I hate runflats

[Ric in RVA]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

I run Mitchie PS All Season 4's on all my Bimmers and never have even come close to sliding them at speeds way in excess of street legal speeds. Even in 100 deg. F. temps.

Agreed. PS4 AS on my Cayman and they have never let me down and cold temps are a non issue.



I do have flat tire anxiety so I carry a pump/patch/plug/goo kit in any car that has no spare and not on RFs.

[M5Rick]

^ No space saver spare wheel in this M also so in addition to the BMW fluid kit I too have a 6 piece separate puncture repair kit with stand light.
As far as RF's are concerned they give a harsher ride because of the stiffer sidewalls to support car should the tyre puncture.

[Bc2005]

The issue I had with low profile runflats is that the additional tread stiffness appears to transfer a road impact to the sidewall because the tread will not “give”. This often leads to a sidewall bulge or blowout. On my 2021 M340i I had one sidewall bulge, and three tires where the sidewall blew out a flap about 4” in diameter. All of the blowouts happened on paved roads that had relatively small potholes, and my speed was 50-65 mph. These were stock 19” Pirelli P7’s on 792M wheels.

FYI - BMW tire and wheel protection is actually a separate warranty/insurance, either from BMW or a 3rd party company. All claims require them to upload pictures and get approval before they cover repairs. This can be inconvenient if the insurance company is slow to respond or it’s Saturday when the 3rd party company may be closed. It always worked out, but did take some time.

[ptack]

Run craps are a nice way to pad the dealer's pockets. Got a flat? Drive it to the dealer - they'll fix it right away. Oh, but once you drive on the flat runflat it's ruined so you need a new $400 tire, plus balancing, installation, maybe an alignment just to be safe - That will be a $1000 please.

Yeah - crappy tire performance aside, I bought a donut right after I got the car with its OEM runflats. At least 4 times I've put that donut on, taken the replacement, flat PS4 tire somewhere, had the nail or screw removed and the tire patched - for about $20.

[RockCrusher]

Originally Posted by wtwo3

Literally every car I've had ship with runflats dating back to 2016 has had some sort of issue. My Mini is the most recent victim to runflats. I COULD just replace the one tire, but chances of repeat issues seems to be high. So I'm replacing all 4 tires with non runflat PS4 tires.

Attachment 3543830

Had a front tire on my 2018 JCW manifest a sidewall bulge. A pothole encountered the night before was the culprit.

Tire was ok after the hit and on the way home but next morning...

Decided to drive the car to the nearest dealer, about 10 miles away. I mean the tires are run flats so let's go!

Made it with no problems though the TPMS was warning of a flat tire the whole time.

Got two new tires installed while I waited and that was that.

While I didn't like the run flats because the JCW was my daily driver -- my other car was a 2018 Hellcat -- for my 60 mile a day work commute I left the run flats on the MINI.

(One day on the way to work the Hellcat picked up a tire puncture. Had to use the tire repair kit which worked ok. But while waiting for the tire to inflate I was on the phone and arranged to buy two new rear tires at the local dealer. As soon as the flat tire was aired up I drove the 4 miles to the dealer and had both rear tires replaced.)

Subsequent MINIs (a 2022 S and a 2023 JCW) came with run flats which were noticeably better than the run flats on my 2018 JCW. And the run flats on my 2022 230i and 2024 230ix were also quite good. I never felt the need to replace them.

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by ptack

Run craps are a nice way to pad the dealer's pockets. Got a flat? Drive it to the dealer - they'll fix it right away. Oh, but once you drive on the flat runflat it's ruined so you need a new $400 tire, plus balancing, installation, maybe an alignment just to be safe - That will be a $1000 please.

Yeah - crappy tire performance aside, I bought a donut right after I got the car with its OEM runflats. At least 4 times I've put that donut on, taken the replacement, flat PS4 tire somewhere, had the nail or screw removed and the tire patched - for about $20.

