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-   -   Tired of tyre failures & replacements on my BMW X1 (F48) (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/tyre-alloy-wheel-section/190453-tired-tyre-failures-replacements-my-bmw-x1-f48.html)

After going through a lot of options and discussion (More on that here: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/what-car/182661-innova-replacement-fortuner-vs-x1-vs-superb-2.html#post4186668 ), I finalised on the BMW X1 (F48) exactly 8 months back. While I've been working on the ownership review of my car, I did not think I'd have to write a post regarding an issue with the car before that. The excitement of writing a review has somewhat turned into disappointment because of a tyre burst. And not just once, TWICE! :Frustrati

The new X1 was equipped with Pirelli Cinturato C7 225/50 R18 95W RFTs. There was a spare tyre included in the boot, though it is half the size and comes with the regular limitations.

First incident: Almost two weeks back, I was driving with my family (4 of us) from Goa to Kolhapur. Since it was the rainy season, the road condition was horrible and there was a pothole every now and then, hence we weren't going too fast. Around 10pm, some 60 kms before Kolhapur, we took a halt at Gaganbawda and we set off on the journey again with my father on the driving seat. After a while, we heard a loud bang, more like a fire cracker bursting, and a sudden warning on the iDrive popped up and my dad realised the car was pulling to the left and so we stopped. The co-driver side tyre had burst. Luckily for us, there was a petrol pump just around the corner. We put up the spare and reached Kolhapur.
The next day, on enquiring, we found out that Pirelli had no stock of the tyre and our only option was to put up a continental tyre of the same config. We were helpless as it wasn't possible to come back to Mumbai with the half size spare tyre. We went for the conti and after shuffling the tyres, we came back to Mumbai.

Two weeks later (Yesterday), again on the Mumbai - Goa highway, on our way to Chiplun, the same thing happened. Exact same thing, and the co-driver side tyre burst once again. Since we had shuffled the tyres, the rear left Pirelli tyre was put ahead on the co driver side and the new conti tyre was on the rear left. We got to our destination with the spare tyre.

Initially when the tyre burst, we assumed that the road condition would have been the reason behind it. But after the incident yesterday, I am forced to think that maybe Pirelli's are not suited for the Indian roads. After shelling out 45Lacs, this isn't the kind of situation you'd expect to be in. I've done countless trips on the same roads and sometimes even in worse conditions in my i10, City and the Innova but never did I face such a situation before. On such roads, a puncture is justified but not a tyre burst, especially for a tyre which costs a whopping 37k.

I got in touch with BMW and they offered to tow the car to the nearest service station (Pune) and taxi services within a 300 km radius. That doesn't seem of much help to me as I'd have to go to Mumbai and back to Pune again. Hence, I am thinking of ordering another Conti and fitting it here and then driving back to Mumbai.

Since I am a newbie here, I would like to know what you, fellow BHP-ians, think about this.
Should I get in touch with BMW India and ask for all 4 tyres to be changed?
or Should I just get another conti and claim insurance for the same? Or is there anything else you guys suggest?


Thanks in advance for the advice and suggestions.

It happened for me with a specific size of tyres - apollo accelere and bridgestone - 4 tires in a period of six months - 2 replaced under warranty. Probably a batch issue or a specific profile. Switch to a higher profile tire recommended by BMW for your vehicle.

Mod's note: Trimming entire quoted post in the best interests of readability and fixed quote tag

Well, not that I am trying to defend anyone, just the road conditions on certain patches are horrible and no matter which brand you use, it can fail. Mine X5 suffered a similar blow when front right went on a crater, even though I was very slow but it took a big hit. Thankfully I could reach home and I replaced both fronts with tubeless which should be better based on my past experience.

That looks wrong to me, X5 tyre costs around 30ish at the dealership but I went with tubeless Goodyear @ 17,500. It's a different matter that BMW Dealership raised an invoice of about 15,000 for tyre balancing and alignment which I am yet to pay and have disputed.

Since you are in the first Year of ownership, your tyres will be covered under BMW Secure. You should get the claim from BMW, They may deduct some money due to mileage but it will be still better than nothing. If you have not filed for the first claim then better file claim for both together, ask the dealership to help you and show both as a recent damage.

I've faced some tyre trouble recently with my X3. The details are here.

My case is a bit different. I did not face any issues with the Pirelli run flats that came with the car, except that the run flats wore out a bit unevenly and that the tyres did not really suit the car (poor grip + harsh ride). I switched to Pirelli tubeless which I bought outside. I think in my case the tyre lost air due to either a valve leak or some external damage on the sidewall. I am very sure I did not hit any pothole. I have gone back and bought another tyre of the same make and hope my tyre troubles are over. BTW I drove over 450 kms on the space saver to get home!

In my case I ran the run flats for about 25k kms. No tyre burst or damage whatsoever. The X3's tyre size is 245/50R18 as against 225/50R18 for the X1. So the sidewall is a bit taller. But one thing is certain, you have to be very careful with these cars on our roads. The sidewall is very narrow compared other cars, the suspension is stiff and the cars are heavy. An awkward hit and the tyres will give way. You can try going for tubeless tyres, but many here are of the opinion that run flats are safer. I am not disputing that fact, but I feel run flats are more prone to sidewall damage on our roads due to inflexible sidewalls. Another option is downsizing to 17" tyres with taller sidewalls.

As Turbanator has rightly pointed out, yours is a new car and you are eligible for compensation in case of tyre damage. Please raise the claim and get the replacement/ reimbursements.


You changed only the front tyres to tubeless? What about the rears?


:uncontrol 15,000 for balancing and alignment?!!! They quoted 4,000 for just alignment for my X3. I should have refused. My regular tyre shop's alignment area is too narrow and he was unable to get readings due pillar blockage, which is why I got it done at BMW this time. This will be first and last time I do it there.

