Buying new tires, returning leased M4 in 14 months

[Kidscollege$]

Originally Posted by Kabrich

Again, as intake Dealer (acting on behalf of BMWFS) (1) has wide latitude according to the lease and (2) in most cases will have to sell the car on their lot or take their chances at auction (BMWFS gives the Dealer only a few mulligans per quarter to pass on), so the Dealer is the ultimate decision maker as to what they will allow and not allow.

In the case you stated, the Dealer might have sold another car to the lease owner and therefore overlooked those tires for the leaseholder.

Bottom line, if there is a $10k difference in value between residual and average price, the Dealer is bound to be more accommodating than if the margin is $1k.

If $10k different then why not just pay off and sell yourself? Put $10k in your own pocket?

[mercedesc63]

Originally Posted by mrivc211

So I'm returning my car in 14 months. I'm going to sell or trade in my car before the 14 months is up and worst case scenario return the car to BMW. I'm waaaay under on the miles. My question is does the brand of tires matter when returning the lease or does it have to be the same? Tire shop down the street can throw some cheapo generals on for $800 or costco is $1000. Whats the word on this? Thanks

They are going to look for star spec tires in the same sizes the car came with.

[Kabrich]

Originally Posted by Kidscollege$

If $10k different then why not just pay off and sell yourself? Put $10k in your own pocket?

You are assuming you can sell it for that much.

Furthermore you have to pay sales tax on the purchase, plus title fees and then recoup it taking a huge cut into that profit that the Dealer doesn't have to pay.

[G35POPPEDMYCHERRY]

TL;DR the dealer always wins

[trey100]

Originally Posted by mercedesc63

They are going to look for star spec tires in the same sizes the car came with.

Since the cars came with both MPSS and Continental 5P, wouldn't one be able to swap between them? Also if the MPSS goes away, how can they expect you to return them with the MPSS? Or is Michelin keeping the MPSS and selling the 4S at the same time?

Mine came with the 5P and I wanted to try the MPSS

[Kabrich]

Originally Posted by trey100

Since the cars came with both MPSS and Continental 5P, wouldn't one be able to swap between them? Also if the MPSS goes away, how can they expect you to return them with the MPSS? Or is Michelin keeping the MPSS and selling the 4S at the same time?

Mine came with the 5P and I wanted to try the MPSS

Yes, either 5P or MPSS Star Version would be acceptable on return.

If you get MPSS, get the Star Versions as there are reports on forum where poster has had Generic MPSS rejected at turn-in ecen with proper tread depth.

Your mileage may vary.

[JL95]

Me and my fiance both have M cars. Hers is a leased M3 and I drive a M4 (mine is purchased). Her lease is almost up (3 months left) so she's just going to turn the car in cause she wants to go to dark side (MB GLC 63S) . So I did some digging and came up with this. Hope it helps with any future lease returns.

"I preface this by saying I worked in the tire industry briefly.

Normally, OEs exert a tremendous amount of pressure on their suppliers for the smallest margin. What typically happens, is when a supplier has a strong "branded" product, that OE wants to take full advantage of, but do not want to pay the associated prices for the cost to build and market such a valuable product line, they'll ask the suppliers to provide those tires en-bulk using said brand and product name, but at a significantly discounted price. So what the tire manufacturers usually do, is cut a few corners, use a slightly different formulation, skip a few QA steps to meet the OE's specifications for the tire, and still allow the OE to claim that their car came with Brand Name Model Number tires.

But they can't really mix the two stocks, because the OE tires are inferior to the actual tires that they sell to the public, the tires that they sell at a higher margin and have spent all that time and money in promoting and marketing. So they put a small marking on the mold, and give it a different part number. From the outside they appear identical, and the idea here is, a vast majority of consumers go to the tire store and ask for what they've got on their car anyway, so even though the OE tires are inferior, they can turn around and make a bigger margin on them in the aftermarket if the consumer asks for and buys the same OE tires, or the same exact tires without the OE "branding" mark. In the mean time they'll tell the public that these OE branded tires are design specifically to "work with their special vehicle" and at the end of the day, the OE makes out by being able to put these so-called higher-end, highly valued branded tires on their cars, and the tire companies get a boost in sales from users who typically just replace with like brand/model when time comes to replace.

NEVER buy the OE branded tires to replace when the same model tire exist without the OE brand. The non-OE tires are usually superior. Case in point, the OE ContiSportContact IIs on our MZ4 Coupe. Same private branded tire as what came on the E46 M3. All the M3 guys (as well as most MZ4 Coupe 1st owners) complained that the tires don't last (they're burnt out by about 10,000 miles) and that they grip like sh*t, while the reviews of the non OE branded ContiSportContact II got rave reviews from most of its buyers on TireRack and held its own against Goodyear, Dunlops, and Pirelli's Max Summer Tires in TireRack's own instrumented test."

It made perfect sense to me since I've replaced 4 set of tires on 2 different M4s I owned in past 4 years. Mind you I bought BMW approved tires with stars on them (big mistake) and no I don't drift, drag race or track my car.