mercedes Benz. I always wanted to go for BMW but my dad has always been a fan of Mercedes and the quality that they stand for. But now I am highly regretting that decision.

Dr Abhinav Loomba

Attaching the pics of both the alloys. The one changed before and the other one which has developed the same issue:

[vikram_d]

Originally Posted by drmohitg

Posting this on behalf of a friend who bought a Mercedes 4 months back and is having a torrid time dealing with the dealer and insurance company

If both the left side tyres have the same problem then it is clearly means that it was damage caused by hitting the pothole. The insurance company is taking your friend for a ride. I would advice him to stand firm and get the insurance claim filed especially since he has a 0% depreciation policy.

[drmohitg]

Originally Posted by vikram_d

If both the left side tyres have the same problem then it is clearly means that it was damage caused by hitting the pothole. The insurance company is taking your friend for a ride. I would advice him to stand firm and get the insurance claim filed especially since he has a 0% depreciation policy.

He did. That is the sore point of all this. His father who was driving the car at the moment finally took it to the service centre and told them the truth that the car had gone over a small pothole before this happened. The insurance agent took the same in writing apparently and then told that this would not be covered since this is not accidental but regular wear and tear. Bajaj Allianz even has given them the same in writing.

What is the next step? I will upload the copy of Bajaj Allianz Letter that they received stating that this is wear and tear and not accidental.

[vikram_d]

Originally Posted by drmohitg

What is the next step?

Well I guess then the only option is to look at legal angles if they really want to pursue it. I really can't think of any other way.

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by drmohitg

He did. That is the sore point of all this. His father who was driving the car at the moment finally took it to the service centre and told them the truth that the car had gone over a small pothole before this happened. The insurance agent took the same in writing apparently and then told that this would not be covered since this is not accidental but regular wear and tear. Bajaj Allianz even has given them the same in writing.

What is the next step? I will upload the copy of Bajaj Allianz Letter that they received stating that this is wear and tear and not accidental.

I smashed a wheel along with slight suspension damage over some stones and Bajaj Alliance passed the claim. Wear and tear is where gradual wear occurs, they might not replace the tyre but am certain it will be damaged. Best way is to inflate and look out for bubbles. Same thing happened to me, they would not sanction a new tyre but when refitting the bulging tyre indicated damage so this was passed.

[sinhsha]

My car (BMW F30 320D bought on 2013) was having vibrations at highway speed.
On visual inspection all 4 wheel rims have significant bents in them.
As per service station technician that was causing the car to vibrate at highway speed.
My car is completely self driven by me and with utmost care and on national highways primarily.
This can be confirmed by the overall status of my car and the tyres would confirm that as well as no damage (like from hitting a pothole and such) to any of the tyres.
I was disappointed to see such condition of the rims even after that and that also within just 28K KM.
I have two other cars Skoda Octavia and Swift dzire (both with alloy wheels) and both are driven by me on similar routes and both have completed more that 135 K KM and with those cars I have never faced any such issues.
I thus suspect either these rims are manufactured poorly or the alloy rims provided by BMW on my car are not suitable for Indian roads at all.
In either of the situation I was demanding replacement of all three rims (3 are more bent out of 4) under warranty.
My car is having BSI and BRI for 5 years.
I was looking towards an amicable response from OSL to reinstate of my trust on BMW as a brand.

But post repeated communication with BMW india and OSL prestige dealership they kept extending the timeline and kept forcing me to the car for inspection multiple days making me weight for full day at the workshop.
After 5 months of such dilemma BMW india said that they can’t cover rims under warranty and OSL prestige said they would reimburse 30% of the cost of the part.

I was not about asking for goodwill gesture but it was always a discussion about the rims are either not manufactured well enough or are not suitable for Indian roads. I demanded a conclusion about the root cause of the issue that I hoped BMW India technical team would come up with their analysis about the root cause and that would be shared with me. Please refer to the mail below.
If the conclusion is it is indeed a fault of the rims then BMW should bear 100% of the cost (not only parts but the labor, tax and whatsoever)
If the conclusion it is not the fault of BMW but fault of driving then I need the justification about the absence of collateral damages (suspension, tyres etc).

But they never gave any conclusion.

[Turbanator]

On visual inspection all 4 wheel rims have significant bents in them.

Rims are covered under Insurance and not BSI. It's not uncommon to get these damaged on kind of roads we have, especially at your place. Even if you are driving self, many a times damages are known at later date. Comparing it with other vehicles won't be fair as this car will have a different profile of tyres and does much faster speed. I am sure they must have done wheel balancing already, if not then try getting these balanced at high-speed machines maybe with some tyre specialist outside. As you have run in around 28 K, check if you can buy a new set of tyres and see if that helps. Else 30 % Discount off is a reasonable offer from dealership in my opinion.