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BMW 3-Series (E90 E92) Forum > E90 / E92 / E93 3-series Technical Forums > Wheels and Tires Forum Sponsored by The Tire Rack > Had a scary experience with Runflats



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      08-16-2005, 06:18 PM   #1
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Had a scary experience with Runflats

The wife and I were traveling on I-95 up to New England in the middle of the night when the alarm goes of in the Navi screen that I had a "Flat tire", and I also felt the car starting to pull slightly to the right. I pulled over to check and noticed the front passenger side tire is slightly deflated but is sustained by the Runflat structure of the tire. I then drove to the next rest stop and tried to pump some air into it, only to hear and feel it gushing out of a small rip in the sidewall of the tire. Given that it was a Sunday night with no repair places open in sight, I carried on driving at the recommended 50 MPH to our hotel destination 80 miles away. Woke up the next morning and Hit the "SOS" BMW Assist button...they then patched me through to Roadside assistance who located the nearest BMW Dealership (23 miles from where I was), and conferenced me in with the service dept. of the dealership who gave me specific directions on how to get there. I got to the Dealership (at this point I had put over 100 miles on the tire with no air) but they could not "locate" the matching tire for delivery so they had to send a person to pick one up at another Dealership 65 miles away. 4 hours later the car was back on the road with the new tire but at a cost of $390!!!!! This included the cost of the tire, labor and taxes. I was concern about the whole Runflat concept in the first place but now I am outright scared of those tires...not having a spare, not to mention the cost to replace them. Hopefully BMW will reconsider this Runflat idea, or at least make it an option for who wants them. One bright spot in this experience was dealing with BMW assist/Roadside Service. They were very courteous, reassuring and efficient. I give them but Runflat concept
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      08-16-2005, 06:35 PM   #2
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Well, you could have gotten flat without a runflat tire so you never know what might happen. But the good thing is nothing happened to you or the car so that's good

390 for one tire? That's pretty steep. But didn't you get the tire insurance with the car? I got one and it covers for all damages unless i intentionally did it (ie: scratching the rims)
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      08-16-2005, 06:40 PM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by matrix
The wife and I were traveling on I-95 up to New England in the middle of the night when the alarm goes of in the Navi screen that I had a "Flat tire", and I also felt the car starting to pull slightly to the right. I pulled over to check and noticed the front passenger side tire is slightly deflated but is sustained by the Runflat structure of the tire. I then drove to the next rest stop and tried to pump some air into it, only to hear and feel it gushing out of a small rip in the sidewall of the tire. Given that it was a Sunday night with no repair places open in sight, I carried on driving at the recommended 50 MPH to our hotel destination 80 miles away. Woke up the next morning and Hit the "SOS" BMW Assist button...they then patched me through to Roadside assistance who located the nearest BMW Dealership (23 miles from where I was), and conferenced me in with the service dept. of the dealership who gave me specific directions on how to get there. I got to the Dealership (at this point I had put over 100 miles on the tire with no air) but they could not "locate" the matching tire for delivery so they had to send a person to pick one up at another Dealership 65 miles away. 4 hours later the car was back on the road with the new tire but at a cost of $390!!!!! This included the cost of the tire, labor and taxes. I was concern about the whole Runflat concept in the first place but now I am outright scared of those tires...not having a spare, not to mention the cost to replace them. Hopefully BMW will reconsider this Runflat idea, or at least make it an option for who wants them. One bright spot in this experience was dealing with BMW assist/Roadside Service. They were very courteous, reassuring and efficient. I give them but Runflat concept

I feel your pain, Matrix...though I was fortunate to get a nail in the tread & not the sidewall of my 330. I had to try 3 different Bridgestone/Firestone dealers 'til I got someone to patch it. :mad:
Luckily after 3 weeks or so it is still holding pretty well.
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      08-16-2005, 06:43 PM   #4
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Geez, thats a scary situation. I have to admit, im real sketchy w/ the runflats. Sure they hold up well if a nail went through or there's a small hole. But what if a blow out happens? Theres no spare at all... Not even a spot for a spare. So if later i decide to not use run flats again.. then its an even worse situation if something happens.
But luckily everything worked out for you, and its nice knowing that you got some nice advice from the assist.
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      08-16-2005, 06:59 PM   #5
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BMW makes a pretty nice kit for the M models before they got runflats but after the spare was deleted, it was called the M mobility kit, came with sealant and a 12 volt pump.

