Run flats work as expected

For all of the complaints about BMW's decision not to offer a spare and only offer run-flat tires, I figured I'd post an example where they worked as expected. Driving down I5 in Seattle yesterday, I heard something, but didn't see any debris on the road. An hour later, the tire was completely deflated, but I was able to drive it to my local shop without issue. With 27K miles on the car, I'm going to use this opportunity to switch out the OEM tires and try the Bridgestone DriveGuards. I'll let you know what I find.
All in all, I can understand BMW's decision. Going runflat only reduces the vehicle's weight, allows more storage space in the rear, and for urban areas works just fine. I'll continue to carry a spare when I drive to Montana, Idaho, Utah, etc. Out there, 50 miles of range +/- is nowhere near enough to get you to a repair shop.

-James
Seattle, WA
2014 BMW X1 xDrive35i Sportline (loaded)

In the big city RFT's give you the option of which bad neighborhood you wait for the flatbed.

Originally Posted by Doug Huffman

In the big city RFT's give you the option of which bad neighborhood you wait for the flatbed.

Funny, that hasn't been my experience at all. Have you been left stranded by an un-driveable runflat?

Originally Posted by iamthewalrus

Funny, that hasn't been my experience at all. Have you been left stranded by an un-driveable runflat?

RTF's are only safe for about 50 miles of driving at no pressure. Beyond that, there can come apart. An RFT driven any distance at no pressure is supposed to be replaced. As you eluded to, the whole RFT and no spare logic goes out the window on a road trip.

https://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=917185

My main reason for me buying BMW's is road trips. Because of the threats of parking lot dings and vandalism where I live (Bubbaville, Floriduh), I tend to drive my Cobalt more than my 535i around town.

Originally Posted by Autoputzer

RTF's are only safe for about 50 miles of driving at no pressure. Beyond that, there can come apart. An RFT driven any distance at no pressure is supposed to be replaced. As you eluded to, the whole RFT and no spare logic goes out the window on a road trip.

https://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=917185

My main reason for me buying BMW's is road trips. Because of the threats of parking lot dings and vandalism where I live (Bubbaville, Floriduh), I tend to drive my Cobalt more than my 535i around town.

Agreed 100%. The post above to which I was responding didn't make any sense. RFTs work fine in an urban environment, but I agree they're a problem on road trips. I was just sharing my urban experience where they worked as advertised.

For what it's worth, this is likely my last BMW. The Audi Q5 and Porsche Macan are just so compelling as compact SUVs. My X1 only has 26K miles on it, so I'm at least 5 years out from buying a new vehicle.

Originally Posted by iamthewalrus

Funny, that hasn't been my experience at all. Have you been left stranded by an un-driveable runflat?

Yes!!! Tire blew out and tread separated on my wife’s (now gone) x3 runflat. Sunday evening 120 miles from Phoenix and 3 hours from Palm Springs no bmw dealers open no tire dealers open with the right size tire. Had to have the the x3 flatbeded to Phoenix and had to rent a car and go pick it up a week later

I agree changing a tire on I-5 would have sucked, I might just call AAA depending on the situation, at least you would have a tow truck with flashing lights shielding you. Roads in Seattle are poorly maintained, but in many years of driving here I've only got a couple flats. The other point in favor of run flats at least on the E84 is no real place to store the spare out of the way. That said, I have my spare doughnut in the back, and I'll take the better characteristics of standard tires any day over the run flats. You may not agree with going staggered but I'm going to change out my back two wheels with the wider 18x9 stock versions this summer and get Michelin PS4s. I noted that BMW increased the speed limiter in that config, not that I'll be driving that fast.

First of all of you own a bmw but you can’t afford to buy your self an extra spare tire if your trying to go on a road trip? Second of all how paranoid do you have to be to think you will blow your tire on a road trip.... I street race and get chased by cops... do you think I have time to put a spare on?


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Originally Posted by iamthewalrus

Agreed 100%. The post above to which I was responding didn't make any sense. RFTs work fine in an urban environment, but I agree they're a problem on road trips. I was just sharing my urban experience where they worked as advertised.

For what it's worth, this is likely my last BMW. The Audi Q5 and Porsche Macan are just so compelling as compact SUVs. My X1 only has 26K miles on it, so I'm at least 5 years out from buying a new vehicle.

I think Dougie was complaining more about urban areas than he was about flat tires.

