RS Grant

iTrader: (1)

My old dear has a 2009 320d M-Sport and it was due for a brake fluid service... £80 for a stamp in the book and renewal of fluid which was likely still in fine condition, but ok, worth it to keep the warranty intact I suppose.

Now, I'm well aware that she's needing replacement tyres on the rear and the fronts are on their last couple of mm too... so was planning to get a set of 4 'normal tyres' to get rid of the Run Flat Tyres because the ride is fucking horrendous and we were hoping that with conventional tyres, it might improve slightly.

While the car was on the ramps, the technician noticed that one of the alloys was cracked.. seemingly a common problem with the 19" alloys (E90 Forum Link) on these cars. They took her to the workshop to show her but couldn't say if it was a warranty claim or not and that it would have to be sent to BMW to be assessed, which they couldn't give a timescale for either.

So, they tried to convince her that her only option was to buy a new rear wheel (which they luckily had in stock! ) and because her rear tyres were in poor condition they couldn't swap the tyre to the new wheel.. meaning she'd have to buy two new tyres in addition to the new wheel. They said that it would be better if she replaced all four tyres at the same time and provided her with a quote for the work:

New 19" Alloy: £540
2 x 225/35/19 and 2 x 255/30/19 Bridgestone Runflats: £1350
Total cost quoted to her (inc VAT): £1890



....she phoned me asking if she should go ahead with it because it was dangerous/losing air/illegal?! Clearly words put in her mouth by the Service Desk guy ...so I told her to refuse any further work, get the car back from the service with all original wheels still in place and that we'd sort it out ourselves.

So a 2009, 29k mile car goes in for an £80 service and comes back with a repair quote to the tune of almost £2k. The ridiculous thing is, someone who doesn't have a clue about cars or have anyone they can ask for an opinion would get scaremongered by the service guy into agreeing to the work and be c£2000 lighter by now.


Cheers,
Grant

Mark B

Lucky your old dears switched on mate, dirty fuckers! Which BMW was it? I'm sure popeye works/worked in the Dundee one?

rs-tuner

iTrader: (1)

why are they dirty fuckers they are there to make money sounds to me like they have advised her correctly even if the price is high.

RS Grant

iTrader: (1)

It's the one in Perth mate and to be fair, they're far better than the shower of cunts that work at John Clark in Dundee.

From the times I've been in either the Sales or Service departments in JC, without fail, I've come out as Angry Grant because of their attitude that 'we're literally the poodles plums because we work at a BMW garage'.


Cheers,
Grant

Rick

TBH, I don't see the problem. Shock, BMW's/new cars are expensive.

If it's on 19's then tyres, and genuine wheels are going to be pricey.

Rick

Fiddy

You better tell her to hurry back and get the wheel Granty, cracking bit of luck them having one in stock, whats the chances ?

steves24V's

iTrader: (7)

Tyres are cheap if thats for run flats, had a z4 in today needing a 255 35 18 and was £230 trade to our garage plus vat.

Glenn_

iTrader: (1)

This is why i have cars that dont cost a fortune and i can fix myself.
1 tyre for the cossie from 40quid

1tyre for the wifes fiesta 40 quid cheap shit,not bothered as long as its got rubber on.

ben_frst

got a price for pirelli runflats yesterday 205/55/16 £104 each fitted so crazy the price for a extra 3inches

JokerDisco

iTrader: (4)

18" Bridgstone Potenza's on my M Sport cost £205 per corner - fitted.

Your better off buying a brand new set of 19" CSL replica wheels of ebay with tyres for £650

martysmartie

iTrader: (1)

A very well known and common problem, it was a Watchdog not to long ago, and BMW were trying to get the customer to pay!

No offence to your "old dear" though, the majority of people who buy these cars, fellas included don't know one end of a car from another, so they pass these cards off all the time and get away with it!

Martin

TimC

iTrader: (1)

Id love to know how the cracked wheels dont fall into warranty if the car is in its 3 year threshold. At the Merc dealers where I work, if the diamond cut wheel finish is coroding they dont even bat an eyelid at replacing it under warranty, never mind a crack in the wheel!

Have to say though, tyre prices where I am aint the best, but sometimes its just more convienient whilst having the rest of the work done.

RichieST

iTrader: (2)

If your mum isn't bothered I'd be tempted to downgrade to 18" alloys, will ride better, less chance of cracking and tyres will be cheaper.

jessie_rs

i have a friend who used to work for BMW as service advisor all ill say is they are paid on commission. One of the girls there charge a customer who trusted her £800 each for 2 rear tyres of a BMW X5

rs_traynor

robbin cunts!