I'll probably pick one up when I ditch the runflats
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      08-16-2005, 07:06 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ward
BMW makes a pretty nice kit for the M models before they got runflats but after the spare was deleted, it was called the M mobility kit, came with sealant and a 12 volt pump.

I'll probably pick one up when I ditch the runflats
I have it on my C32.
This kit doesn't work on any but the small punctures; MB even admitted that much and started offering the spare after only one model year
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      08-16-2005, 07:10 PM   #7
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$390 for a tire, ah? you need to write BMWNA a nice letter. I think in this case getting that wheel and tire insurance makes sence
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      08-16-2005, 07:48 PM   #8
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Tirerack.com has the OEM tires for $149 each or the Sport Package for $245. I guess they had to make you pay to send the guy to go pick it up somehow. Maybe you can order a tire from them, send it to the d(st)ealership and get credit back for whatever they charged you for the tire.
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      08-16-2005, 07:48 PM   #9
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Im definatly getting a spare wheel/tire and strapping it to the trunk somehow
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      08-16-2005, 08:02 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MarkE90M3
Im definatly getting a spare wheel/tire and strapping it to the trunk somehow
That's what I got on C32 after getting flat in the Bronx with tire kit proven useless
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      08-16-2005, 08:41 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dxk
That's what I got on C32 after getting flat in the Bronx with tire kit proven useless
Thats a place where i dont want a flat and a AMG.
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      08-16-2005, 08:48 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Epyon
Thats a place where i dont want a flat and a AMG.
wasn't too bad, MB roadside refused to help, saying they can't go there for some reason, so I had to run all over the Bronx to find a tire that'd fit on that AMG wheel.
This place is much better than it used to be.
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      08-16-2005, 08:57 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Oz
Well, you could have gotten flat without a runflat tire so you never know what might happen. But the good thing is nothing happened to you or the car so that's good

390 for one tire? That's pretty steep. But didn't you get the tire insurance with the car? I got one and it covers for all damages unless i intentionally did it (ie: scratching the rims)
yes, I'm thankfull that we were safe...it could have been worst. I didn't get the tire insurance, but after this experience I'll definitely look into it.
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      08-16-2005, 11:08 PM   #14
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Matrix, thankfully it wasn't a catastrophic blow-out and no one was injured.

One thing to consider about the tire insurance (at least from the sort of policy that was pitched to me) is that 1) it may have a per incident maximum $$$ coverage; 2) it may be through a specific dealership/network and out-of-town incidents may require you to foot the bill and submit the claim the 'ol fashion way; and 3) it may have a maximum total policy pay-out. I'm sure others with more experience can chime in too.

I'm going through the process of selecting winter runflat tires and I'm finding i have very little (but pricey) selection. Maybe as more products come to market, this will improve as will availability throughout the dealer network.
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      08-16-2005, 11:20 PM   #15
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That's exactly the reason I spent $500 to get 5 years and $4K of coverage for my wheels and tires, including replacements from flats.

Two flats and its already paid for itself.
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      08-17-2005, 01:00 AM   #16
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I had to get rid of a bunch of thorny locusts around my farm. Must have plugged my tractor tires 50 times over the past few years. Cost maybe $7 for a couple plug kits. That is less than 15 cents per repair. Takes about 10 minutes of my time to walk back to my workbench, get the tool, plug, and pump, stick in the plug and air up the tire. Works fine on our van tires too -- not sure about doing serious speed on a plug, but luck has shined on the E46, and so far its tires are virgins. Knock on wood. But now BMW thinks it's a good idea to switch to runflats that cost $350 per from a dealer. Hmmm.
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      08-17-2005, 03:30 AM   #17
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I´m sorry, but what am I missing? The whole story sounds like an advertisment FOR runflats. You had a puncture and thanks to the RFT you could safely continue your journey to your destination (no dangerous tire change at the roadside), the car was driving safely even at the time of the deflation (which it would not have with non-RFT), you could postpone taking care of the problem to the next morning. BMW Assist performed well in guiding you to the next dealer.
There is no reason to believe the RFT´s caused your problem, but they certainly did lessen the impact of it.

