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EnglishOperation, maintenance -> Tire replacement for your BMW 3 Series 1997-2006
116 Tire condition
Tire replacement
ceed carefully to the nearest BMW cen-
ter or professional tire center, or have
the vehicle towed in to have it, its
wheels or its tires inspected.
Tire damage, up to and including blow-
outs, can endanger the lives of both the
vehicle occupants and other road
users<
Those grades represent the tire's ability
to stop on wet pavement as measured
under controlled conditions on speci-
fied government test surfaces of
asphalt and concrete. A tire marked C
may have poor traction performance.
DOT quality grades
>Treadwear
>Traction AA A B C
>Temperature A B C
All passenger car tires must con-
form to Federal Safety Require-
ments in addition to these grades.<
The traction grade assigned to
this tire is based on straight-
ahead braking traction tests, and does
not include acceleration, cornering,
hydroplaning, or peak traction charac-
teristics.<
Tread wear
The treadwear grade is a comparative
rating based on the wear rate of the tire
when tested under controlled condi-
tions on a specified government test
course.
Temperature
The temperature grades are A – the
highest – B and C, representing the
tire's resistance to the generation of
heat and its ability to dissipate heat
when tested under controlled condi-
tions on a specified indoor laboratory
test wheel.
For example, a tire graded 150 would
wear one and one-half – 1 1/2 – times as
well on the government course as a tire
graded 100. The relative performance
of tires depends upon the actual condi-
tions of their use, however, and may
depart significantly from the norm due
to variations in driving habits, service
practices and differences in road char-
acteristics and climate.
Sustained high temperature can cause
the material of the tire to degenerate
and reduce tire life, and excessive tem-
perature can lead to sudden tire failure.
The grade C corresponds to a level of
performance which all passenger car
tires must meet under the Federal
Traction
The traction grades, from highest to
lowest, are AA, A, B and C.
Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 109.
Tire replacement
117
Grades B and A represent higher levels BMW recommends the replacement of
of performance on the laboratory test
wheel than the minimum required by
law.
all tires when the tires are no more than
6 years old, even if a tire life of 10 years
is possible.
The temperature grade for this tire
is established for a tire that is
Following wheel/tire changes
Following wheel and/or tire changes
you will need to reinitialize both the Flat
Tire Monitor and the sequential M gear-
box SMG II, refer to pages 75, 89.
properly inflated and not overloaded.
Excessive speed, under-inflation, or
excessive loading, either separately or
in combination, can cause heat buildup
and possible tire failure.<
Uniform Tire Quality Grading
Quality grades can be found where
applicable on the tire sidewall between
tread shoulder and maximum section
width. For example:
Treadwear 200 Traction AA
Temperature A
Tire age
The date on which the tire was manu-
factured is indicated by the code on the
sidewall:
DOT ... 3502 indicates that the tire was
manufactured in week 35 of the year
2002.
