The great run flat tyre debate.

[keepoffthemarbles]

I know this has been done a million times, but I find myself thrust into the "should I shouldn't I" debate due to a nail in my rear tyre.

I'm 14 months into ownership of a 335d Touring and I love it except for 2 things.
1. Trying to get the bloody Media Pro working consistently with my iPhone, but that's for another day.
2. The ride on the RF tyres is appalling. Hard, jiggly, noisy and painful to listen to when you crash over a speed hump slightly too fast.

I've always said that when they need replacing I'm going non run flat to solve the ride issues. I have the 19in wheels and at the weekend I picked up a puncture on a back wheel. It looks like it may be repairable, but in the event it isn't then I'm tempted to bite the bullet and go non RFT right away. I've done 14k miles so there is a reasonable amount of life left in the tyres, but I'm prepared to take the hit if the benefits to the ride are as good as I've read.

So I'm looking for people who have relevant tyre swap experience.

Is the impact on ride really as big as they say?
Rim compatibility? I assume it's just a simple swap.
Tyre recommendations including guide price for all 4.
What about space saver spare vs gunk and compressor kit?

Thanks, Marbles.

[keepoffthemarbles]

Thanks for all the inputs. Very helpful.

By way of an update... The puncture was repaired successfully by the chaps at Martins in Bisley so I'm back on the road this morning. I don't know if I'm just hyper sensitive to it, but everything seemed even more crashy, bumpy and noisy this morning. Anyway, the tyre chap reckons my rear tyres are shot in 4k miles so the decision has been made to switch to non run flats around April.

I've moaned about the tyres several times to my dealer, usually whilst I was there moaning about my pro-media/iPhone experiences, and having called them to give them the opportunity to quote for tyres (hopelessly uncompetitive) they did agree to a 'heavy discount' on the compressor/gunk kit.

Off to do some serious research and get some quotes. I'll report back when I switch....

[keepoffthemarbles]

Wills2 said:

If it's a an f31 335d then it's a soft roly-poly pudding of car I doubt changing the tyres will help, surprised you think it's harsh.

Thanks Wills. I wondered how long it would be before someone bought it back to a 335d bashing. To put it in perspective, this is a medium sized diesel estate car which I use to ferry my family, dog and our golf clubs around and in my opinion it does it very well. But I don't like the tyres - specifically the ride comfort they provide.

Is it soft? Not soft enough in my opinion hence my desire to change the tyres.
Is it roly-poly? Probably if you drive it that way, but I don't because the dog doesn't like it and my golf balls roll around.
Is it a pudding of a car? No, a pudding is something you eat.
Will changing the tyres help? Yes it sounds like it will help solve some of the points I'm complaining about. At no time did I ask if changing the tyres will turn it into a racing car.

I appreciate you have an opinion, but it'll probably be more useful on the MaxPower forum.

Edited by keepoffthemarbles on Tuesday 23 January 13:53

[keepoffthemarbles]

Yep I'm pretty well up on the Msport supplied with SE springs. I think it applies to all xDrive cars these days.

A friend of mine swapped to ACS springs on his 335d and he says it made a big difference to the 'ride & handling' and certainly the car looked different sitting a little lower. From the passenger seat it sounded just as crashy and bangy as mine does as he still had the RFTs.

As I said, this car isn't used for the type of driving that warrants lower better handling characteristics. Having said that, I'd be interested to hear from anyone who swapped to non RFTs, noticed a ride improvement and then swapped springs. Did you notice more ride improvements?

No offence was intended towards Wills by the way.