Palmo

I currently have the following pressures which seem to be working well: Front (245/35/19) = 34 PSI (up front 30 PSI) Rear (275/30/19) = 40 PSI (up from 36 PSI) Seem to be ok - slightly harder ride but acceptable. Only other 'major' positive thing is the stability in Cross Winds seems considerably improved as already stated. If this also helps tyre wear then great. I realise the uneven wear to the fronts may have already shortened their lives but will see. Thanks to you and Tony for the advice!

A personal viewpoint, but I'm sure quite a few will have been caught by excessive, or odd tyre wear, due to the colder than average winter period. Some will be due to tyres running lower working pressures, due to not warming up the same. Are you planning to visit WIM, to have the geometry checked? As you mention the inside wear is different, may be wise before fitting new tyres. Have you any pictures of the wear pattern to post on the thread? HighlandPete I understand what you're saying regarding temperature and the fact I was running on the lowest setting wouldn't have helped. But, during the coldest months I switched to Winter Tyres on different rims (standard BMW SE 17" wheels fitted with Nokian Cold Weather Tyres), so these tyres were no used during the coldest weather. I would definately like to visit WIM, only probelm is I'm up in Manchester and it is a long round trip. In the past I used to do a bit of work in Gatwick and so have called in 'on-route' but don't do any work down there these days. I will look to see if I can call in at some point in the near future if possible. I completely rate tony who has aligned my car perfectly in the past. I have taken photos yesterday but to be honest you can't really pick up the wear from these..... I've attached them anyway. Front OS: Front OS: Front NS: Front NS: Remember, the worst of the 'Saw-Tooth' effect, certainly on the outter edges, has been reduced due to these been switched side to side approx 1500 miles ago - therefore the direction of the 'Saw-Tooth' is in the opposite direction to the side of the car the wheels / tyres are currently on (if that makes ssnse). Many Thanks again. Martin

Martin Noise generated from tyres on the latest BMWs is not unusual, some tyres have had many complaints and even Technical Information Bulletins (TSB) on the issues. Not a simple issue or easy solution. As to the rear middle wear, (I'm sure Tony will add his comments), but it is not all about overinflation. Centrifugal growth at high speed and high tractive forces, particularly on high powered RWD cars can cause far more middle wear on rear tyres, than a couple of increased psi. You can still get rear middle wear on high powered RWD cars at low setting pressures. Which brings me to another variable we sometimes miss. When using the lower pressure values, (which makes things worse) we sometimes never achieve the hot working pressures we really ought to be running. Cold/wet weather can accelerate tyre issues, often we do not consider the pressure setting may not be high enough for our use. Easy to be running 3 - 5 psi lower than we think, just because our tyres don't get hot during some conditions of use. We do need to compensate, particularly on low profile tyres, as the wear rate/pattern is far more critical than running 'loads of rubber', from my experience. HighlandPete I'm aware there have been Bulletins issued by BMW relating to tyre issues but think these are mostly related to RFT? Regarding the Rear Centre Wear, I am aware that it is generally a characteristic of larger width tyres to wear in the centre due to throw out and this is not necessarily anything to do with over-inflation. After my first pair of rears were worn by 15k miles I assumed it was overinflation as the outter & inner edges had much more tread left, but after reading and educating myself I'm aware this was not the case. Interesting point regarding temperature and actual pressures, another reason to increase from the minimum setting I guess. I have tried in the past to inflate my tyres with Nitrogen (Uniflate) but to be honest I didn't notice any difference in neither wear of nor driving. When I examined my tyres with the wheels off the car today (I checked the rears while I was at it also which are wearing fine, but they have not done too many miles yet) I did notice that whilst the 'Saw-Tooth' effect is indeed apparaent on both inside and outside shoulders of both front tyres, it is actually slightly worse on the inside edges of both fronts. They are wearing evenly in comparison to each side i.e. both sides are mirrored perfectly from left to right. The leading edge of the outter tread blocks are more prounced, but the inner edges are more wavy if that makes sense - sort of a more clear highspot and lowspot. Swapping from side to side has certainly began to reduce the level of 'Saw-Toothing' (I have done about 1500 miles since swapping). Looks like I'll have to get a pair of fronts ASAP and hope the increased pressure avoids this happening in the future! If this is the cause, it will have been a costly mistake. Many Thanks for all the comments / suggestions, it's appreciated! Cheers Martin