Two of my BMWs came with factory runflats. The E90 came with Bridgestone REA-050 summer tires and the Z4 came with Pirelli PZero. I honestly never had an issue with either RF tire regarding comfort level and grip. Neither lasted very long however, which is expected with summer high-performance tires. I was driving, between both cars, about 35,000 miles a year, so I switched to non-runflat, high-performance all-season tires. At very high speeds on the rural roads where I live in Virginia, which can get you possible jail time at 20 MPH over, the numerous all-seasons I've used (on the E90) all returned wear rates in the mid-30,000-mile range and I never experienced any material loss of grip or safety. With the Z4, I switched to Michelin Pilot Sport AS3's then AS4's, which again provide grip levels far more adequate than necessary for very aggressive rural backroad driving. Comfort levels I really can't say if non-runflats are that noticeably better. Both my cars are factory sport suspensions, so I don't expect luxury-car levels of ride comfort in the first place.

Agree with your experience of dealerships and even some tire shops not willing to repair runflats.

My 2 cents.

[UPSROD]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

Two of my BMWs came with factory runflats. The E90 came with Bridgestone REA-050 summer tires and the Z4 came with Pirelli PZero. I honestly never had an issue with either RF tire regarding comfort level and grip. Neither lasted very long however, which is expected with summer high-performance tires. I was driving, between both cars, about 35,000 miles a year, so I switched to non-runflat, high-performance all-season tires. At very high speeds on the rural roads where I live in Virginia, which can get you possible jail time at 20 MPH over, the numerous all-seasons I've used (on the E90) all returned wear rates in the mid-30,000-mile range and I never experienced any material loss of grip or safety. With the Z4, I switched to Michelin Pilot Sport AS3's then AS4's, which again provide grip levels far more adequate than necessary for very aggressive rural backroad driving. Comfort levels I really can't say if non-runflats are that noticeably better. Both my cars are factory sport suspensions, so I don't expect luxury-car levels of ride comfort in the first place.

Agree with your experience of dealerships and even some tire shops not willing to repair runflats.

My 2 cents.

My 2013 E92 M3 left the factory with Pzero non run flats and your E90 should have too!

[Frankthedefender]

yea. I hate 'em too. I read only manufacturers order them.

[Frankthedefender]

My G30 M550 has run flats I don't like on 20 inch rims. Should I just swap out the run flats for non RFs and use the same rims or sell what I have and buy new 19 inch rims and non RFs. It would cost a lot more, but I'm not sure just changing to non RFs would be enough of an improvement on the 20s?

[RM7]

Originally Posted by Frankthedefender

My G30 M550 has run flats I don't like on 20 inch rims. Should I just swap out the run flats for non RFs and use the same rims or sell what I have and buy new 19 inch rims and non RFs. It would cost a lot more, but I'm not sure just changing to non RFs would be enough of an improvement on the 20s?

IME, you'll definitely improve an order of magnitude w/each and 2 together. The "giant wheels fad" goes way too far IMO, smaller accelerates better and you'll notice it, in addition to ride quality. A stiff short sidewall is best for cornering, but putting them on oversize rims is counter productive. You also might be able to sell the wheels and tires together. If you were starting w/19s, I'd say just ditch the RFs, but 20's don't really belong on many cars IME and cost performance in many/most (go wider, not taller). That's also the advantage of starting over, you may be able to go a little wider.

[bosstones]

To be fair, run flats are far better than they were when they first came out. My '07 M Coupe came with them from the factory and I sold them after several hundred miles. My '14 X1 (N55) also came w/ them from the factory but weren't bad. I actually rode them out until the tread was getting low then switched to Michelin PS AS.

Ar this point, they are probably good enough ride quality for most of the populous, excluding us gearheads/car enthusiasts. Somewhere in that venn diagram is the part of the populous that won't put up w/ paying for full tire replacement.

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by Frankthedefender

My G30 M550 has run flats I don't like on 20 inch rims. Should I just swap out the run flats for non RFs and use the same rims or sell what I have and buy new 19 inch rims and non RFs. It would cost a lot more, but I'm not sure just changing to non RFs would be enough of an improvement on the 20s?

