[Ph4zed]

Hi All,

Some background:

I was originally running the OEM rims (17s) and tires (run flats). In January, I placed an order with Apex for some FL-5 18s. At the time, the ETA was March. Now, they're saying the ETA is late July. I ended up switching my order to the SM-10s because Apex is saying those wheels will arrive in mid-June.

I have a 230i xDrive. Upon my moving to the city with the best streets in the world (Philly) I've had two tires go bad. I hit a huge pothole in the middle of an on-ramp at night, which killed my left front run flat. A month and a half later, I got a nail in an already bad right rear tire, and it's unable to be plugged/patched as it's not holding.

When this first happened (in March), I was thinking "oh, my wheels are about to come in and I'm getting new tires, no point in buying new tires or run flats or replacing all 4". I thought it was just going to be a month or so, so I ended up getting one new tire after the pothole, but it was a different brand and non run-flat. Then just recently my other tire failed, and I just got another tire with the same speed rating as the other one I replaced, but a different brand. I set it up so that these two are on the front of the car, and rotated the OEMs around so they were on the rear. Fast forward to the present, and with all the delays from Apex, I'm getting frustrated.

Should I park my car for a month until the wheels come in? Am I doing damage to my transfer case with the tire setup I have and continuing to drive around?

I called Apex and they said it should fine with the setup I have, as long as I placed the new tires on the front. They also suggested to inflate the rears a bit more to minimize the rolling diameter differences between the fronts and the back.


To be clear, here is my current tire setup:

Left front: Random brand, newer tire. Same speed rating and size as front right.
Right front: Different Random brand, new tire. Same speed rating and size as front left.
Right rear: OEM Potenza run flats, 25k miles.
Left rear: OEM Potenza run flat, 25k miles.

Thanks for the advice! I'm all about maximizing reliability, so if I'm truly doing harm to my car, please let me know.

[TrboMike]

You dont say if the two replacement tires are a different size or the same as the tire you replaced. If the tires are the same size, the difference will be almost nothing (different brands are slightly different, but not much).

[Ph4zed]

Originally Posted by TrboMike

You dont say if the two replacement tires are a different size or the same as the tire you replaced. If the tires are the same size, the difference will be almost nothing (different brands are slightly different, but not much).

Sorry for not making it clear, but yes, the two replacement tires are the same size as the two other OEM tires that are on the car.

[TrboMike]

The factory staggered (bigger rears) wheels/tires when new are over 2% different in diameter. If BMW thinks thats acceptable for it's AWD drivetrain, then your tires the same size (but some old some new and different brands) should not matter at all.