Fractured Wheel

[RustyH]

Evening All,

I'm just looking at getting a second hand BMW 5 Series, 40k Miles. I was looking at a car check report and notice it failed the MOT in 2021 due to fractured wheel on the offside rear. It then passed the MOT the following day. There is another MOT in 2022 which passed with two minor advisories.

I was just wondering what peoples thoughts were on the fractured wheel. I guess its not an instant sign of the car being badly driven, could have been an accident, but is it a high risk to buy it?
Its apparent had one of those 128 point checks done by the garage who are selling it, not sure how worthy those reports are

Cheers
R

[OutInTheShed]

My guess would be it's met a pothole very hard.
Not totally the driver's fault.
Putting it in for an MOT in that state might want some explaining, but it could just be a little crack on the inside rim.

Does it have particularly weak wheels?
Is there a receipt for replacing the wheel?
Are the tyres very low profile?

Have a look on the BM forum to see if those wheels often have issues?

I'd maybe want it up on a ramp and look at all the wheels, even if that meant taking it to my local backstreet garage just after buying it.

[Deerfoot]

It’s probably been caused by a pothole.

I’m guessing it’s on run flat tyres? They have stiff sidewalls that can contribute to damaged wheels. I wouldn’t worry too much about it.

[2Btoo]

Deerfoot said:

It’s probably been caused by a pothole.

I’m guessing it’s on run flat tyres? They have stiff sidewalls that can contribute to damaged wheels. I wouldn’t worry too much about it.

Very much this.

Have a good look around but a damaged wheel can be removed and replaced easily enough. It's no biggie.

[OldGermanHeaps]

Happens all the time now on big wheels, low profile tyres, even without doing pothole damage, the road are ste and wheels are not really suitable. Inspect it carefully but dont be too put off.

[ZX10R NIN]

As above it's very common to find a car with a weld on them these days, the state of the roads as well as low profile run flat tyres & you have a recipe for cracking. BMW seem to suffer a bit more than most but it's common across all cars.

[RustyH]

Thanks Everyone

They are the 20" BMW Wheels, I believe they call them 759i option

https://www.alloywheelsdirect.net/bmw_alloy_wheels...

As you say, likely low profile tyres. I believe profile is 30

So nothing to get majorly hung up over, but worth asking for receipts etc if they have them. I think it was an ex LEX Auto Vehicle, so maybe done at dealership and therefore might be able to call dealership to see if they have digital receipt of it

Edited by RustyH on Tuesday 5th April 19:45

[Sheepshanks]

RustyH said:

They are the 20" BMW Wheels, I believe they call them 759i option

Even the 18’s were so bad they were on Watchdog a few years ago,

[SteveR1979]

BMW with a cracked wheel.

Hold my beer, I'll call the press, tell them to hold the front page

[Lincsls1]

As above, very common and unlikely no reflection on the ownership over the car.

[Mr Tidy]

Potholes are a frequent cause of wheel damage on BMWs running bigger wheels with run-flat tyres.

E89 Z4 owners with 19" Style 326 wheels and run-flats report it regularly, but a relative with 18" MV2 wheels on an E46 3 Series with non run-flats needed a wheel repaired due to pothole damage.

Best solutions seem to be:-

Avoid potholes.
Run smaller wheels.
Bin run-flats.
Cross your fingers!

[RustyH]

Thanks Everyone, really appreciate the advice

Does any one how I could get the VIN number of a car Im looking at, Reg is NK68 VKS
I'd like to pull the factory order spec of it to see what packages it come with

[SteBrown91]

RustyH said:

Thanks Everyone, really appreciate the advice

Does any one how I could get the VIN number of a car Im looking at, Reg is NK68 VKS
I'd like to pull the factory order spec of it to see what packages it come with

A full vehicle check like vcheck, carvertical hpi etc should give you the VIN from the reg.

[Mr Tidy]

RustyH said:

Does any one how I could get the VIN number of a car Im looking at, Reg is NK68 VKS
I'd like to pull the factory order spec of it to see what packages it come with

You used to be able to get it from the BMW Extended Warranty site, but that feature got removed a few years ago.

I'd just ring the seller and ask for the VIN - if you explain why you want it hopefully they'd provide it. Or they may even have a print-out of it!