[chris.gid]

Hi all,
Looking for some advice on the tyre wear indicators on i3 tyres. Went to showroom to buy a used one today and checked the tyres and they looked like there was a fraction left above the wear indicator and one of the rears looked like it was on the wear indicator. BMW are insisting that there is 3-5mm tread left and and dealer even got out their inspection check sheets.
Car has done 18k miles and don't want to buy a car that is going to need new tyres right away.

So does anyone have a picture of the wear indicator on their i3 tyres (Bridgestone ecopia 500) so I can point this out to deal and get them to put new tyres on it.

They are not budging an inch on price and we left today with them going to find out how much cost price tyres are.

Thanks for any help

[afadeev]

Originally Posted by chris.gid

Looking for some advice on the tyre wear indicators on i3 tyres. Went to showroom to buy a used one today and checked the tyres and they looked like there was a fraction left above the wear indicator and one of the rears looked like it was on the wear indicator. BMW are insisting that there is 3-5mm tread left and and dealer even got out their inspection check sheets.
Car has done 18k miles and don't want to buy a car that is going to need new tyres right away.

As you've correctly surmised, the tires are at the end of their lifespan, and the dealer is trying to pull a fast one on you.

Whether or not they tires have 3mm or 5mm is a misleading argument.
One calculates usable trade life of the tire by subtracting the last 2mm of tread depth from what's measured, since tires are legally worn out at that stage (@wear bars).

Front i3 EP600 tires start with 9/32" or ~7mm of tread. Rears at 10/32" or ~8mm of tread. Subtracting 2mm from both, you get 5mm /6mm of useful tread life front front/rear tires.

Assuming the tire are worn evenly and dealer measured the wear truthfully (doubtful), your dealer's tires have 1mm / 3mm of tread left, or ~20% / 50 % of tread life left.

Very few i3 ties last 20K miles, and most get replaced sooner.
That tells me that the rears have been replaced at least once before, and the front will be due very shortly.

Originally Posted by chris.gid

They are not budging an inch on price and we left today with them going to find out how much cost price tyres are.

I would either insist on them buying a new set of tires, or subtracting the cost from tire purchase and installation the final negotiated price.

If they don't budge, you can always walk away.

Pictures of other used tires, or any other objects, will not change the above conclusion.

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