Dealership Blowing Smoke !!

[cc909]

I am kind of stuck in an odd situation and am hoping if some one can help out with some technical info..

So our recently acquired 2017 X5 started having a bit of noise / vibrating sound that i could feel under my feet more noticeable on low speed and low RPM. I had Bridgestone Dueller RFTs (275/40/20-315/35/20 OEM Spec) on it and since the tires were already due for change, i figured it might be tires and went ahead and bought new Continentals DWS06 (275/315) at my local tire store. The noise / vibration some how did not get better hence I took it to my local dealership.

This is where the problem starts,, my SA (who I trust) calls me back and said they think the noise is coming from a bad "dynamic drive dump" and in addition to that he said "I need to change my brand new tires as the Continentals DWS06 have an incompatible tread pattern and it will mess up or is messing up the transfer case.

I have been back and forth with my SA and have talked to the manager at local tire store and folks at Tire Rack and no one is willing to buy this explanation from BMW but my SA is fixated.

Now I have to buy dedicated Summer BMW endorsed (Pirelli) and Winter set as there is no BMW endorsed all season tires in the OEM size.. Any thoughts on this issue ??

[turboawd]

Are you under warranty?
I'd try another dealer.
If the tires are oem size, then they are full of it.

[Violator]

Total nonsense, escalate up the chain. There are many people running those same tires in the same size on their F15 without issue.

[cc909]

I am under warranty and dont want to create a situation where the Transfer Case goes bad and they blame it on the fact that I had an incompatible tires set on and did not change it despite their warning. I have the exact OEM size Contis mounted, i.e. 275/40/20 front and 315/35/20 rears. No other BMW dealership close in my area and hence not much choices.

[-c-]

Wow that's a new one!

The only issue you would have is if the tread and tires where worn in such a way that the tires would be spinning at different speeds. Like if the rear was bald and the fronts where new or if the one side was taller than the other.

TREAD! Has nothing to do with your transfer case going bad. Nothing! He's full of it and he gets a commission off you buying bmw rated tires.

God it pisses me off at no end the limits these people at dealers stoop to good honest people.

If my advisor did that to me I'd tell him to ————- end quote.

Even my advisor who works at a dealer told me that's full of shit.

Their just looking for reasons at this point. If their footing the bill for your fix they're sure gonna try to offset that expense at your expense and get you to buy new tires that have crazy markup.

[TheUltimateDrivingManiac]

Total nonsense. Ask them to put in on paper and send it to BMW NA.

[cc909]

Thanks every one for the quick input,,, I think I am going to make the hour and half trip and take it to a different dealership,,, this is so frustrating, he kept on saying that the size is the same but the tread pattern and rotating diameter on the Contis is different as compared to the BMW spec. I hated the RFTs that it had on and now they are going to make me get into them again.

[Maverik259]

Originally Posted by cc909

Thanks every one for the quick input,,, I think I am going to make the hour and half trip and take it to a different dealership,,, this is so frustrating, he kept on saying that the size is the same but the tread pattern and rotating diameter on the Contis is different as compared to the BMW spec. I hated the RFTs that it had on and now they are going to make me get into them again.

No they won't. He's full of crap. Tread pattern? Tell him to check snow tires and see if those tread patterns will break the transfer case,lol. Oh God I've heard some weird shit in my day from the dealer but this takes the cake! Don't act concerned or even let him think you believe him. Tell him to get the manager out and have him tell you that while you call up your local news agency. Rotational speed is all that matters and "tread pattern" doesn't effect anything but grip and the way water is whisked away. What if you ran slicks for the track. Would that tread pattern worry him then? Does he think runflats are worn at the track?

[mrfochon]

Originally Posted by cc909

Thanks every one for the quick input,,, I think I am going to make the hour and half trip and take it to a different dealership,,, this is so frustrating, he kept on saying that the size is the same but the tread pattern and rotating diameter on the Contis is different as compared to the BMW spec. I hated the RFTs that it had on and now they are going to make me get into them again.

Yeah sounds like a crook SA.

I would:

Email bmw without saying your name or else as a general inquiry.
Email you SA as well so you get an audit trail.

Then show the response to the SA and his manager and ask for explanations why they are giving you wrong advise.

Then request to change SA, claiming you cannot trust this guy anymore. And escalate to BMW NA (of your region) claiming this is unacceptable, you don't trust the brand anymore. And the SA advise.


That's just me.

[P1]

Funny thing is that I've had my local SA tell me something similar when he noticed that my rear tires were more worn than my front ones.

[turboawd]

Originally Posted by cc909

Thanks every one for the quick input,,, I think I am going to make the hour and half trip and take it to a different dealership,,, this is so frustrating, he kept on saying that the size is the same but the tread pattern and rotating diameter on the Contis is different as compared to the BMW spec. I hated the RFTs that it had on and now they are going to make me get into them again.

Are they refusing to look at your noise and vibration issue unless you change the tires?
Even if the contis are slightly smaller in diameter, as long as ALL the tires are contis, then it's no issue.

[HPIA4v2]

Tires changes at dealership is big money revenue for dealer.

AFAIK, symptoms for failing xfer-case is lock-to-lock turn at low speed, vibration on steering wheel, very easy to spot. Then if you want you can disconnect the electronic plug to xfer-case then drive slowly againont parking lot lock-to-lock low speed, if vibration is gone, well your wallet will be $6000 thinner (out of warranty) to get that fix.

[andrewmr]

Man, I feel for you guys that have issues with your SA - dealership.