Excellent performance and just a reason to thank RFT.

The only trouble you experienced was from
1. The poor availablity of a replacement (Which will hopefully become better in the future with more cars beeing equiped with RFT´s)
2. Cost, which is bad but then, flats are rather rare, so the chance of having to spit it out are rare. If you´re worried insurance is a solution, but then, insurance companies allways make a profit, so insurance is never a good deal. I only take up insurances for potential losses I cannot afford (i.e. whole car). I think most E90 owners could afford a tire replacement without having to postpone their holidays
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      08-17-2005, 05:46 AM   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tierfreund
I´m sorry, but what am I missing? The whole story sounds like an advertisment FOR runflats. You had a puncture and thanks to the RFT you could safely continue your journey to your destination (no dangerous tire change at the roadside), the car was driving safely even at the time of the deflation (which it would not have with non-RFT), you could postpone taking care of the problem to the next morning. BMW Assist performed well in guiding you to the next dealer.
There is no reason to believe the RFT´s caused your problem, but they certainly did lessen the impact of it.

Excellent performance and just a reason to thank RFT.

The only trouble you experienced was from
1. The poor availablity of a replacement (Which will hopefully become better in the future with more cars beeing equiped with RFT´s)
2. Cost, which is bad but then, flats are rather rare, so the chance of having to spit it out are rare. If you´re worried insurance is a solution, but then, insurance companies allways make a profit, so insurance is never a good deal. I only take up insurances for potential losses I cannot afford (i.e. whole car). I think most E90 owners could afford a tire replacement without having to postpone their holidays
Spot on.
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      08-17-2005, 07:41 AM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tierfreund
I´m sorry, but what am I missing? The whole story sounds like an advertisment FOR runflats.<snip>
Absolutely! I agree!!

BTW, my dealer recommended dialing BMW Roadside Assist directly to avoid the cost of the BMW Assist SOS call. (This is a USA situation and may not apply elsewhere)
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      08-17-2005, 08:14 AM   #20
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It seems like the only problem with this run-flat story was availability and cost. Couldn't you simply purchase a run-flat tire (and rim) ahead of time from tirerack and keep it in your garage until you need it? That way you are not going to get hit hard on price and you'll always have one available. In other words, having a spare tire in the garage (in lieu of the conventional trunk), will prevent these problems as long as you are 150 miles from home, which for me as about 99% of the time. The remaing 1% of the time, I could simply throw the spare in the trunk.....I think.
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      08-17-2005, 09:00 AM   #21
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Yeah sorry to hear that. Something similar happened to me the day after I got my 325i. A big hook got jammed into it. I drove to my dealership and they gave a new tire. It cost me $400 canadian + tax.
which comes up to $485 CND. They said that the new tire would cost $680 CND (they pulled one off a similar car on the lot because delivery of a new tire would have taken 3 weeks).

I think it's ridiculous that they couldn't patch it up. the hole wasn't in the sidewall. So yeah, I'm not buying another tire from them. I found the same tire on tirerack.com for a lot less. It would cost me half as much to buy them from tirerack.com and ship them to me then to buy them from the dealership. Also, the fact that the tire life is half of the life spac of a regular summer sport tire (non-runflat) of same size, makes me think this is ridiculous. The tires on my E90 cost me 4 times as much as the tires of my bro's E46.
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      08-17-2005, 09:28 AM   #22
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Tierfreund, you make a good point about tire insurance. I've been mulling it over (as I my new e90 is still in transit) and I've toggled between being for and against gettting it. My main reservations are that such insurance costs disproportionately more here in Canada (than say the US) and I feel that claims may be disputed by the insurance company.

anthony_h, I hear you on sourcing tires outside the dealer network. I've dealt with TireTrends.com in the past and they're in BC. Have you purchased from TireRack.com before and shipped to Ottawa? I'm curious about being hit with duties as the tires cross the border.
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