flat with a run flat -- I want to hear your experience!
 

This evening, I happened to hit a curb (not paying enough attention
while making a turn), and subsequently had a flat. Called AAA, swapped my
full size spare in place of the flat tire (took all of 20 min), following
which I went to get dinner, and then drove back home (about 40 miles
away). I'll get the flat fixed at leisure.

How would this have been handled on a car with run flats?

Is the mileage limit after a flat always fully available or does
it get reduced, if for example, you were to leave the car parked
somewhere overnight, and then try to drive back home later or
the next day?

How does it get handled if you call roadside assistance and
you're further than the limits allowed by the run flat?
Do they come in with a spare? Do they just tow the car
to your home?

If you have had a flat with run flat tires, I would like to
hear how you handled the situation and how long it took
to get resolved.

Thanks!

Thank goodness i toss all my run flats as soon as i can... so no experience here
but i did want to share a similar personal story with regular tires and a spare.
I was traveling with my kid and got a flat, swapped out the flat tire with the spare and was off in 15 mins...

If i had run flats, I might have been able to drive back home, but its a big IF.... if the damage was too bad, i would have needed a tow truck to take a car, and my wife to pick up, because there is no way my kid is ridding in a tow truck.....

My 2 cents....

On my 2005 530i I hit a very bad pot hole on Christmas Eve and figured I would do what they suggest,drive under 50 mph but that didn't workout for me as the flat was to bad to do that so I pull over and called BMW Assist. They came within 1/2 hour and changed the tire for me and I was I my way. A few days later I went to the dealer,JMK BMW, and they replaced the tire under insurance and checked the rim that was ok. End of story.
cheers
vern

If you hit a curb that suggests your sidewall was damaged and I don't think anyone will repair sidewall damage in any type of tire. I believe the difference between runflats and non-rf tires is that the side wall is "heavy" and can support the weight of the car until you get to a safe place - maybe a puncture in the tread could be repaired by an independent but a hole in the sidewall is a different story.

All I ever get is slow leaks from running over nails/screws.

Even then, a normal go flat tire with a low aspect ratio is fine as long as you keep the pressure up.

I'm assuming your car had a spare...what would you have done if the car did not?

It was too dark/wet and I was bit worked up because I had to take a call for work later in the evening, so I didn't try to check what the damage was. But I'll find out.

My car is old and had a full-size spare, so I was back in business in 20 min. I started this thread to ask people how they would have handled such a situation in a car with run flats and without a spare. It sounds like Vern already said that run flats did not help in one of his situations, but it sounds like he too had a spare. What happens in such a situation if there is no spare and it's too late in the day for any shop that would have such run flats in stock to be open? Do emergency services have a supply of run flats? Or do you just tow the car to the dealer/shop and take a cab home and figure out how to deal with it the next day?

Being that it was a holiday not much I could do other that get towed to the dealer. Wait 3days later for the dealer to open because of the holiday and get a new tire. I guess you could say I was lucky at the time I had a spare.
cheers'
vern

Can't stand them. Noisy and rough, and I've had two flats on both my 6 and 7 series this year alone. 6 series cost me 6 hours and a $300 dollar tow because the tire only lasted 20 miles even at 50 mph lightly loaded before sidewall separated. That in turn cost me the whole tire ($500)...if I'd had a spare I would have only suffered 10 min delay and 15 dollar punture repair. So $750 loss and time delay on the first one.

Second one was on the 7 two weeks ago. Stranded in a town for two days while I had a tire overnighted (none in town either RF or non RF in that size)-cost $700 plus the lost time. I was able to limp around town on the RF in this case, but didn't dare venture out of town.

Bottom line, heavy cars cannot handle RF tires, and having no spare is irrational on a luxury car, especially when so much of America is 100's of miles from any city/towns that have tire selection.