I have my car in for service right now and they are chasing down an illusive problem/solution. One of the thoughts was it might be tire/wheel related (I currently have aftermarket wheels on the car.... but it does it with the OEM 599's) so instead of saying I need to replace the tires/wheels they simply put another set of known tires and wheels on the car to determine if indeed the tires/wheels were the problem. It wasn't so they continued looking into other areas.

They (Thompson BMW) continued testing until they found two issues and replaced both parts and all is well again.

I don't want to turn this into a commercial for Thompson, but if any of you guys in the Bucks county area are not happy with your service then you should give them a try.

Now back to the OP. I would definitely take the drive to the other dealer. I know it's further (at least by the way you stated it) and let them have a look at it. Turn it into a road trip for a nice trip.

If you end up staying with your current dealer, get a different SA. You will forever and ever think everything he tells is BS from this day on.

[EdgyE36]

Sounds totally bogus. The only issue I've read re the F15 tires and xDrive is if the tires are not rated for heavy weight. The Contis are XL, and as you say are confirmed by TireRack in those 20" staggered sizes.

I'd start making a lot of noise with a paper trail as already mentioned. GL.

[artem123]

Originally Posted by andrewmr

Man, I feel for you guys that have issues with your SA - dealership.

I have my car in for service right now and they are chasing down an illusive problem/solution. One of the thoughts was it might be tire/wheel related (I currently have aftermarket wheels on the car.... but it does it with the OEM 599's) so instead of saying I need to replace the tires/wheels they simply put another set of known tires and wheels on the car to determine if indeed the tires/wheels were the problem. It wasn't so they continued looking into other areas.

They (Thompson BMW) continued testing until they found two issues and replaced both parts and all is well again.

I don't want to turn this into a commercial for Thompson, but if any of you guys in the Bucks county area are not happy with your service then you should give them a try.

Now back to the OP. I would definitely take the drive to the other dealer. I know it's further (at least by the way you stated it) and let them have a look at it. Turn it into a road trip for a nice trip.

If you end up staying with your current dealer, get a different SA. You will forever and ever think everything he tells is BS from this day on.

There used to be a guy there named John. He was the reason i switched from them to Princeton. Thanks for confirming they are in good standing again!

[SupersixM]

Sales associates are not your friends. Dealerships are not your friends. They only deal with you for one reason only. Money..Sell sell sell is the motto. Thats why courtesy loaner cars usually one up yours. Because they want you to upgrade. They strategy is always make the customer feel like they didnt spend enough.
I work with an ex BMW tech, ex Jaguar tech and an ex MB Salesman. The stories they tell. Unbelievable.

[SupersixM]

They say they dont like dealing with 3rd party warranties but its a lie. 3rd parties pay upfront. What they dont like is fixing cars they dont get paid for unless you threaten with complaints to corperate because like any other company, they dont want corperate in their paperwork.

[Maverik259]

Originally Posted by SupersixM

Sales associates are not your friends. Dealerships are not your friends. They only deal with you for one reason only. Money..Sell sell sell is the motto. Thats why courtesy loaner cars usually one up yours. Because they want you to upgrade. They strategy is always make the customer feel like they didnt spend enough.
I work with an ex BMW tech, ex Jaguar tech and an ex MB Salesman. The stories they tell. Unbelievable.

Thank you! I've been preaching this for years on this forum when everyone acts like they're SA and them have some special relationship and they're best friends and they ONLY do things for them because they're special. LMFAO. It's like people who think the bartender is flirting with them because they "like" you.

[MK2018]

Originally Posted by Maverik259

Thank you! I've been preaching this for years on this forum when everyone acts like they're SA and them have some special relationship and they're best friends and they ONLY do things for them because they're special. LMFAO. It's like people who think the bartender is flirting with them because they "like" you.

They are nice because they make money, any warranty work you not paying for it, they get paid

[Maverik259]

Originally Posted by MK2018

They are nice because they make money, any warranty work you not paying for it, they get paid

Agreed to a degree. If that was 100% the case then they wouldn't deny as much warranty work as they do. I had to fight tooth and nail for my leather seat and rim corrosion issues many in here got fixed. My dealer wouldn't budge.

[MK2018]

Originally Posted by Maverik259

Agreed to a degree. If that was 100% the case then they wouldn't deny as much warranty work as they do. I had to fight tooth and nail for my leather seat and rim corrosion issues many in here got fixed. My dealer wouldn't budge.

That's right, they have to explain to the head office every warranty why they did it to get paid

[sj22]

I have had some genuinely nice SAs but a ton of pretentious ones. They are humans and rely on a tech who relies on preprogrammed software to tell them what to do. Factory warranty repairs are tricky as they need the ducks to line up to pick up the correct fix for the issue. For OP, if INPA-D isnt throwing any errors for transfer case, and the tech isn't finding anything, the SA is just going to make stuff up to make you move on. Can you try going for a drive with the tech to show him what you are talking about? As another poster suggested try a different set of wheels/tires.

As long as it gets documented well, you can always claim it under warranty when something more substantial happens and its clear what has failed. I have also on occasion offered the SA to diagnose on my paid dime if the tech isn't able to justify doing something I want them to do for a 10k driven car with no errors (check spark plugs was one of them).

Antagonizing a dealership/tech/SA isn't always the best way out.

PS: I for one, have had MAJOR issues even with mismatched threads, unevenly worn out tires (including star marked ones) and vibration on uphill acceleration at low speeds. In fact, it was bad enough that I changed from my 2013 F01 to 2014 F15 out of frustration one day (and I was guessing transfer case is going bad).