Skotie jay

ive never understood why anyone would use an manufacturer once brought the car anyways. apart from like stated to keep the warranty.

Turbosimpsons

iTrader: (3)

and everyone moans at the cost of running 20yr old sierra's

carlo

iTrader: (4)

Mate this is my job , warranty admin & the dealer makes the decision on the wheel then when warranty pays the wheel they request it back & we send them in the cage , bmw then inspect the wheel & if its warranty they pay it if its more than .8mm run out its classed as impact damage ! but i havent had one rejected yet i have knocked a few back myself when you see them being 2,4mm etc but the dealer is just being clever making you pay & that way if it gets rejected they dont refund you. its a tricky one they do accept there is a problem with the wheel but its more really the roads there is a problem with if they were in better condition they wheels wouldnt take so much of a doing ! but in the same respect they shouldnt have made a wheel with a 35 profile tyre with runflat if the uk roads are that bad ! just call customer service & complain about they way you were dealt with & mention watchdog they will change their tune

Madbradz

My stepdad has had all 4 of his 19" wheels replaced under warranty!

mjonathan24

iTrader: (1)

my boss had the same problem with his 3 series coupe, he paid it. The tyres are expensive, cheapest I have found are on camskill.
Luckily my bmw is on the upgraded 18" wheels for the 1 series, so hopefully they wont defect. Tyres are still £175 each though.

Rax

iTrader: (1)

This is worrying,my old dear has a 09 320Msport Highline cab.Its only done 12,000miles due a service soon .Better get my self down to Devon for a few days

dingla rs

iTrader: (2)

dealers are knobs my mums car has 6 tho on the clock wrang up saying it was due a service oil and filters only 180 quid and say if i take it else were the warrenty is void !

botters

iTrader: (2)

they are not allowed to do that anymore, so long as your car is serviced at a vat registered company using genuine parts then the warrantey is still valid, it has been this way for years

dingla rs

iTrader: (2)

i will service it me self and mate will stamp book ,just makes you laugh when they tell you things like this

vroooom ptssssh

To be fair, they haven't really done anything wrong....


Advice: change 4 baldy/nearly ilegal tyres...replace damaged wheel (possibly under warranty if you put in a claim)

Should have researched the car/running costs/common faults (wheels) like I did

Better punt it before it needs a service or angry Gran-T will be coming out at £17.50+VAT per litre of oil (jus be thankfull it's not a 6cyl and needs 6.5L of the shite)

matts1

Good call on the customer service call mentioning watchdog and common problem angle, made all the difference when my sisters mini power steering packed up, 2005 car so was well out of warranty but the dealer soon changed their attitude and felt it was worth a 2nd look lol!

RS Grant

iTrader: (1)

Exactly... apparently it was ordered in for a customer who happened to trade his car in before he got the wheel changed.

Hmmm while I don't agree with 1400quid on a set of tyres, I don't put cheap tyres on a car.. it's the only bit in contact with the road, so tend to buy decent quality stuff myself and organise decent replacements for family too.

That's a possibility which we're looking into just now... that way, if we get a new OEM wheel under warranty then that's fine, but if we don't then it's not the end of the world.

I'm afraid that's not an option, she wanted the 19" wheels when she spec'd the car and that's not changed.

Really appreciate the info mate... I really don't think it's fair that people are being made to cover the costs of a poorly specified wheel/tyre/suspension package from the factory. You, err, don't fancy firing through a wee hassle free warranty claim do you Carlo??

From the link on E90 forum, it seems like it can happen at any time, I noticed guys quoting various mileages.. really depends on the state of the roads that the car is used on and how careful the driver is at avoiding any potholes or badly broken surfaces etc.

I know they've not done anything wrong DavieC, but, I didn't like the way they were with her... the advice was sound, but the method of putting that across was pretty forceful and shook her up a bit.

The running costs aren't an issue, but I grudge paying over the odds for things and if I can help it, I will try and save friends/family money when and where I think I can too.

I was also aware of the cracking wheel issue... but when the car was bought, it spent 85-90% of the time on motorway/fast a-roads so the liklihood of having to deal with broken up roads and potholes was slim... however, the past 9 months it's been used in and around town for 90% of the time, which is where I guess it's picked up this crack.


Cheers,
Grant

GAZ345

how can the wheel not be covered by warrenty,if its a known issue with the wheels cracking they are selling a item thats not fit for the purpose its designed for,dealer is only saying this because he has a wheel in stock,ask the dealer for the phone number for bmw uk to ask about this case