I had asked a similar question but want to be 100% sure before I make an investment.

I have a 2007 328xi. My tires are shot and I'd like to go with Continentals. I'll keep with the run flats. My question is, when I turn the car into BMW upon the end of my lease, are they going to be OK with these tires on the car, or am I going to get dinged/penalized, etc. for not having the exact same brand/make/model as what was OEM for the car.

Thanks!
_Tom

As long as the tires you put on are an OEM replacement you'll be fine. The Continentals were in fact an OEM replacement.

BMW has certain tires that they "approve" for their cars and on the E90s they approved Bridgestone and Continental. So even though your car came with the Bridgestones if you put the Continental Conti Pro Contact SSR you'll be just fine as far as the turn in goes.

As long as the tires you put on are an OEM replacement you'll be fine. The Continentals were in fact an OEM replacement.

BMW has certain tires that they "approve" for their cars and on the E90s they approved Bridgestone and Continental. So even though your car came with the Bridgestones if you put the Continental Conti Pro Contact SSR you'll be just fine as far as the turn in goes.

Thanks a ton for the reply.
A good friend just found me a nice deal on those Conti's so I'm in.
Thanks!

As long as the tires you put on are an OEM replacement you'll be fine. The Continentals were in fact an OEM replacement.

BMW has certain tires that they "approve" for their cars and on the E90s they approved Bridgestone and Continental. So even though your car came with the Bridgestones if you put the Continental Conti Pro Contact SSR you'll be just fine as far as the turn in goes.

Where can one find the list of "approved" tires? I am turning in my '05 325i soon, and they came with the ContiTouringContact CH95s. I would like to get out of this the cheapest way possible.

Typically you can go on tire rack and punch your vehicle in and then click on the oem options and it SHOULD list all the stuff that is approved.

However, here is a complete list of the approved tires that I got directly from the tire website that we order most of our BMW approved tires from:

Dunlop Sport 2000E - sku 038210 - $126
Conti Touring Contact CH95 - sku 0351395 - $116
Goodyear Eagle RS-A - sku 732906120 - $120
Pirelli P6 Four Seasons - sku 1392000 - $134
Bridgestone Turanza EL41 - sku 065595 - $162
Michelin Energy MXV4 Plus - sku 79258 - $160
Michelin Primacy MXV4 - sku 36597 - $151

The sku numbers are very important here...there will most likely be other variations of the same exact tire...for instance you can go to NTB and get a 205/55R16 CH95...but if it's not the 0351395 sku the tread pattern looks different and ISN'T the one approved for the BMW. BMW is really really picky on what tires they approve. The above is the list for the E46 with the 205/55R16 tire.

Typically you can go on tire rack and punch your vehicle in and then click on the oem options and it SHOULD list all the stuff that is approved.

However, here is a complete list of the approved tires that I got directly from the tire website that we order most of our BMW approved tires from:

Dunlop Sport 2000E - sku 038210 - $126
Conti Touring Contact CH95 - sku 0351395 - $116
Goodyear Eagle RS-A - sku 732906120 - $120
Pirelli P6 Four Seasons - sku 1392000 - $134
Bridgestone Turanza EL41 - sku 065595 - $162
Michelin Energy MXV4 Plus - sku 79258 - $160
Michelin Primacy MXV4 - sku 36597 - $151

The sku numbers are very important here...there will most likely be other variations of the same exact tire...for instance you can go to NTB and get a 205/55R16 CH95...but if it's not the 0351395 sku the tread pattern looks different and ISN'T the one approved for the BMW. BMW is really really picky on what tires they approve. The above is the list for the E46 with the 205/55R16 tire.

Thank you for the detailed information, will definitely be referring back to this for future leases. I ended up lucking out and finding the OEM Conti CH95s with the correct sku locally for a song. Since I'm handing the car back soon, the cheaper the better.

No problem. It will differ depending on model. The E90 chassis has a different set of approved tires than the E46. PM me if you have any specific questions...I work for a dealer and can tell you what you need to know about approved tires and such for specific models.

Really as long as they have tread, are the correct or higher speed rating and load capacity you are fine. The only downer is when they have run flat tires. You are going to be stuck with replacing them with run flat tires and they are going to cost you more.

I must disagree with you Jim. In order for a car to be CPOd...or certified pre owned it MUST have the OEM tire on it. Otherwise the pre-owned manager has to pay to have the tires replaced and take that money out of the car...he doesn't like to do that. So quite honestly it's up to the salesman you deal with whether he wants to make you pay for the tires when you turn the car in with non approved ones on it. There's a decent chance that if you're turning it in and leasing or buying another one, they won't bug you too much, but if you're turning it in and that's it...yeah, they'll probably get you.

Also, if you're going to buy your car at the end of your lease and you want the CPO warranty, you'll NEED to have the OEM tires...otherwise they'll make you buy them or they won't give you CPO warranty. I've seen many times where customers JUST put brand spankin' new Yokohamas and then want to buy out the lease and get CPO warranty...and they have to turn around and buy another set of tires that are OEM and worry about selling the yokos...

The lease turn-in yesterday went well, no lease-end charges to worry about.

Thanks again for the assistance.