BMW run flat tyres - what a joke!
Discussion
Check your innner edge of the run flats I am being told that due to the type of tyre they only last 10000 miles and wear a radius on the inner edge, the inner edge has gone on all 4 of my tyres.
They also state the system they use to advise on pressure only tells you if you have a puncher so what happens if you have slow puncher you keep driving on a tyre until all the air has gone!
I am now waiting for 4 new tryes should be ready end of this week.
Very disaponted with BMW car is about to go!
They also state the system they use to advise on pressure only tells you if you have a puncher so what happens if you have slow puncher you keep driving on a tyre until all the air has gone!
I am now waiting for 4 new tryes should be ready end of this week.
Very disaponted with BMW car is about to go!
grand cherokee said:
my friends wife's new 3 series got a flat about 6 days ago and they still cannot get a replacement!!
so car is stuck on the drive and they have given her a hire car
bring back the days of the spare tyre imo!
as i said what would have happened if they had been abroad which they are frequently
apparently there are no tyres anywhere in the UK until the manufacturer makes some more!!
so car is stuck on the drive and they have given her a hire car
bring back the days of the spare tyre imo!
as i said what would have happened if they had been abroad which they are frequently
apparently there are no tyres anywhere in the UK until the manufacturer makes some more!!
Edited by grand cherokee on Sunday 20th January 11:37
grand cherokee said:
Herman Toothrot said:
Can you not stick normal tyres on them and carry a foot pump & can of tyre weld instead?
can't put 'normal' tyres on those rims - or so i'm told? - cars under warranty so would probably FUBAR that ideaif it was me - i'd go to the BMW dealer and demand a wheel off a showroom car!!!
Edited by grand cherokee on Sunday 20th January 12:34
http://www.babybmw.net/forum/index.php
David9999 said:
I've had 3 BMW 330d cars since 2000 and drive over 30,000 mpy, all with conventional tyres and I recently bought a 335d, no choice but to have the runflats. What a disappointment.
Very poor ride, the car wanders on uneven roads and is less comfortable.
On my last 330d I achieved 45,000 miles on rear tyres and 60,000+ on the front ones (careful driver)used the power when needed. The 335 has had new rears at 20,000 mile and front ones are due for renewal at 30,000 so half the mileage for the same type of driving and almost 50% increase in replacement cost per tyre.
Economics do not add up to me so will NEVER buy runflats on a car again.
The joke about freeing up space in the book is an insult to average intelligence.
same thing on the cars i driven with runcraps....the cars with them seemed to have a mind of its own on uneven roads....i wasted money getting the geometry checked out on a 1 series because i thought it needed doing, turned out it was the runcraps...Very poor ride, the car wanders on uneven roads and is less comfortable.
On my last 330d I achieved 45,000 miles on rear tyres and 60,000+ on the front ones (careful driver)used the power when needed. The 335 has had new rears at 20,000 mile and front ones are due for renewal at 30,000 so half the mileage for the same type of driving and almost 50% increase in replacement cost per tyre.
Economics do not add up to me so will NEVER buy runflats on a car again.
The joke about freeing up space in the book is an insult to average intelligence.
In the USA, BMW used to replace Dunlop RFTs free of charge on 5 series if the wore out less then 10,000 miles (maybe they still do, see e60.net)
But BMW UK claimed to have never heard of the problem when I tried to claim, I quoted the USA BMW fault number that USA dealers used to do this. No luck at all. They told me to contact Dunlop (another way to tell me to clear off!)
I expect USA has tougher laws than us for this type of thing..
But BMW UK claimed to have never heard of the problem when I tried to claim, I quoted the USA BMW fault number that USA dealers used to do this. No luck at all. They told me to contact Dunlop (another way to tell me to clear off!)
I expect USA has tougher laws than us for this type of thing..
sjj84 said:
grand cherokee said:
can't put 'normal' tyres on those rims - or so i'm told? - cars under warranty so would probably FUBAR that idea
That's rubbish. Take a look over on one of the BMW forums, it's a very popular change, makes the ride better aswell.Edited by grand cherokee on Sunday 20th January 12:34
They only use that 'you cant have normal tyres on those rims' line on women and car retards.
BMWBen said:
I've got runflats on my 5er - was fully expecting to have to replace them straight away due to extreme crapness, but actually they're fine.
??
Wait till they wear out then try normal tyres. The ride quality will improve 10 fold.??
Saying that you rarely have to change all 4 at once, which is quite costly so if it doesnt bother you why do it.
Almost a complete retraction on my last statement.
btdk5 said:
BMWBen said:
I've got runflats on my 5er - was fully expecting to have to replace them straight away due to extreme crapness, but actually they're fine.
??
Wait till they wear out then try normal tyres. The ride quality will improve 10 fold.??
Saying that you rarely have to change all 4 at once, which is quite costly so if it doesnt bother you why do it.
I'm not a tyre expert, but when I owned a Bini I looked into replacing runflats for normal cheaper tyres.
Basically, if a car comes from the factory with runflats I read thats its not a good idea to change them...???
It must affect the warranty on new cars anyway!
Even on an 8 year old Bini the electrical system was in place to show you when any of the tyres pressures where low, and changing tyres could cause problems with this.
If cars from say BMW have been designed and tested to handle and drive as they do on the hard side wall runflats then putting a normal soft side wall tyre on is going to affect things.....it may be a bit comfier but it may not handle as well with more tyre flex!?
The demand is increasing and more tyre manufacturers are making them so prices are getting much better anyway!
