X3 Xdrive Tyre replacement

Howsit Guys. My wife's X3 xdrive was in for a service with BMW and they advised that the rear tyres need replacing however the front tyres are fine.

They have sent me a quote to have the rears replaced only. Did some research and found the below on BMW's website. Should all four tyres be replaced and for the guys with xdrive do you follow this religiously or is it fine to replace just the rear two tyres only?

What should I pay attention to when changing tyres on my BMW?​

If you change a single tyre on your front- or rear-wheel drive BMW, make sure that the difference in tread depth between the new tyre and the other tyre on the same axle is no more than 2 millimetres. In case of higher deviations of tread depth between two tyres on the same axle, both tyres must be replaced. For vehicles with BMW xDrive, all four tyres must be replaced at the same time to avoid damage to the transfer box.

I have always changed all 4 tyres at the same time, for fear of transfer case issues in future.

The xdrive system can be sensitive and a rebuild can be a massive bill. I would rather err on the side of caution and pay a little more now, to (hopefully) prevent a lot more later.

KPM3_30 said:

I have always changed all 4 tyres at the same time, for fear of transfer case issues in future.

The xdrive system can be sensitive and a rebuild can be a massive bill. I would rather err on the side of caution and pay a little more now, to (hopefully) prevent a lot more later.

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Thanks for the feedback. Wonder why BMW quoted for the rears only

I can imagine that replacing 4 tyres is painful.

Bridgestone did have good deals on Alenzas in the past. Not the best tyres, but does the daily business.

Also check Minyts if they can beat the BMW price.

If running same size tyres all round, will advise to rotate the newly fitted tyres every 10000km so at least they all wear evenly.
The X3 will chow rear tyres since it is RWD biased AWD.

MR_Y said:

I can imagine that replacing 4 tyres is painful.

Bridgestone did have good deals on Alenzas in the past. Not the best tyres, but does the daily business.

Also check Minyts if they can beat the BMW price.

If running same size tyres all round, will advise to rotate the newly fitted tyres every 10000km so at least they all wear evenly.
The X3 will chow rear tyres since it is RWD biased AWD.

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Quite painful indeed. Car is still under motorplan so will just get it done at BMW as i have read that the xdrive is very sensitive and sometimes a steering angle sensor error can pop up when replacing the tyres. If done under motor plan and through BMW, they can't put the blame on an external company for the error etc.

I have changed two tyres on the same axle on the xdrive and it is not an issue thus far. Before I did that I researched it with the same fear and many forums where the guys have reliable xdrive cars over 250k km mileage doing the same and reported no issues.
I gave it a try as my car had new tyres on it and only one had to be replaced so did both the front ones.