It's 296 cracking time

S

SpiketheBike

Member
Ok, so had service today, and both rear wheels cracked. Apparently the cracks have been painted over!!! Not a happy bunny. :x

Car is 2011 so no warranty option here. Bought from dealer 9 months ago, so no comback there I'm guessing. Still on RFTs.

My understanding is that any 19" alloy is prone to cracking, so what is involved with dropping to 18"?
Also prices seem to start around the £500 mark, does that seem reasonable?
Do I need to look out for anything in particular, any thing to be aware of, or wary of?

Thanks in anticipation.

Edit: Would it be worth me at this juncture ditching the RFTs as well?
 
I had a set of these for a while with the OEM sized runflat 255 30 19 profile on rear :cry: just not enough rubber to give any cushion whether runflat or non runflat & its really no surprise that many BMW oem 19s running same tyres continue to fail especially on the rears
You can of course drop to 18s with far less chance of it happening again or stay with 19s but fit a 255/265 35 profile tyre rear & a 225 40 front
 
I will be listing a set of OEM 18" 293 alloys soon. let me know if your interested
 
Zed Five said:
If you bought from a bmw dealer and the cracks are painted over, id say the problem is theirs not yours.
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I would agree. But then again, how can you prove that they had been painted over?
 
Angie4m said:
Zed Five said:
If you bought from a bmw dealer and the cracks are painted over, id say the problem is theirs not yours.
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I would agree. But then again, how can you prove that they had been painted over?
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My thoughts too , still annoying for OP though as the car supposedly AUC inspected
 
mr wilks said:
Angie4m said:
Zed Five said:
If you bought from a bmw dealer and the cracks are painted over, id say the problem is theirs not yours.
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I would agree. But then again, how can you prove that they had been painted over?
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My thoughts too , still annoying for OP though as the car supposedly AUC inspected
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If it's AUC, you're supposed to get a 12 month warranty aren't you. Given the well known propensity for cracking, I'd be giving the dealers a ring... If they resist there's plenty of evidence on the net for them cracking so a letter to BMW complete with reams of supporting evidence would be on the cards
 
Cost is a big issue. £1100 for a pair of rear 296s, plus I actually need a new offside front at the mo as which is another £170 if I stick with 296s and RFTs.
Or
a full set of 18" for anything from £500 upwards. Seems a no brainer really. Even with the need to replace tyres - I think would go with non RFTs.
Going to talk to my garage guy tomorrow and see what he thinks. I trust him :thumbsup:
 
SpiketheBike said:
Cost is a big issue. £1100 for a pair of rear 296s, plus I actually need a new offside front at the mo as which is another £170 if I stick with 296s and RFTs.
Or
a full set of 18" for anything from £500 upwards. Seems a no brainer really. Even with the need to replace tyres - I think would go with non RFTs.
Going to talk to my garage guy tomorrow and see what he thinks. I trust him :thumbsup:
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A1GSS bought a brand new set of rep 19s with new Uniroyal RS3s last week for a good lump under £1k
I like 296s but i wouldn't be stumping that up for them , they've proved time over they are no better quality than of the branded rep wheels out there :wink:
 
mr wilks said:
SpiketheBike said:
Cost is a big issue. £1100 for a pair of rear 296s, plus I actually need a new offside front at the mo as which is another £170 if I stick with 296s and RFTs.
Or
a full set of 18" for anything from £500 upwards. Seems a no brainer really. Even with the need to replace tyres - I think would go with non RFTs.
Going to talk to my garage guy tomorrow and see what he thinks. I trust him :thumbsup:
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A1GSS bought a brand new set of rep 19s with new Uniroyal RS3s last week for a good lump under £1k
I like 296s but i wouldn't be stumping that up for them , they've proved time over they are no better quality than of the branded rep wheels out there :wink:
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I've heard new 296's from approx 2012-13 IIRC have been made by a different supplier and don't suffer the cracking. I think we discussed it around March time last year on here in the E89 section, might be worth digging the threads up as I think there was some fairly good evidence for this.
 
If the car's got full BMWSH, it might still be worth approaching them for a 'goodwill' replacement of a known problem - what have you got to lose....?
 
Exactly the same thing happened to me...

... I just took the plunge and bought new BBS wheels and ditched the run flats.

No issues since.
 
It's not just style 296 but it's one of the worst. I have 313s with non run flats. Had them a couple of years now and an inspection a few weeks ago showed all well.
 
I got my Z4 a couple of years ago now - a 2009 23i sdrive.

It had the 296 alloy wheels and it was after I bought it I found out that there was an issue with these wheels - the wheels crack - absolutely no give in the tyre wall so any pot holes or rough road places a lot of stress on the wheel and bingo they crack.

I ended up having to repalce the rear wheels on mine and junked the tyres to non run flats but the damage was done really ddint like driving on those wheels as felt aht they were going to crack at any minute. So I got a set of 18's off of ebay and yea they may be an inch smaller they still look okay on the car. And I have a little bit more confidence on our crap roads. So it now sports 293 wheels. I heard that the 296 are of a different design now and BMW seem to still be selling them on new Z4's but once bitten twice shy. not to happy with the lack of support form BMW over what is an inferior component.
 
Japseroony said:
I thought it was the 326's that cracked all the time?
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There are members on here who have had 326's crack and 296's crack, depends on luck.
That said you're running a risk of cracking with any 19 with RFT
 
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