I grew up in an area where having a blowout in the wrong place could get you killed, either run over or murdered. But, the overwhelming majority of flat tires are slow leaks, not blowouts. I'm have a few dozen flats in my one million miles or so of driving, but only one was a blowout and it was due to a valve stem failure, not a puncture.

TPMS usually gives you enough warning to get to somewhere safe to change a tires. But, that only works if you have a spare. TPMS doesn't give a warning until the pressure is about 20% below the baseline. You can fix that by overinflating the tires, resetting the baseline, and then bleeding out some are to go back to your desired pressures.

I've turned maintaining tires into an obsession. I check my tires pressures with a dial gauge about every two or three weeks. I usually only have to add about one PSI. My garage is so cramped that I have to check and adjust tire pressures in the driveway. My nosey neighbors are always asking me "Do you have a flat tire?" But, one of them is a hottie. So, I don't mind. She walks her little dog past my house. I give the dog a lot of attention, so that he pulls her up my driveway to see me.

Originally Posted by Icepressa

Second of all how paranoid do you have to be to think you will blow your tire on a road trip....


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I don't think it's paranoia, more preparedness. Although, the run-flats on my F15 35d didn't stop me from doing multiple 1000+ mile road trips without any issues whatsoever.

Originally Posted by Icepressa

First of all of you own a bmw but you can’t afford to buy your self an extra spare tire if your trying to go on a road trip? Second of all how paranoid do you have to be to think you will blow your tire on a road trip.... I street race and get chased by cops... do you think I have time to put a spare on?


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I was indoctrinated in "risk management" as part of my job. I carried that mentality home with me. I sort of mentally build "event trees," multi-layered "What If?" diagrams, for almost everything I do. A good plan can withstand multiple "Oh ****"s before having an adverse outcome.

My one blowout in about one million miles of driving happened when I was out of town, on a Saturday afternoon. I was back on the road in 20 minutes and got were I was going just about when I'd planned to.

Putting a spare on is quicker than AAA or BMW Roadside Assistance.

Everbody knows.... if the police have to come and get you they're bringing an ass kickin' with 'em.

Originally Posted by Autoputzer

I was indoctrinated in "risk management" as part of my job. .

My education in risk calculus leads me to quite the opposite conclusions. YMMV

Read and understand, for instance, The Science of Conjecture: Evidence and Probability Before Pascal (JHU, 2001) by James Franklin. It is my current night reading and my second re-read.

ETA: Just now in from an hour of shoveling snow when I remembered a precept. The fundamental standard of acceptable risk is that suffered by everyone on arising from bed. An incremental increase is the risk of walking to work.

That was from the days of WASH-1400 (1975) that set all sorts of standards and requirements. Current is State-of-the-Art Reactor Consequence Analyses (SOARCA) 2012.

Originally Posted by Doug Huffman

My education in risk calculus leads me to quite the opposite conclusions. YMMV

Read and understand, for instance, The Science of Conjecture: Evidence and Probability Before Pascal (JHU, 2001) by James Franklin. It is my current night reading and my second re-read.

Uhhh.

My only conclusion was that you can plan for most of life's "Oh, ****!"'s, and doing such planning will mitigate or eliminate the adverse outcomes...


Going for a drive? Put on your safety belt.

Parking at BMW? Pick and end spot, one farther in the back of the parking lot, and hug the curb.

Thunderstorm? Stay in the damn house and don't get near the plumbing or anything plugged in.

Swimming in the Gulf of Mexico? Don't do it at night, near dawn or dusk. (Sharks.)

Going to the 'hood? Do it before sundown. Drive the Cobalt instead of the BMW.

Don't climb from one balcony to another at a high-rise hotel... when drunk. Where I live, that's fairly common, and known as "spider-ing." As with a lot of things that start out with "Hold my beer. Watch this, y'all," spider-ing often ends badly.

Originally Posted by iamthewalrus

For all of the complaints about BMW's decision not to offer a spare and only offer run-flat tires, I figured I'd post an example where they worked as expected. Driving down I5 in Seattle yesterday, I heard something, but didn't see any debris on the road. An hour later, the tire was completely deflated, but I was able to drive it to my local shop without issue. With 27K miles on the car, I'm going to use this opportunity to switch out the OEM tires and try the Bridgestone DriveGuards. I'll let you know what I find.

All in all, I can understand BMW's decision. Going runflat only reduces the vehicle's weight, allows more storage space in the rear, and for urban areas works just fine. I'll continue to carry a spare when I drive to Montana, Idaho, Utah, etc. Out there, 50 miles of range +/- is nowhere near enough to get you to a repair shop.



