run flat vs non

[jm7551]

I inquired with my dealer regarding the installation of non run flats on my stock wheels and he indicated that its not recommended. Not sure I buy that, but interested in other's experience. I have also noted on some blogs reports that suspension tuning would be required if I make this change.

What can Tire Rack tell me?

[Gary@Tirerack]

No suspension tuning needed.

[jm7551]

what about the use of non runflats on my original equipment wheels (factory tires are Dunlop runflats)?

[Kenny@JleviSW]

There are tons of people that are running non-RFT on their stock wheels and so far I have not heard of any issues. The suspension was tuned to work with the runflats (make it a little bit softer to reduce the harshness of the runflats) so with non-rft they should ride better. I don't see any reason why you will need to tune your suspension as Gary's mentioned. The only downside is that since you don't have a spare tire, you should get a mobilitiy kit from a BMW dealer or Conti Kit from Tirerack just in case you get a flat.

[jm7551]

thanks for the input. the interesting thing is, my car came with a spare tire despite having the stock Dunlop DSST run flats.

[TMack]

I inquired with my dealer regarding the installation of non run flats on my stock wheels and he indicated that its not recommended. Not sure I buy that, but interested in other's experience. I have also noted on some blogs reports that suspension tuning would be required if I make this change.

What can Tire Rack tell me?

Well of course it's "not recommended". Obviously, BMW recommends the RFT's - that's what they spec'd the car with. But people are running non-RFT's successfully all over the place. They'll ride better and, I think, perform better than RFT's. But, as others have suggested, you'll need to either get a mobility kit of a compact spare. -TMc