Cracked BMW wheels

[Remote]

MV4 to be exact.

My Mam has a 2008 325 M-Sport convertible which was bought new from Joe Duffy. The car now has the extreme mileage of 48,000 KM on the clock.

A few years ago BMW replaced an alloy wheel which was cracked.

Yesterday she got a flat rear tyre so I brought it around to Keith in Discount tyres to get new tyres fitted all round, as they were getting to the replacement stage anyway. While they were changing the tyres I got a call to go have a look at the wheel.

There was three cracks on the inside of the rim itself. The rim was no longer safe to use, so I contacted Joe Duffy and they offered to carry out a "run out test" on it to see if it falls under there specifications for a faulty wheel.

I received a call this morning to say that it does not, and because of this they cannot even contact BMW Ireland to apply for goodwill. I'm very dissapointed and to be honest we have never had any issues with wheels cracking in any of our cars before, that includes various BMW's, but this is the 2nd wheel from this set of MV4's that HAS cracked.

I have no intention of paying for a new one, this particular style of wheel has been proven to crack way too often, to the extent that Watchdog in the UK covered it. The wheel is not fit for purpose, and after only 48,000KM, to have two wheels that have cracked and need replacing is totally unacceptable, especially in a car that cost upwards of 70K Euro new.

Including this car, there was a new E46 325 convertible M-sport and a new Cooper S JCW bought from BMW in the few years previous to it. Gotta love the way they look after there customers when it comes to faulty wheels.....

[HealyC]

Ring BMW Ireland yourself Marc and kick up a stink. I'm guessing it's a rear one as that's where it happens so often. Also they will say well you must have hit something, answer to that is why are the fronts ok then, hardly hit the rears first?

Afaik the "replacement" rims are a much thicker alloy on the inside to reduce this.

[eddiem74]

Correct Conor the last replacement I got had a thicker outer rim although no one ever told me that, but after hearing/seeing mention on e90post.com I checked it and seen it was different.

Changing to non runflats helps but in the end I got rid of them after 2 or 3 replacements.

I would echo what Conor said and don't let it go...

When was the car last in with a dealer?

[Peter-E36]

Does she want to sell the car? Cracked wheels and all?

[rebel.ranter]

I got the same runaround when I had a cracked wheel on the e63 6 Series. I just gave up & bought a used one (like new) from Germany. They wanted me to pay for the run out test, they also told me the car was too old at the time (6 years old at the time) for any goodwill claim.

[FunkySeeFunkyDoo]

Wow I didn't know Cromodora made those wheels, that's quite poor from them as they are usually made to very high standard and have been for years.

[Venom]

These wheels are repairable?

[RossYB]

These wheels are repairable?

Yeah but would you trust a wheel with 3 welds?

I'd chase BMW for it, That should not be happening!

[Remote]

No joy,

Was dealing with Joe Duffy, then BMW Ireland.

Both have said they will not replace or contribute anything to the wheel.

BMW Ireland claimed the wheel is buckled (out of ovality) too much (think it measured 2.5 on the run out test, whatever that means), they claim it could only have been an impact that caused it, not much in the way of a valid excuse when asked why the fronts are fine. They also claim it was only a certain batch of these wheels that were affected and that's why they have stopped replacing all of them.

Joe Duffy claim there hands are tied as the wheel falls outside there perimeters for replacing, but they refuse to say it was impact damage, unlike BMW Ireland. There hands are not tied at all, for a wheel that retails at €500, possibly costing them less than €300, it's terrible customer service, especially to a customer who has bought three new cars from them over the last 10 years or so. I know they have a bad name for customer service, but I most definitely will never deal with Joe Duffy BMW again, any new business can go to FK or MG. I passed these sentiments on.

It's very bad form.

Looking like il just take the hit and buy a new wheel, needless to say it won't be from Joe Duffy

[Gar]

Unfortunately its so common on the 225's 214's and spyders found on the e60

Bmw dealt with it in the usual poor manner just like the subframe and timing chain issue