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by UPSROD

My 2013 E92 M3 left the factory with Pzero non run flats and your E90 should have too!

Man, that was 18 years 4 months and 425,070 miles ago. I'm over it by now.

[No one]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

Man, that was 18 years 4 months and 425,070 miles ago. I'm over it by now.

Well, it looks like I should skip this here perhaps , but ///M (and even ///M-Performance) cars apparently weren't equipped with runflats because the tyres failed to provide proper support for those cars' enhanced driving dynamics (which was also why the cars were widow makers ). Runflats are exactly as repairable as the regular tyres are (no sidewall damage) and it's up to you to decide how worn off they are (it's only advisory to replace them if you can't ). Making runflats softer is the reason for the side bulging complaints: trying to improve something is a way to ruin it . They were practicality at the grip expense and now they are reportedly no practicality and still no grip (pretty much in line with BMW cars direction). Just pure comfort for it's lovers.

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by No one

Well, it looks like I should skip this here perhaps , but ///M (and even ///M-Performance) cars apparently weren't equipped with runflats because the tyres failed to provide proper support for those cars' enhanced driving dynamics (which was also why the cars were widow makers ). Runflats are exactly as repairable as the regular tyres are (no sidewall damage) and it's up to you to decide how worn off they are (it's only advisory to replace them if you can't ). Making runflats softer is the reason for the side bulging complaints: trying to improve something is a way to ruin it . They were practicality at the grip expense and now they are reportedly no practicality and still no grip (pretty much in line with BMW cars direction). Just pure comfort for it's lovers.

In 2006, BMW wasn't adding "///M" nomenclature to the 3-Series (E9X), it only had the M3 and models that could be optioned with the Sport Package. I ordered my car with the sport package, so it came with staggard wheels and sport springs and shocks/struts, and swaybars/bushings. When I refreshed the suspension for the 3rd time at 404,000 miles, I reverted back (from Bilsteins and H&R sport springs) to the E90 sport suspension, which is now called the "M-Sport" suspension. The Bridgestones REA-050 were excellent tires for grip and comfort. But I drive on mostly roads that are in good condition and basically let you daily in a track environment, so I never dealt with potholes and such.

At 2,600 miles I picked up a 3/8ths lag bolt in the right rear tire while on vacation in the Finger Lakes Region of New York State. The BMW concierge service was a joke when I tried to use it, so I just went to a Goodyear tire shop and had them patch and plug the run-flat. I chose a Goodyear tire shop because I knew they had experience with run-flats since the Corvette used Goodyear run-flats as factory equipment; in 2006 not a lot of tire shops had seen run-flats. Yeah, I got the BS about non-repairable if driven on zero or low pressure. I assured the guy I drove on the tire from the point the RFM triggered, to his shop, which was not more than 30 miles. I was from out of state and said I'll pay cash with no receipt. That did the trick. Patched and plugged. At 22,000 miles I swapped to a square set of wheels and tires. I put the original wheels, still with the spent Bridgestones on them, up in my storage loft and left them there from October 2007 until August 2015 when I switched back to the original wheels. The repaired run-flat was still holding some 25 PSI (I checked out of curiosity).

[No one]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

Yeah, I got the BS about non-repairable if driven on zero or low pressure. I assured the guy I drove on the tire from the point the RFM triggered, to his shop, which was not more than 30 miles. I was from out of state and said I'll pay cash with no receipt. That did the trick.

Those smart asses! This reminds me of a movie quote: "-Do it. -Yes, but how... -I say do it! -I'm not sure... -I pay in cash! -EXCELLENT!!!". When I had my first runflat puncture reported by the tyre pressure monitor and confirmed with a manometer I drove home carefully and found a tyre shop to address one of those days making sure they had a couple of tyres for replacement. When I came there the boys didn't know I was ready to replace. They checked and repaired the tyre for about 10% of replacement cost and that was it. Still running on it many seasons after (each and every of them), right now.

[wtwo3]

Got some fresh PS4 NON runflat tires mounted finally. Excited to see the difference these tires make.

[chowser51]

I always replace my runflats with goflats as soon as I can.