BMW X5 - Manual (Page 140)

138 n Wheel/tire condition
Wheel/tire damage
Inspect your wheels and tires frequently
for tread wear, signs of damage and for
foreign objects lodged in the tread.
Check the tread pattern depth.
Due to low-profile tires, please
note: wheels, tires and suspen-
sion parts are more susceptible to road
hazards and consequential damages.
Unusual vibrations encountered during
normal vehicle operation can indicate
tire failure or some other vehicle defect.
This can, for example, be caused by
driving over curbs. This is also true for
irregularities in the vehicle's handling
characteristics, such as a pronounced
tendency to pull to the left or right.
Should this occur, respond by immedi-
ately reducing your speed. Carefully
proceed – or have your vehicle towed –
to the nearest BMW Sports Activity
Vehicle center or tire dealer to have the
wheels or tires inspected.
Tire damage, extending to sudden and
complete loss of pressure in extreme
cases, can pose a potentially lethal
safety hazard for the vehicle's occu-
pants and other road users alike.
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Tire tread
The tread depth should not fall below
e
in/3 mm.
At tread depths below e in/3 mm there
is an increased risk of high-speed
hydroplaning, even when only small
amounts of water are present on the
road surface.
As winter tires display a noticeable
loss in their ability to cope with cold-
weather driving conditions once the
tread wears to below k/K in/4 mm, to
ensure continued safety you should
always have such tires replaced.
Wear indicators at the tread-groove
base, arrow, are distributed over the
tire's circumference and are marked on
the side of the tire with TWI – Tread
Wear Indicator. These indicators signal
at a tread depth of k/FK in/1.6 mm that
the legally permitted wear limit has
been reached.
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Online Edition for Part No. 01 41 0 157 897 - © 08/03 BMW AG