Thanks again for your valued comments! I guess my comments about wearing the centres of the tyres was really as a knee-jerk reaction to the rate at which the rears wear in the centres - a typical characteristic of tyres this size I'm told. Anyway, your comments regarding pressures on the front is understood and I will bare this in mind. This may then have been caused by pressures being too low - but I guess the damage is now done. So, apart from slowing further damage down be switching tyres side to side as I have done and by increasing the pressures as I have done there is nothing else I can do to reduce noise until I replace the tyres...... afraid it will have to be a 'turn the radio up' approach in the short term as long as they are safe (but noisy) which they appear to be! Cheers Martin

Just a thought, are the replacements OEM as in BMW 'star' rated/marked tyres, or the standard Continental offering of the same type and size? That can make a big difference on tyre wear and performance. HighlandPete They are the same as in the same make & type as originally fiited along with the accompanying BMW 'Star'. They are Continental Conti Sport 2's* (Front 245/35/19 93Y XL, Rear 275/30/19 96Y XL). So, don't think that's the issue but you're right to raise it. These tyres, from what I have read, are actually well known for being pretty quiet, which has been my experience to date, until now! It's really taking the edge off the car. Yesterday, I was cruising on the M1. At one stage the droning got so loud I literally felt like I was waiting for a tyre to blow or extreme wheel bearing failure. I have today had the wheels off the car to inspect that the tyres arn't failing at all. Apart from the 'Saw-Tooth' effect on both shoulders, they look perfect. The 'Saw-Tooth' isn't extreme at the moment - just about visible - it's more you can feel it, and I presume is what is causing the noise????? Cheers Martin

Thanks for the comments. I have always run with the lower tyre pressures as this is what is quoted by BMW - this is the only reason. I am also very aware that 'over-inflation' can cause the centre of the tyres to wear excessively. So, it is based around this why I have run lower pressures, coupled with the fact the front of the car is extremely light (all aluminum - including the whole engine - this is the LCI 3.0 diesel engine). This has never seemed to cause any problems in everyday driving (all be it with the exception of in heavy winds it now seems). However, I have no issue driving with increased pressures if this is the right thing to do and am now currently driving with 34 PSI front, 40 PSI rear, which seems fine, albeit a little firmer than I'm used to, but as this seems to have cued the Cross Wind instability, I'm fine with that! My only remaining problem is the droning from the front tyres. I'm just gutted to have to ditch tyres with very good tread (probably around 5-6mm across the whole width). If I were to change them, there is also no guarantee that the same thing would not happen again after a period of time! Cheers Martin

Hi Tony, thanks for the response! What has me baffled is why the first pair of front tyres didn't do this? These were the exact same make & type. What tyres would you recommend as alternatives? Cheers Martin

Tony, I have just done some reading and come across an article written by Continental themselves which covers (amongst other things) 'Saw-Tooth Wear' and is as follows: "Saw-tooth wear is a wear pattern caused under normal usage with normal suspension settings. This is the outwardly visible (and audible) manifestation of various distortional forces at work on the tread. To explain this, it is better to first say something about tread design. Tread grooves and sipes - a source of noise - are absolutely essential in ensuring safety on wet and flooded roads. In the case of low-profile tyres in particular, a higher percentage of tread void is necessary to take up the water and to improve the protection against aquaplaning. Cross-grooves for water drainage form "freestanding blocks" in the shoulder area. These shoulder blocks can wear to leave the "saw-tooth" pattern as a result of rolling mechanisms under certain operating conditions. These operating conditions include: - Long, straight journeys at constant speed - Moderate driving style - Suspension geometry (alignment/camber). As the tyre rolls along the road, the freestanding blocks deform as they near the tyre's contact patch. They are compressed as they come into contact with the road. As they lose road contact they "rub" the surface while snapping back into their original shape. The result is higher wear on the block run-out edge. This wear pattern is more likely to occur on nonpowered wheel positions. Tyres with large blocks or laterally open grooves are susceptible to stepped wear, particularly in non-powered wheel positions. The blocks exhibit more pronounced wear on the rear edge (relative to the direction of tyre rotation) than on the front (leading) edge, giving the blocks a characteristic saw-tooth wear pattern when viewed from the side. A minor amount of "saw-tooth" pattern wear is normal and has no discernible effects on comfort. More conspicuous heel and toe wear points to specific operating conditions (improper inflation, excessive toe-in, low-wear applications). Tip: In order to gain even tyre wear, the position of the tyres on the car should be changed at regular intervals (unless otherwise recommended by the vehicle manufacturer). The position of the tyres should be changed in good time, at the latest when changing summer/winter tyres." This article is interesting and covers details of the problem, but doesn't provide a cure nor any real advise on how to prevent this in the future. In my circumstances, I do a lot of "Long, straight journeys at constant speed" and also am unable to rotate tyres due to them being staggered. Also, BMW don't adivse tyre rotation anyway. Therefore does this article indicate I have to live with this problem? Also, why didn't my previous front tyres of the same make & type do this I wonder?

