Rear Wheel trouble.

[Barney Paull-Edwards]

A good friend proudly took delivery of a new 335 cabrio(UK) in nov `07 and has now got what I think is a serious problem. It eats rear tyres at the rate of 4k a set. At the last service(22k) she was told that the tracking was spot on but both rear wheels were broken. It turns out they are cracked from the rim edge to the hub but with no evidence of kerbing.BMW say its hit a pot-hole, huh? With both rear wheels, a hell of a hole. It smells of a defect of some sort or another,there is no evidence of grounding either.Any other folks with similar stories??

[Ross]

I'm confused(usually), are tires the problem or the wheels? Consuming tires in 4k is a right foot problem.
Are you saying there is a radial crack from rim edge to hub ?! I haven't seen everything but that sounds like a bum wheel to me. Anyone consuming tires at that rate is going to have a rough time convincing BM the car isn't abused.

[Barney Paull-Edwards]

I suspect the problem is two fold,yes it eats rear tyres at an unacceptable rate, to me ,and a radial crack was discovered on both rear wheels. BMW stated that it had hit a pothole which was the cause of the cracks, bull................ The cause of the tyre wear has not been found but the service dept said it was normal. Both of these answers seem wrong to me,i posted to find if anybody has had similar experiences.

[Barney Paull-Edwards]

As a post-script to that thread,BMW examined the situation and flatly denied there was a problem with the wheels. £1100 a pair and tough. I put my gauges on the car and it is running 2.5 neg on rear with toe in, AFTERt they tracked it, seems to me there is going to be trouble down the line with weak rear arms on car, looked carefully on new M3 and arms are completely different,strangely they would not let me put gauges on a car in the show-room?!