But like I said i'm not an expert and dont own a car with standard runflats anymore, just adding my thoughts!
Basically, if a car comes from the factory with runflats I read thats its not a good idea to change them...???
It must affect the warranty on new cars anyway!
Even on an 8 year old Bini the electrical system was in place to show you when any of the tyres pressures where low, and changing tyres could cause problems with this.
If cars from say BMW have been designed and tested to handle and drive as they do on the hard side wall runflats then putting a normal soft side wall tyre on is going to affect things.....it may be a bit comfier but it may not handle as well with more tyre flex!?
The demand is increasing and more tyre manufacturers are making them so prices are getting much better anyway!
But like I said i'm not an expert and dont own a car with standard runflats anymore, just adding my thoughts!
I don't believe for a second that BMW use runflats for the sake of space anyway. A spare wheels weigh's about 10kg, which you are then shoeing around unused for 99% of the time. Does the car have a spare wheel well under the carpet in the boot?
More weight = more emissions = higher in the tax bands - simples
A lot of manufacturer's are now supplying cars without a spare for that very reason. Most manufacturer's also make sure that the tyres they supply will be available
More weight = more emissions = higher in the tax bands - simples
A lot of manufacturer's are now supplying cars without a spare for that very reason. Most manufacturer's also make sure that the tyres they supply will be available
grand cherokee said:
my friends wife's new 3 series got a flat about 6 days ago and they still cannot get a replacement!!
so car is stuck on the drive and they have given her a hire car
bring back the days of the spare tyre imo!
as i said what would have happened if they had been abroad which they are frequently
apparently there are no tyres anywhere in the UK until the manufacturer makes some more!!
I offten wondered about this when i had my MCS , no one stocks them so its 1 2 days to get them in on order , you can only drive about 90 kms on them so its a night or two in a hotel , idiotic so car is stuck on the drive and they have given her a hire car
bring back the days of the spare tyre imo!
as i said what would have happened if they had been abroad which they are frequently
apparently there are no tyres anywhere in the UK until the manufacturer makes some more!!
Edited by grand cherokee on Sunday 20th January 11:37
I had the same issue recently when trying to replace one of the rears down to the limit on the 118d that was down to the legal limit (company car serviced by a main dealer but where Kwik-Fit take care of the tyres).
Kwik-Fit took the car away then phoned to say that they had none of the tyres (Bridgestone from memory) in stock, anywhere in the company, and that they were unable to source one from any of their suppliers.
'No problem', I said, 'just replace it with another brand'.
'No can do' said Kwik Fit, 'There's only two manufacturers that make run-flats in this size and both are completely out of stock, and neither has any idea when they might be doing a new production run'.
'Okay, well just put a normal tyre on instead'
'Can't do that Sir - you'd need to replace the tyres on either side, it would invalidate the warranty and it places havoc with the run flat sensors, etc...'
'So you're telling me that there are no run flats for a new model, high volume car in existence in the whole country and no-one has any idea of when this will be solved, and I can't replace it with any other kind of tyre?'
'Yes'
'So what should I do given that I've got a tyre right on the legal minimum and shouldn't really be driving?'
'Um, all we can recommend Sir is that you call round some of the BMW main dealerships and see if they've got a spare tyre of that type sitting in a stock room somewhere'
Which is what I did, and they found one, but I think it's an incredible situation to let arise in the first place.
Kwik-Fit took the car away then phoned to say that they had none of the tyres (Bridgestone from memory) in stock, anywhere in the company, and that they were unable to source one from any of their suppliers.
'No problem', I said, 'just replace it with another brand'.
'No can do' said Kwik Fit, 'There's only two manufacturers that make run-flats in this size and both are completely out of stock, and neither has any idea when they might be doing a new production run'.
'Okay, well just put a normal tyre on instead'
'Can't do that Sir - you'd need to replace the tyres on either side, it would invalidate the warranty and it places havoc with the run flat sensors, etc...'
'So you're telling me that there are no run flats for a new model, high volume car in existence in the whole country and no-one has any idea of when this will be solved, and I can't replace it with any other kind of tyre?'
'Yes'
'So what should I do given that I've got a tyre right on the legal minimum and shouldn't really be driving?'
'Um, all we can recommend Sir is that you call round some of the BMW main dealerships and see if they've got a spare tyre of that type sitting in a stock room somewhere'
Which is what I did, and they found one, but I think it's an incredible situation to let arise in the first place.
elfer said:
btdk5 said:
BMWBen said:
I've got runflats on my 5er - was fully expecting to have to replace them straight away due to extreme crapness, but actually they're fine.
??
Wait till they wear out then try normal tyres. The ride quality will improve 10 fold.??
Saying that you rarely have to change all 4 at once, which is quite costly so if it doesnt bother you why do it.
btdk5 said:
BMWBen said:
I've got runflats on my 5er - was fully expecting to have to replace them straight away due to extreme crapness, but actually they're fine.
??
Wait till they wear out then try normal tyres. The ride quality will improve 10 fold.??
the transformation in the cars ride was incredible , massive improvement
tom g said:
mickeyboy said:
They also state the system they use to advise on pressure only tells you if you have a puncher
Edited by P17_GTA on Thursday 5th March 18:35
BMW are now making runflats a cost-option on the 1-series (with the exception of the 135i and 123d) so evidently there's no issues with using regular tyres on the car. I was in the 'probably-shouldn't-do-it' camp but if BMW aren't worried about it, then I'd not be either. The only thing is that a RFT will get you home whereas a can of gunk may not.
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