Tony, This is a long one so bare with me..... you may remember me.....you set-up the alignment on my BMW 5 Series a while ago - you may recall my ongoing 'Cross Wind' issue (there is a long, long thread on here about it somewhere). I also brought several other cars for you to set-up if you recall. Firstly, on the 'Cross Wind' issue I believe I have found the problem only in the past few weeks (I am 99% sure) and I can't believe it.....nothing more than tyre pressures! I have always run my tyres at the minimum recommended pressure - up to 3 people / half load (Front 30 PSI - 245/35/19, Rear 36PSI - 275/30/19). On the occasions I have had a full load I have increased to maximum pressure (Front 36 PSI, Rear 43 PSI) and found the ride to be noticeably harder and so have decreased as soon as I'm back to the usual 'below half load' situation. At no point have I ever had the increased pressure on a day with above normal winds until a week or so ago. And..........you've guessed it, no problems - or at least nothing out of the ordinary. This means I have been driving for 3 years (64k miles) with 'Cross Wind' instability that appears to be nothing more than tyre pressure related. I believe I have now found a happy medium between min & max pressure (Front 34 PSI, Rear 40 PSI) that seems to be a compromise between comfort and stability (only today the car was faultless in quite considerable Cross winds) - maybe at the expense of tyre wear......which leads me onto my new problem and the purpose of this thread! You may recall I also had a balancing issue on the front and Continental changed a front tyre which they proved was outside their tolerance for balancing. Those tyres were fitted approx 15k miles ago (I typically get up to 40k miles out of the fronts & 15 - 18k miles out of the rears). The tyres are Continental Conti Sport 2's (these are the OEM tyres and are 'normal' tyres as an upgrade NOT RFT's). They have performed faultlessly until the snow that we had earlier in the year when they became - challenging - to even pull away, as you would expect. I therefore opted to buy a 2nd hand set of BMW 5 Series 'SE' 17" wheels (in early January) and fitted them with some Winter Nokian Tyres (these were excellent). At the end of March I refitted my usual 19" Wheels & Tyres (the Winters didn't get much use but will do over coming years). Upon refitting, they initially seemed fine. However, after approx 1k miles I noticed these were beginning to get noisy. Now a further 2k miles on (I've done a total of 3k since the end of March with them refitted) they are now VERY noisy - on some surfaces it almost sounds like a wheel bearing is gone (the recent experiment with tyre pressure I mentioned above makes no difference to this). I have had the car fully checked over including it's first MOT and there is no fault on the car that can be seen. The car has now covered 64k miles from new. There is NO vibration at all and the tread is excellent across the full width of the tyres. However, I have noticed that on both the inside & outside edges of both Front Tyres they appear to be suffering from 'Heel & Toe' / 'Sawtoothing'! This is not extreme yet, but rubbing a hand across the tread confirms this. As an experiment (and I'm hoping you don't advise against this) I have swapped both front wheels side to side (they are asymmetric NOT directional) in an attempt to run the tyres in reverse to either counter act the wear (maybe wishful thinking) or to at least reduce the noise. This at first did seem to make the noise less severe, but today on a 120 miles journey proved to not be the case. The noise is at it's worst on perfectly new road surface..... I am now in the predicament of what to do..... the prospect of running the car for another 20k miles (which the tyres have left in theory going on past performance of the same tyres) is not one I relish, but neither is dumping 2 perfectly 'good' tyres of this value! Do you have any idea what could be causing this? You may recall I also brought the car back to you after the first alignment because I hit a pothole and you did a full inspection and made some adjustments including to the camber of the nearside front wheel (it was the offside front that hit the pothole though which we thought was stange at the time) - but surely if this was an alignment issue the tyres wouldn't be wearing 'even' albeit in a strange manner. Next question, Is there anything I can do with these tyres to reduce the noise short of changing them?......I obviously can't put them on the rear as they are staggered! I have stuck with the Contiental's as they are the OEM fit tyres, but am thinking I will have a change when all 4 are due - What do you recommend as an alternative tyre - Front 245/35/19, Rear 275/30/19. Sorry for the long post - I really appreciate and value your advice! Cheers Martin

