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I own an 06 330 xi and its been a noisy affair since day one. Dealer agreed to replace the Bridgestone tires twice (at 9k and 16k). The second time, they replaced with Continentals last week; just as bad, if not worst! I will be contacting them Monday AM to look at options...short of riding the car off a cliff!

Love the car, but the noisy tires and cuppling tires are totally unacceptable.

LRBOUCH  

John,
I feel your pain. I have a 2004 5 series, that BMW replaced the tires at about 12,000 miles and now 9000 miles later the same problem. They claim it is the Dunlap run flat tires, the only problem with that is mine are and have always been Bridgstone. I have a buddy that has a 2004 5 series that had the Dunlap and they replaced his with the Bridgestone and they downloaded new software on his inboard computer. His car had around 12000 miles and the steel was coming through. I beleive it is in the corrective steering, some glitch in the computer. My car was aligned by them when they replaced the tires. 9000 miles later, the front drivers side tire is cupped bad ( wearing on the inside) and making that load roaring noise. The passenger tire was perfect. The passenger side rear was worn in the center, the drivers side rear was perfect. The strange thing is they said the tire pressures were correct and the alignment was right. If the alignment was correct, then what is cupping and wearing the tires. They are hiding this issue. They have a big problem and they are blaming it on the tire manufacturers and this is not the problem. Do you have the dynamic drive? I know the 3 series changed body styles similar to the 5 series. Good luck I am going to keep pressing them. They said out of good faith they would pay for half that is a $1000, I can get the same set here in town for less that $1200.00
Phillip  

I have the same problem and it is not the tires,  it is the alignment and possibly the corrective steering  

Joel.
Read my insert September 10th 2006. I have had the same problem, I don't believe it is the tires. BMW knows they hae a problem and they are not addressing it.  

Run flats are garbage. My 750 I sounded like a pickup truck in the cabin for the last 3,000 miles. The Bridgestone run flats are gone at 13,000. Had I known BMW was using run flats as OE I would have not taken delivery because the same thing happened to me with a Lexus SC 430. Bite the bullet. Put on a set of Michelins, check the alignment and forget about chasing BMW or any other manufacturer. They do not warranty tires or alignment.  

My 2005 545 had problems with the original continental run flats after 4000 miles.  The car would dart around and almost change lanes with any imperfections in the road.  Julian at My BMW Seaside replaced under a recall.  The replacement continentals did the same after 3000 miles.  Julian replaced again with Dunlops, so far so good.  Excellent customer service, no qualms.  

Your message concerns me.  I just bought a 330i one week ago with 18" wheels and promptly got a flat going into a pothole yesterday.  It seems that these tires are quite sensitive, expensive ($316 for one) and cannot be replaced at anyplace other than the dealer.  The ride is also terrible in the District of Columbia.  I am now noticing the road quality much more than I ever used to.  I am thinking about changing to 17" wheels with all-season run flats.  Any thoughts on this?  

Minh
Don't do it! Read my experiences and learn from them. Some dealers are apparently replacing bad run flats with more of the same. Any good tire dealer will replace your crappy run flats with regular tires and why on earth would you want to replace you original 18" with 17"? Run from run flat tires as fast as that BMW will take you.  

its really nice  

I have an 05 BMW 545I with only 13K and the front tire broken and lost a wire and I call a customer service told me that this tire don't have a waranty.This is a first time to have a problem with BMW and the tire.
BMW need take a action about this problem  

I had both road noise (cupping) and problems with pot holes with my rft.
I have a 2006 330xi and everytime I hit a pothole at almost any speed it feels like I am running on rims with no rubber at all.
It jolts the car so hard that the coffee mugs fly out of the cup holders.
At 15k my dealer replaced the tires for the road noise issue, but the suspension feels like there are no shocks when I hit a pot hole  

I have a 2006 330xi with terrible tire noise.  I spoke with BMW customer service and was told they are dealing with these complaints on a "case by case" basis.  I was instructed to make an appt at my dealer and customer service person said they would contact my dealer as well.  When the dealer's service dept checked my car they told me BMW would replace all 4 tires at no charge due to "unusual" wear pattern.  They will also align at no charge.  They feel the problem may be a "faulty bushing". 9000 miles but noticed this way back at 2000 miles.  

JohnMcNH:
I have an 06 BMW 330XI with just under 9K miles and the dealer told me that I need to replace the tires. I have a strange cupping pattern and I have had terrible noise from this car from day one. I have had 6 3 series since 1992 and never have I had a problem like this that BMW would not fix. I contacted BMW customer service out of Ohio yesterday and the woman there told me that they do not cover tires at all regardless of the mileage. She also told me that they are not aware of any issues with these tires. Why are they hiding this? If you have this problem please contact BMW. I wish I had an email address there because I would post it on every website that allowed it! Anybody interested in buying an 06 BMW 330 XI with under 9K miles?

I have an '01 BMW 325CI convertible that I bought new almost 5 years ago.  I now have 29,000+ miles on it.  When it was just several months old I had my first flat tire.  I couldn't believe it.  I took it to the dealer and they made it clear that they take no responsibility.  I said you sold me a car with a defective tire.  They said, in effect, tough.  Last week I had my 11th new tire put on!  After the first 4 or 5 I wrote to BMW, Bridgestone, and the dealer---Twin City BMW in Savoy, IL, a "suburb" of Champaign-Urbana.  BMW said they take no responsibility, as did the dealer.  Bridgestone reimbursed me for about 50 percent of what I had paid for 4 Turanza tires, which was over $300 each.  After that, every time I had another broken tire I knew I should write to Bridgestone again but I felt so dejected about the situation that I couldn't bring myself to do it.  I replaced the most recent tire and the 2 previous ones with a new model by Bridgestone, the Potenza which is about $100 per tire less.  I'm waiting for the last Turanza to go and to see how long these Potenzas last.  If I have better luck with them, it is clear proof that the Turanza had a manufacturing defect.  Or is the BMW wheels?  The dealer says the wheels I have had some "road damage," which they of course blame on my driving.  The last few times I mentioned to the service mgr that this is a strange situation he tells me about another customer who has a similar problem and it's always a woman.  I've never had tire problems before with any other kind of car so I am reluctant to buy another BMW.  For sure I would not buy one from this dealer.  I'd like to know if others who have had problems with BMWs and tires also have had Bridgestones.  Do we have a class action?  

I have BMW 06 325xi with 12k miles on it. I had the same tire noise problems, and the tires had uneven wear.  Today,  I got my original Bridgestone Turanza EL42 replaced by Continental ProTrac (run flat).  The dealer replaced all 4 tires at no charge to me.  The service people told me that BMW is covering the cost.  Hopefully Continental run-flats turn out to be better than Bridgestone.

The question I have is: In the future, can I put non run-flat tires on my car?  

yes you can, and you will see a big perofrmance improvement from non runflats. Just remember, you don't have a spare.