Run flats - you still need a spare

[Tim Cogan]

I have a 120i with run flat tyres and no spare. I have had 2 punctures in 12 months. The tyres cannot be repaired. They cost over A$500 each. If you have a puncture, you can drive for 200km at 80kp but in Australia, it is very easy to find yourself over 200 km from a major city and if you get a puncture you can be stranded. Run flats may be safe, but they don’t eliminate the need for a spare tyre.

[aranetaj]

agree! it's even worse if you have that m-mobility thing as the you HAVE to use it (as the car doesn't have run-flats) which means you'll need to replace the tires but the system is not guaranteed to work (i.e., seal the puncture). so that's guaranteed being stranded.

[taiheung]

On relation to this topic.
I posted this on another forum (http://www.babybmw.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4267) a few weeks ago.
It would be awesome if something like this could get moving in Australia!!

Please feel free to correct me if I am wrong on some of my points for coming up with this idea.

I was speaking to my dad a while back and just remembered the conversation today.
I wanted to get some feedback on this idea that we had come up with (it's a bit ambitious). :idea:

With a lot of cars running Run Flat Tires (RFTs) these days and considering the fact that they are significantly more expensive than normal tyres, we started to wonder how much more it would cost every time we busted a tyre (beyond a patch up job). Now most of this idea balances on the assumption being correct that if we want to keep RFTs and if the wheels have significant wear we would have to buy new tyres for both wheels on the same axle to keep the car nicely balanced - assuming the garage could not locate a similarly worn wheel. Our gripe with this is that we would therefore have to sacrifice one perfectly good and not so inexpensive RFT.

So we came up with the idea of a tire swap program. Initiated entirely by BMW dealerships as to keep things organised, we asked ourselves if it would be possible for BMW to compensate you for the now useless RFT. What they would do is keep these RFTs, and in future if another customer busted a RFT beyond repair BMW could match their wheel wear with one of theirs in stock and replace only the one tire - allowing a good wheel alignment. However, if there is not a used spare in stock BMW would instead compensate them for the good wheel - of which costs would then be recouped from the person who puts it on their car next. This would benefit BMW customers two fold. Firstly for the fact that you would only have to replace the one wheel, and secondly for the fact that you would be buying the wheel at a discounted price or being compensated for the loss of a perfectly good tire.

It is ambitious considering the organisation and amount of varying tire sizes, but it is not impossible.
I would definitely promote it. I hope I explained the idea clearly to you folks!

Oh lastly note that this would be a non-profit operation and run at cost. I would believe that BMW would do this as a service to their customers rather than to make a buck considering how much they try to push RFTs. It would make RFTs a much more appealing option for customers upon purchase.

Cheers! :D

[aranetaj]

taiheung, maybe you can raise that proposal to your local bmw club. i'm sure if there is enough interest, somebody would pick it up and run it.