Tony, thanks very much for your time & effort today. The steering wheel is now straight and I have the confidence the car has been set-up correctly! It drives fine and handles great but does tend to still wander to the left on most roads now for some reason (following the Pothole incident)? To anyone thinking of using WIM's services, they are first class! Excellent service, very friendly & polite with the best equipment. But more than that, Tony knows exactley how to get the very best from the equipment - something a lot of places haven't a clue about from bitter experience! Thanks again Tony - hoping I have some better luck this time!

Interesting......! So, in theory, if the Castor Angle was knocked out for whatever reason e.g. hitting a deep Pothole as in my case, how can this be brought back into 'spec' (difficult to know what this is without the figures) or at least made comparable with the other side if it's not adjustable?

Hi Tony - I'm booked in next Thursday (1st May) @ 15:00. I believe the castors are in grey due to no target data being available. Neither BMW themselves, WIM (you commented on this if you remember) or indeed Buckley Tyres have the target data for this. According to the guy at Buckley Tyres, he recently attended a refresher training course at Pro-align and was told that BMW have recently began to remove this data as so many cars (even new ones) are unable to reach the specified figures for some reason - seems very strange to me? See you Thursday!

Tony, following our conversation yesterday - here is the print out of the 2nd alignment at Buckley Tyres on 22nd (apologies this is not the best of scans). The reason I went back for a second time was because the steering wheel was still off centre (slightly to the left) and also because the car is wandering to the left following the pothole incident. For clarity, they did straighten the steering wheel. However, the car continues to wander to the left. The strange thing is how the N/S/F Camber figure has altered quite considerably since the 1st alignment at Buckley Tyres on 17th. I certainly haven't hit anything else to cause this o move. After talking to you yesterday, as the N/S/F Camber is on the limit and as you suggest this will be 'out of spec' when driving due to wind load etc, I am going to call in and have you check / adjust accordingly and also to thoroughly check the N/S/F suspension components for any damage as a result of hitting the pothole. Tony, can you therefore book me in for next Thursday (30th April) - around 2:00pm please. I'll wait for you to confirm - it so happens I now have a meeting in Gatwick that I can coincide this with on that day

Thanks for the comments Tony - it gives me confidence that things have been done correctly. Again, I'm sorry I couldn't make it down again to have you do the work - it would have been my preferred option. I'm still confused that I had a knock on the n/s/f wheel and yet the o/s/f wheel is the one that was out? Anyway, I'll put it down to experience and accept my car lives to see another day ..... it's costing me a bl**dy fortune to run at the moment, after just having 4 new tyres and a full service! Should have stuck with a Vectra! Thanks again!

UPDATE I went today to have the car alignment checked following yesterday's Pothole incident. The place I used was Buckley Tyres which is 'reasonably' local to me. They have both a Hunter DSP600 & Hunter Hawkeye. My car was put on the Hawkeye set-up - looked very similar to WIM's as far as I could see. They seem professional people and the main alignment guy seems to be quite experienced and recently had some extra training at ProAlign. Right, overall good news. Nothing seems to be bent and the wheel does not appear to be damaged or cracked anywhere - which is all great news for me. Now, the strange bit - bare in mind the wheel that went into the Pothole yesterday was the Front / Near / Side! It turns out that my Front / Off / Side Wheel was actually slightly out - nothing major but non the less out - strange as this was not the case when it was checked over at WIM at the beginning of March and the car has had any other knocks. This was adjusted today. The other point was that the Rear / Off / Side Wheel was also on the limit and kept flicking into the Red. This is the same wheel that was previously adjusted by BMW back in November and showed up as again been fine at WIM at the beginning of March! This was also adjusted today along with the Rear Camber's been adjusted into the middle of the range. The backend does now appear completely even. Tony please could you have a look over the figures below and give me your opinions - I'm seriously hoping you say they are fine! I've also attached (further below) a copy of the figures from when you checked it over at the beginning of March for your easy reference. Cheers - I await your comments with baited breath and hope you don't tell me they are a load of rubbish!

