Originally Posted By: Jim 5
Thanks for pointing that out. It's the first compelling reason I've heard not to rotate. Point #1 isn't that persuasive but more interesting, but point #2 is illustrative and something I'd like to hear more about. Never heard this one before.
I'd love to find out BMW's rationale. Interesting!
Well, in a lot of ways my point #1 should be almost as compelling as my point #2. In Europe, no one even thinks of rotating because they notice weird handling issues when they do. My observation #2 was simply a personal observation of the same issues documented by the Europeans. It's all the same thing. When this person had discussions in his car enthusiast circles/clubs about tire rotation he was greeted with a "Why on earth would you do that? We never do that because...." response. Yes, it's 2nd, 3rd and 4th hand information but that doesn't invalidate the principal point being made by those who said it.
With the higher speeds typical in Europe, and what I've observed to be a "different" approach to driving, it's neither considered safe nor tolerable to live with the "weirdness" just to allow rotation.
As someone else here pointed out, you may replace a typical BMWs rears before the fronts by not rotating, but it typically works out in the end (depending on the car, options, alignment and driver) just not 4 tires at a time.
As d00df00d says it's BMW's intent to promote handling, stability and that German "planted" feeling with the factory setup. Tire rotation works against those traits. Some may disagree, but in theory you are getting something "in exchange" for the increased camber and associated wear. I'm sure some readers will call it a "design flaw" but the factory alignment settings are there for a reason - not just a conspiracy theory to sell more tires. It doesn't change the truth that "those dang German cars wear out rear tires fast" but it's not a mystery why it happens. Through a V8, V10 or V12 into the mix with that alignment and it happens faster
Myself, I bought a BMW for the handling, planted, agility despite size/weight etc...etc... so, after reading and seeing firsthand that even extremely frequent rotation negatively affects these characteristics, I'll just live with replacing pairs of tires out of sync.