Pre-sale tire advice

[Zoli007]

I need new tires for my 135 and I'm also at the point where I'm about to sell the car. I would imagine enthusiasts and basically anyone but a dealer will much more appreciate Michellin pilot supersports. However I know dealers will not accept any non run flat tires and basically value the car as if it needed tires regardless of how new the non run flat tires are.

I'm a few short weeks away from ordering an F80 M3 so I want to get the best tires for resale. What says the forum?

Btw if anyone is interested I would be putting the car up for sale for around 25k. Red/tan/auto with 26k miles. Perfect condition.

[Hankdoll]

Before I sold my e90, I bought a used oem set of RFTs off the forum for super cheap. I ended up trading it in after all, so no issues with the dealer. Congrats on the F80, btw.

[champignon]

Most private party buyers won't give you much more for a used car with new tires vs. one with heavily used ones. If the buyer needs financing the bank will likewise not give much if any consideration for the tires.

When I have bought used or vintage cars I basically expected to have to replace the tires soon after purchase, either because they are worn, old, or mediocre in quality. You would be surprised at the crap tires you can find on an otherwise really nice used or vintage car. My 2000 M Coupe was sold with a set of horrid Kumho tires; my mechanic just about puked when he saw them on that car.

[Zoli007]

I get that, and I normally wouldnt even consider putting tires on a car Im about to sell, but I've put this off for so long I've noticed I have threads showing already in the rear, so I NEED to do something and Im not yet ready to get rid of the car. So I gotta do something...

[champignon]

Originally Posted by Zoli007

I get that, and I normally wouldnt even consider putting tires on a car Im about to sell, but I've put this off for so long I've noticed I have threads showing already in the rear, so I NEED to do something and Im not yet ready to get rid of the car. So I gotta do something...

Buy some used tires off Craigslist if you can find some that will fit, even if they are snow tires, or the cheapest thing you can find at Walmart or even worse.

6 months ago I was looking at a used 128i from a second hand dealer in Seattle. The salesman (on the phone) didn't know what kind of tires were on the car but he told me they were "new." He examined the car and found some tires I had never heard of, some Chinese brand with a brand name like "Good Tires." I told him that as far as I was concerned all those tires were good for was to keep the axles off the showroom floor.

[germ]

Why would you want to sell to a dealer or trade in? You are going to get a lousy deal anyway.
Just sell to a private party and put on new tires.
Cheap but OK: Hankook
Good: Michelin PSS

[champignon]

Originally Posted by germ

Why would you want to sell to a dealer or trade in? You are going to get a lousy deal anyway.
Just sell to a private party and put on new tires.
Cheap but OK: Hankook
Good: Michelin PSS

Possible reasons for selling to a dealer include:

(1) 1-Series cars are niche cars and can sell slowly unless priced cheaply;
(2) Related to #1, if you live in an area where most people drive trucks or SUVs, selling to a private party can be even slower;
(3) Some states including mine deduct the trade in from the new car price when calculating the sales tax to register a new vehicle;
(4) Not wanting to deal with the public;
(5) No time to work part time as an uncompensated used car salesman of your own vehicle
(6) Occasionally a new car dealer won't give you a deal on the new car you want because it is in demand, but will pay a bit more on the trade in than you might expect in order to get the new car sales deal

[NVHoo]

Originally Posted by champignon

Possible reasons for selling to a dealer include:

(1) 1-Series cars are niche cars and can sell slowly unless priced cheaply;
(2) Related to #1, if you live in an area where most people drive trucks or SUVs, selling to a private party can be even slower;
(3) Some states including mine deduct the trade in from the new car price when calculating the sales tax to register a new vehicle;
(4) Not wanting to deal with the public;
(5) No time to work part time as an uncompensated used car salesman of your own vehicle
(6) Occasionally a new car dealer won't give you a deal on the new car you want because it is in demand, but will pay a bit more on the trade in than you might expect in order to get the new car sales deal

If your dealer has not inflated your trade to seal the sale on your new car, you can sell your car to another dealer. I did that recently on a car I tried to sell myself but only had a few days to try and failed. CarMax will buy almost any car so it is a good place to start. However, most of the time CarMax's offer is pretty lowball. Of the 5 cars I've taken there over the years, only once did they make me what I considered a fair offer. However, once you have the CarMax offer, most car dealers will beat it which is what happened on the car I could not sell quickly. I called a few dealerships, said what CarMax offered, and one offered me a reasonable price of $1K over Carmax so I sold it to them. Total time invested was 4 hours and I got $2K more than I would have gotten in trade.

If you put on good tires, you will definitely not get as much as you spent in the increase in trade value. Dealers buy tires wholesale and you are paying retail. Some dealers are real picky. I once asked a good friend of mine who works at a dealership for the trade value on my car that I thought had good rubber, 6/32" or better everywhere, but my friend said they would replace the tires to make it a CPO. Since you are on threads, I'd just buy the cheapest tire I could find.