Prematurely perished tyres ( tires ) on BMW i3

Has anyone else noticed that the front tyres get perished really quickly ( after 2 years as read from the DOT marks as OE fittment ) ?
I thought it was a one off thing until I bought another i3 and saw the same on another car.
Bridgestone said it was due to the car not being used as the first car had done 6000 over 2 years but the next car has done 18000 miles over the same period and also exhibits the same wear problem which looks like the tyre is made from wood and has circumferential crazing running around the tyre. It was said to be oils migrating from the tyre due to the tyre being cold according to Bridgestone.
When I did my Michelin training it was called " ozone cracking " and was to do with ozone in the atmosphere due to electrical activity which may explain it, they also said it was nothing to worry about but the compound is very wooden now and the actual tread is obviously not as rigid as it would be if it were one solid mass and is likely to squirm about more. I will be changing the tyres and fitting 175s on the front to see if it will help front end adhesion. I will also be sending the tyre back to Bridgestone Under complaint.

People that have tried to mount the larger tire/wheel from the rear of an i3 on the front quickly found that it destroys things.

Can you elaborate on what you mean by " destroys things" please

The larger OEM rear wheel for the i3 rubs on things when you try to mount it on the front. There's a thread here somewhere where a tire dealer did that, and they had to buy a new wheel and tire that were destroyed. Personally, I've not tried it as I have no reason to want larger tires/wheels on the front. Right now, I'm running a square setup with winter tires (which will come off soon) in place of my staggered set. If you got one with a different offset, you MIGHT get by, but again, I've not dealt with that. Someone may have. IOW, at least from someone who tried it (accidentally) it doesn't work with the OEM stock wheels/tires.

As Jim stated, 175 mm rear tires on 5.5" rear wheels won't fit on the front due to interference, but some have added a spacer to move the larger wheel/tire combination out a bit to eliminate this interference. However, doing so would reduce or eliminate the standard negative scrub radius which would negatively affect emergency handling, would increase the load on the outer wheel bearing which could shorten its life, and would affect the behavior of the suspension because the load is farther from the suspension's pivot points.

I haven't read of anyone mounting 175 mm rear tires on 5" front wheels which would certainly cause less interference than the wider rear wheels which have 10 mm greater positive offset (i.e., more likely to cause interference) and wouldn't have any of the negative effects of mounting rear wheels/tires with spacers. Wider front tires would increase the aerodynamic drag a tiny bit.

Maybe the front alignment is not correct which could cause the surprising front tire wear that you have experienced. Most i3 owners seem to report faster wear on the rear tires rather than the front tires.

alohart said:

Maybe the front alignment is not correct which could cause the surprising front tire wear that you have experienced. Most i3 owners seem to report faster wear on the rear tires rather than the front tires.

Click to expand...

It's not a wear problem as the actual tread is ok, it's a degradation of the rubber.
The rears wear more because they are the driving wheels and the car delivers high torque as well