-James

Seattle, WA

2014 BMW X1 xDrive35i Sportline (loaded)

As someone who does 250 mile trips up to the Adirondacks with a mean Border Collie in the car almost weekly, I decided on hedging my bet with RFTs+ Donut spare + Jack + Plug Kit + Conti Comfort kit + AAA. I do not want to get stranded on the NYS Thruway some Sunday night.


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Originally Posted by rpickoff

As someone who does 250 mile trips up to the Adirondacks with a mean Border Collie in the car almost weekly, I decided on hedging my bet with RFTs+ Donut spare + Jack + Plug Kit + Conti Comfort kit + AAA. I do not want to get stranded on the NYS Thruway some Sunday night.


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And let me tell you from experience it can happen I am currently without run flats but I have a mini spare and a plug kit . A Flat run flat tire does you no good if you are 200 miles from home

Originally Posted by sayemthree

And let me tell you from experience it can happen I am currently without run flats but I have a mini spare and a plug kit . A Flat run flat tire does you no good if you are 200 miles from home

‘Zackly!


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I haven’t researched the spare kits extensively yet as I still have a good year or two on my tires. However I am considering the switch to non RFT. Since the “spare” is the same diameter as the current tires (for xdrive anyway) why not just got a full spare? Granted it costs a bit more, but you won’t be limited on range that way. Spare tire kits have much the same limitations as RFT as far as I understand - 50 mph limit with 50 mile range. Or did I read that wrong ?


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I bought the doughnut spare simply because there is no real place to store a spare. With it being smaller/lighter moving it with the spare tire carrier if necessary is easier. At some point this summer I will probably get wider back wheels, so I will have a full spare available too.

Originally Posted by DESwiss

I haven’t researched the spare kits extensively yet as I still have a good year or two on my tires. However I am considering the switch to non RFT. Since the “spare” is the same diameter as the current tires (for xdrive anyway) why not just got a full spare? Granted it costs a bit more, but you won’t be limited on range that way. Spare tire kits have much the same limitations as RFT as far as I understand - 50 mph limit with 50 mile range. Or did I read that wrong ?


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There is not much room for spare tire storage in this car… And also I would not have a concern driving 300 miles on a mini spare

Great info. Im glad it turned out ok for you.

I had something similar where I got a small nail (screw actually) pierce and stick into my oem tire. When the service light came on the tire was just low on air so I filled it up and thought that was all it was until it happened again some days later. Upon closer inspection I saw the steel object and was able to fill the tire back up and drive like this for a few days just keeping the tire filled every morning looking at it, you know what a tire looks like when its low on air. So I guess it didn't actually go flat right away but when it did a few days later it was easy to fill it up and drive a bit more. Im not suggesting anyone to do this but I was able to drive more than the 50miles that they certify as long as the tire was holding air for the most part.

When it went dead flat, it drove like mush and I never took it on the highway like that but I was glad as hell to have the runflat and not be stranded. Of course replaced now, both front tires were at the end of life anyways and I had enough time to get decent prices for the Pirelli run flats online shipped, not the insane amounts my local shop wanted ($600 cdn per tire) and they would have to order it in. They then actually wanted to put 4 new Chinese tires on for "a great deal $$" which wasn't happening.

Originally Posted by iamthewalrus

Funny, that hasn't been my experience at all. Have you been left stranded by an un-driveable runflat?

I have only about 11 years of RFT "experience" & about 160,000 miles stretched across 3 of my personal BMWs + my spouse's BMW ... and the answer from me = "NO". I have "suffered" through 3 punctures and 2 potholes. All but two were covered (with replacement tires) by the tire manufacturer's road hazard warranty. One pothole damage incl a replacement bent wheel was on my dime (lost the case against the negligent municipality) and one was in the early days when I was a "less-than-well-informed consumer" and paid for a replacement tire that was "deeply discounted" by my BMW dealer.

Originally Posted by luigi524td

I have only about 11 years of RFT "experience" & about 160,000 miles stretched across 3 of my personal BMWs + my spouse's BMW ... and the answer from me = "NO". I have "suffered" through 3 punctures and 2 potholes. All but two were covered (with replacement tires) by the tire manufacturer's road hazard warranty. One pothole damage incl a replacement bent wheel was on my dime (lost the case against the negligent municipality) and one was in the early days when I was a "less-than-well-informed consumer" and paid for a replacement tire that was "deeply discounted" by my BMW dealer.

It only takes once.