I think since Tiwana's departure and Garry taking his place, labour charges have increased for BMW and Triumph. For Triumph I would say it's almost doubled and even tripled in few cases. Or it's just a coincidence and nothing to do with people changing places.

I have a staggered setup, it's M variant and I am still on OE Runflats

I never authorised Alignment, at time of taking delivery, one guy pointed that steering is little tilted which I confirmed and told that it's since I bought. They told me to wait and they will get it checked, it was around 6ish so everyone was in hurry, I must have finished the coffee and they got my car outside. Since we have a credit account, they will normally send the invoice later, which I got after a couple of days. I doubt alignment is possible in 5-10 minutes, maybe they had put the car on the machine and adjusted steering, but again I don't feel any difference. Apparently, they charge very high for changing tyres as well. These must be BMW rates though. They have promised to correct it to more reasonable levels, let's see.

Looks you are aware of this place :). I will say after Aman has left for Isuzu it's different or perhaps pressures from management to bring profits. I think most of the premium brand dealerships are under pressure, new car sales are discounted mostly except few models and maintenance packages leaves few chances for extra earnings.

If I am not mistaken, most of the places overseas charge only for balancing say like 25 or 30 $ but nothing for weights, looks here in India BMW has authorised similar charges and also kept traditional weight charges extra as normal tyre guys charges.

Yes Sir I know this place now:) My Bonnie goes there for checkups. Seems like it's cheaper to replace a tyre on BMW rather then Triumph where they charge 1600 per tyre. Same machine and same place but different rates.

I heard that Triumph is supporting them in increased labour rates and in fact it's them telling the dealers to charge for every little thing possible. Earlier the washing was free for Triumph and now they charge some 500 for a quick one. Now I don't get it washed if my bike is clean as they make it more dirtier by washing.

Have been hearing similar complaints on some Pirelli models. It's not a brand that I would install on my car. Period.

A recommendation to BMW owners = as much as I prefer tubeless tyres over runflats, I still chose Continental runflats at the time of replacement in my 530d. Primary reason = stronger sidewalls for Indian highways. My car has done more than 50% of its running on highways and I haven't had a single damaged tyre.

Of course, it would be a different matter if I'd find rubber like the Pilot Sports 3 in my size.

Update: I purchased a continental tyre in Mumbai and had it delivered to my location and now have shuffled the new conti tyres on the front, old pirellis on the rear.

Thanks Turbanator and Santosh for letting me know about this. I have spoken to Navnit Motors and I will file for the claim process as soon as I'm back. Though it's suprising that I wasn't made aware about BMW Secure during delivery or anytime after that.

Yeah, the tyre store owner also told me how his clients have faced issues with Pirelli.

My car does highway runnings quite often too. I am also planning to change the remaining two tyres to continental once I'm back. Thanks for the recommendation.

:OT

Update

Looks, they have accepted the error and have now corrected the Invoice clap:

Seems like the tire is not suited to Indian road conditions. Long time back, possibly 30 years back (I was a 18 year old kid at that time), when my father was stationed in Manila, Philippines, we had a 2 year old Toyota Crown that was just newly fitted with some Japanese brand of tire (quite a famous brand, but can't remember now what exactly it was). On an 4 hour trip to a hill station outside Manila, tire bursts happened on 2 of the 4 tires on the expressway. The car was probably going at maximum 80 km/hr. After fitting a spare of the same brand, that tire also burst on the way back.

On coming back to Manila, we replaced all the tires with Goodyear tires and the problem immediately disappear.

So, its quite possible the tires are not suited to Indian road conditions. Probably best to change the tires to something which is used quite often on Indian road.

The Pirelli Cinturato C7s don't really stand out in any way be it braking, grip, road noise, comfort, durability, I have tested them in several different applications (Mondeo, X1, a dealer Kizashi) found them absolutely average yet expensive totally not worth it. At the same time, like GTO pointed out, Continental makes some good tyres especially if the requirement is both comfort and side-wall strength. They don't really perform as well as similar Michellins or Yokohamas when it comes to grip, but in terms of durability, this is definitely the brand to go with. I refer Michellins or Yokohamas to my buddies looking for performance oriented stuff and always refer Continentals to the oldies and anyone just generally interested in having a reliable yet plush tyre setup. They have never let me down none of the folks to whom I have suggested they instal Continentals, have ever faced any tyre blowouts or any other maintenance issues, and remember these are the kind that are not bothered about cars and hardly ever check their tyre pressures regularly ;)

So I suggest you swap out all the tyres and go for Continentals. Afterall I feel your Deutsch car deserves some Deutsch tyres don't you? :D Also please don't pay 37k for a tyre that is absolutely ludicrous. 15-18k is about what you ought to be paying in your case per tyre.

Your observation regarding the Cinturato C7s is bang on. I realised that only after installing the two continentals on the front. I can actually feel the difference between the two when I go over rumblers or a bad stretch of road. I agree that the C7s on the rear have clocked 10000+ kms, but I can confirm that the contis are better just by the grip I am getting when I drive. I don’t remember having such good grip when I drove my car initially. Also, there is no wheel spin now when I go full throttle or even while using launch control. There’s a vast difference between the two.

And yes, as you said I’m going to switch the tires on the back as well. There’s no way I’m going back to pirellis again, leave alone paying 37k. The conti cost me around 25k, which I think isn’t bad for RFT. And hopefully BMW Secure will cover it for me.
Thanks though :)

Looks this is becoming more of a Tyre thread for BMW's :)

what's opinion about Pirelli P-Zero? Getting standard on a new car, should I try to get these swapped or continue?

I had them on my E36 and then on E46, I love their grip specially in rain. I rate them quite high compared to the rest. If you can then I would say swap them.