Thanks...did you share this with BMW? I wonder why BMW is adamant on this. None of the other car manufacturers have joined them. Maybe this is their way of trying to make all of the yuppie BMW owners have a bit more adventure in their otherwise mundane lives...and since we pay for adventure parks, we pay for BMW adventures too. :D

Yes, I shared my frustration on the 6, but haven't had a chance on the 7. I will reconsider BMW if they don't add a spare going forward. I tried to get away from BMW after my 6, but the new TTV8 7 was too damn beautiful and powerful and I got sucked in.

Even in that class, it looks like the Lexus LS is the only car that offers a full size spare.

Had a a nail in one of my tires and a chunk taken out of the inside sidewall of my RFT on my 528i. Got the warning but didn't see the damage, only the nail. I continued to drive my car without any problems with the damaged tire until it was repaired. So I've had no problems using the RFT's as advertised.

My partner had torn out a side wall on one of her tires. (Long story -Don't go there, pilgrim). Anyway the next day I drove the car to my workshop where I had a spare RF wheel ready to go on. I drove on a tire with a 2 x 3 inch sidewall rip at speeds up to 40mph (60kph) a distance of 30km (you work it out). There was no real difference in the car's performance or handling. Left rear was the damaged tire. I believe that MINI Roadside Assist will bring a wheel if required, even if it is a 'loaner'.

A friend and also a doctor that has to be on the road in all conditions has had so many tire problems on his 7, RFT and others and cracked rims that he has had enough of BMW and going on to a Audi 6 when his lease is up in a few months.
cheers
vern

wow, thats a tough one.....

in the end, both tires has its pros and cons... none is perfect...

Drive a 2008 335i Coupe, purchased new, fitted with Pilot Sport 2 18in. Had a flat warning light come on at 4800km, stopped and found a posidrive screw thru the face of the left rear. Drove at 70k/hr for 30 odd kilometers to a tyre centre where they removed the tyre and inserted a plug. No problem with the handling or anything during the drive. Have just replaced the tyre, 49100km and 3 years later, as it is finished and did not have a single problem during that time. Runflats do have an advantage, in my opinion, BUT, the non RF's do have a better driving feel and are quieter. My son has non RF's on his Z4, and definately is better than the RF's.

How damaging is it to drive a car with a fully flat tire (non-RFT)? I see people changing their tires on the freeway all the time, dangerous as heck. Their butt is hanging out ready to be clipped by someone going 70.

I've never gotten a flat on the highway before but I assumed that unless the tire was shredded and fell off the rim, I'd be driving it slowly to the nearest off-ramp before swapping it out.

The first thing to get completely destroyed would be the tire, next would be the rim, ...
But I think the main issue is that you can't really drive a car with a flat at anywhere close to freeway speeds...one could probably limp along the shoulder at 10-20 mph and take the next exit, but I don't think the tire will have any chance of being saved at that point.

I'd rather do that than risk my life changing a tire on the freeway. Not to mention the traffic you would cause by blocking up traffic. Best to limp it to the next exit and pull off the highway, even if it means a new tire.

I agree that run flats are rougher and noisier but do offer safety and convenience. I cannot offer experience on a larger car but on my 3 MINIs they work fine and mean my partner or daughter can drive to safety, or home. Non RF will be destroyed in 200 yards (or less) of total flat driving. $500 rim to follow in the next 200 yards. Also warning light on dash lets them know when a problem has occurred.

You can have warning lights even with non-RF...in fact almost all cars have it now.

Neither my E23, E30 nor my E38 have tyre deflation warning lights. They rely on driver awareness. My daughter is good (and would probably notice a problem). RF's are safer and better for ladies driving alone. Can there be a limit as to how many idiot lights an idiot driver needs?

I want the idiots around me to have as many lights and buzzers and bells as necessary to keep them from hitting me or my family. If TPMS alerts the other driver to a low tire and it avoids him suffering a front wheel blowout at 75MPH and swerving into someone, then I'm all for it being in every car out there.

god must like me. I've never had a situation where a flat occurred while away from home. I hear nothing but sad stories about run flat tires. They go flat too? :dunno: I would get rid of them ASAP if I had them on a new car.