I have my fingers crossed there is no damage! The car still drives ok, but did seem to be wandering towards the left a little - but as said, it was windy and may have been road camber related. I'll get it checked first thing tomorrow and take it from there! I'm really annoyed about this as I've just got my car back on form after having an ongoing vibration issue that turned out to be a faulty brand new Continental Tyre! Just had it fully serviced as well! Going back to the road, I was gobsmacked how big the 'pothole' actually was - the trouble is, I was following a van that had just pulled out into the 2nd lane directly in front of me moments before (he sort of cut me up actually), and so didn't have very much visibility of the road ahead or I would have avoided hitting this!!!!! Good job really the speed limit is only 50mph on that section (I had cruise set at 50 mph as there are numerous cameras on that stretch) - further along it opens up to 70mph - I'm sure at that speed there would have been damage for sure! Interesting also, that the road immediately before looks like it has been fully resurfaced recently - I bet the 'pothole' has appeared due to damage cause during this work! Will post up what is found tomorrow!

Ditto..... Please check that rim because i have seen many crack on the BMW, the steering position is an excellent indicator there's an issue at the chassis, but for peace of mind why not have the chassis measured.... but if there is an issue please call me before they make any adjustments, i just want to be sure things are "real" if you know what i mean. The steering wheel 'may' have moved ever so 'slightly' to the left - it's so minimal it's hard to be sure. As I said in my first post, it's easy to begin to imagine things that may well have been that way before, but I did get the impression it may have moved to the left - but it's certainly not by much at all. I have just been out back to the spot to get some photos, now the traffic has calmed down, as this is a 'very' busy stretch of road - and guess what..... they have filled the pothole..... I say pothole but I'm not sure that's how you'd describe something measuring 120" x 20" (that is not a typo bytheway) only knows how deep it was. If there is indeed any real damage I will be making a claim against the council / highways department. I have spoken to the company mentioned and am going to drop in tomorrow morning first thing to have the car checked over. Sorry I'm not coming to you Tony but I'm sure you understand with the distance. If there is anything out, I will call you and would greatly appreciate any advice you can offer over the phone.

Hi Tony, You will probably remember me - I've had my BMW + 2 Vectra's aligned & wheel balanced with you over the past few months. I had a bit of bad luck today with my BMW and hit a deep Pothole on a dual carriageway. The road in question is one I'm familiar with 'up north' and the Pothole most certainly wasn't there last week when I last travelled on this stretch of road! The road surface seems to be breaking up as I stopped and had a good look on my way back. Anyway, I was doing about 50mph in a straight line and the nearside front wheel hit the Pothole reasonably hard - it certainly made a noticeable 'bang' as it hit. It hasn't damaged the wheel that I can see on the car - I have laid on the floor with full lock on to inspect the inside of the wheel the best I can with no obvious signs of damage. There is a 'dirty mark' on the outside shoulder of the tyre where it must have hit, which in turn must have compressed the rubber against the rim as there were rubber marks (presumably from the rim protector on the tyre) on the rim. These have cleaned off OK. Question - does this sound likely to have knocked the alignment out? I understand you can't be sure without putting the car on your machine but what is your experience? Today was a bit of a windy day, and as you know my car isn't the best in wind, so it was difficult to see if the car was driving any differently to normal afterwards. If anything it may have been slightly wandering to the left - but that could easily be the wind / cambers on the motorway - funny how you look for / imagine things more when you suspect there may be a problem! I did ring to speak to you earlier but you were out testing a car - I spoke to another guy (sorry didn't get his name) who said I may be OK but obviously couldn't be sure. He said cars are more vulnerable if steering lock is applied when hitting something. It is frustrating as I would simply pop in if I were local for a check, but as I'm not due down your way at the moment I can't. Is the BMW e60 5 series reaonably strong to this kind of thing? My dilemma is that I have 4 new 'expensive' tyres fitted as you know and I don't want to risk feathering them. Another option I have is to go to another 'fairly local' place that I went to recently with the Field Engineer from Continental to diagnose my faulty tyre as they have a Hunter Roadforce GSP9700 Balancing Machine. They also have an Hunter Alignment Rig. I wondered if you'd heard of them - Buckley Tyres (Buckley, Flintshire), they are listed on 'AlignMyCar.co.uk' and were very professional when diagnosing my tyre problem. Have you heard of them at all? I don't really want to take my business elsewhere but it is a long round trip to you unfortunately - hope you don't mind me asking questions about competitors - albeit in my local region. Your thoughts / comments are greatly appreciated as ever!

FINAL UPDATE Yesterday I met with the Continental Field Engineer who inspected my tyres. He was able to identify, that one of the front tyres was indeed out of Continentals spec for run-out on a Hunter GSP9700 Road Force Machine (90 - not sure what this is measured in). He then promptly had the tyre changed over for a brand new replacement. The other front tyre provided a run out reading of 10, whilst the replacement tyre, once fitted gave a reading of only 5. I am now delight to report that I no longer have any vibration! A MASSIVE RESULT!!!!! The professionalism and support offered by Continental is outstanding - I certainly doubt that many of the other tyre companies would match this? I was not charged a penny either, all of which has gone a long way to ensuring that I remain loyal to the Continental Brand in the future. The car now drives like the day I bought it brand new! Whilst this has been a long, frustrating few months, I have got there in the end. Tony, I may be paying you a third visit with my dad's car - a Vauxhall Vectra Design (2004) for an alignment check / adjustment. Basically, several months ago he came back to his car to find it had been hit whilst in a public car park. What ever had hit it must have been large / heavy as the damage was considerable to the front end relative to only been done whilst stationary in a car park (who ever did it left the scene with no details etc.). As my father is in the motor-trade, he repaired the damage himself and sent the car to a bodyshop for painting. However, yesterday whilst servicing the car, he found excessive wear on both front tyres and also a 'cracked wheel rim' on the inside edge, which he can only presume happened at the time of the mentioned incident as the car has not received any other 'impacts'. This all indicates there must be an alignment issue somewhere (hopefully nothing bent), so I will look to book this in sometime during the next few weeks - preferably on a Saturday morning again. It's just a shame it's so far!

A Big Thank-You to Tony for setting up my wife's Vauxhall Vectra SRi on Saturday. It handles perfectly now, with a straight steering wheel + the wheel balancing has fully removed the vibrations that had become apparent after recently having 4 tyres fitted which were 'poorly' balanced by a local 'fast fit' place. Total transformation of the car - just a pity it's so far to travel (nearly 200 miles each way)! Wish I could have got my BMW sorted so easy..... I will let you know if a faulty tyres is indeed found by the Continental Field Engineer.

Heard some good reviews on these although I don't have any personal experience of them. Agree they look good!

UPDATE: Today I have spoken with a Continental Tyre Field Engineer. The initial conclusion is that there must be a problem relating to the Tyre(s) (as we've already agreed). Therefore, the proposal is that I am going to meet with the Continental Engineer who will inspect the tyres and also have some replacement Tyres with him to get switched over if there is anything identified as looking like a problem. This is excellent customer service from Continental! So, due to my work commitments & the engineer going on holiday, I hope to make an appointment sometime within the next few weeks to resolve the vibration / shimmy issue. I will let you know if this sorts the problem. On another note, I will be in contact with you within the next 1-2 weeks to book my wife's Vectra in for a full geometry set-up, so look forward to meeting you and the team again then.

Update: Tony, I've had a very prompt, detailed and helpful email response from a Product Support Engineer at Continental UK. The outcome is that they are going to arrange for a local Continental Field Support Engineer to come out and visit me to inspect the Tyres and also for me to demonstrate the problem. This could then lead on to the Tyres needing to be returned to the Continental Test facility. All of this is excellent news as I may finally get to the bottom of the problem - it simply must be either 1 or more faulty Tyres. However, if the Tyres need returning for inspection (which I guess they will need to be ultimately), this will cause me some problems as I don't have any 'spare wheels' or 'Tyres' to use in the mean time and rely on the car daily - and so without having to fork out for more Tyres (a considerable sum to outlay - as you will know, but with no guarantee of them identifying my current Tyres as faulty) I will not be able to drive nor store my car. Anyway, first things first..... lets see what the Engineer has to say first...... and then take it from there! Do you know where the Conti Test Facility is located out of interest?

I think we have agreed that three centres all using top equipment and the vibrations the same then it must be another reason. Like you said the problem only evolved when the tyres were fitted so it must be a fault with them. My only leads with conti would be to send the tyres back... this is no good for you since an engineer needs to come out. OK Tony - Thanks again. I will keep you updated with progress through Continental.

Tony, BMW have same attitude - alignment / geometry is only covered for 1000 miles! Unbelievable on cars costing this much!