[Jrg3170]

For those of you that have experienced a flat, a few questions:

1. Did iDrive give you a notification that the runflat capability was being activated? Was there any sort of countdown of the 50 mile limit?
2. How far did you / were you able to drive once the tire had gone flat?

Asking because we experienced a complete tire failure on Thanksgiving day. This was a remote part of I-25 in New Mexico, no tire shops open within 70+ miles. The tire did run at 3psi for ~35 miles, but what I experienced was different than what roadside assistance advised when I called in. I'm curious to hear what others have experienced...

And yes I just ordered a modern spare. Lesson learned the hard way.

[nZtiZia]

woah, that's a catastrophic blow out!

the ability to drive on it for 50 miles at 50mph requires an ideal type air loss /flat tire. for yours, I would've tried to avoid driving on it at all as there could be ensuing damage to the wheel and wheel components that warranty may not cover

the vehicle has no countdown or notification (other than low or critically low air pressure) nor any way to determine whether or not it's ok to drive on a damaged run flat tire. the onus is completely on the owner to determine that, and if doing so, keeping tabs on one's speed and distance travelled.

the ability to drive on a flat tire depends. run flat tires allow you to drive on them after a flat due to their stiffer sidewalls but if it's really bad like yours, you can't/shouldn't. my wife had a sidewall blow out about 2" in length, so complete loss of air. given she only had to go 1.2 miles on suburban roads to get to safety, she did so going 25mph. still, that was risky. it was towed to the dealer from there

I'm sorry this happened to you. hope you get everything sorted quickly

[Jrg3170]

Thanks nZtiZia. Just to be clear this was the tire after it blew… the first 35 miles it looked much better lol.

Thankfully the wheel is fine so just a new tire. $350-ish. I was a bit surprised to find out that the Continentals do not come with any road hazard warranty, but the Pirellis do. Luck of the draw I guess.

Does anyone know of a good aftermarket road hazard tire warranty? The dealer quoted me nearly $4k for the tire and wheel warranty. Not a huge deal to just eat the cost of each tire event (I seem to get a lot of punctures where I live), but I sure have gotten used to that free Tirerack warranty over the years.

I should also add the roadside coverage covered the cost of the tow all the way back to my home dealer, 5 hours round-trip for the tow truck. So that was nice.

[TheACN]

Originally Posted by Jrg3170

Thanks nZtiZia.
I should also add the roadside coverage covered the cost of the tow all the way back to my home dealer, 5 hours round-trip for the tow truck. So that was nice.

Is that BMW's roadside or your insurance?

[Jrg3170]

Originally Posted by TheACN

Is that BMW's roadside or your insurance?

BMW roadside. Free tow back to the closest dealer from anywhere in the US.

This was a very nice benefit, perhaps it's common across all manufacturers. Something I didn't even consider when buying.

[rundeyvoo]

Originally Posted by Jrg3170

The dealer quoted me nearly $4k for the tire and wheel warranty.

Wow $4k. Does that cover any damage or issues with the wheel / tire? I'd probably just fix or replace each tire than having to go this route.

[mpd79]

Woah how did it look initially?

I've only had nails in my RFT's (many times) and my general strategy across cars has always been to keep a 12V tire inflator in the trunk and I keep track of the PSI's before I can get the tire replaced/patched.

Obviously this creates a bit of malaise in taking care of the tires (eg pumping up the tire every drive for a week or two) which I'd imagine isn't ideal.

[jad03060]

That 50-miles applies if you keep the speed down to NGT 50-mph. Going faster can cause it to fail even more. It also assumes you had a puncture from say a nail or screw, not a major tear in the sidewall structure. How heavily loaded the vehicle will somewhat also determine how much extra distance you may be able to drive before it fails. You also want to avoid hard braking or acceleration during those miles.

Having a tire failure in the middle of nowhere is one way RFTs sort of shine, especially if you can't or don't want to stop and put on a spare.

[Tejas1836]

middle of nowhere down here may be hundreds of miles from even seeing another person and no cellular coverage.

[jad03060]

Originally Posted by Tejas1836

middle of nowhere down here may be hundreds of miles from even seeing another person and no cellular coverage.

In that case, I'd want a spare, and preferably, a full-sized one...maybe two. Awkward to carry around, though, and an outside carrier might be subject to theft, even if it was locked on. Tough situation. If I did it regularly, a satellite phone might be useful, or one of the messaging devices that use the Iridium satellites.

[jgor9364@bigpond.net.au]

Folks, I am new to this forum and noticed this thread. My experience with run flats is with an E70 X5 M40D which has covered 265,000 kilometers over 10 years mostly in long distance highway driving in Australia, usually towing a show vehicle (max load of 2.4 tonnes). Very supportive of the run flats. I have had two punctures both of which effectively wrecked the run flat affected. With much rain in Australia the roads have deteriorated with many "pot holes". The first incident I hit a large hole with the left front at 90 kilometeres per hour in the dark. The impact split out the sidewall of the run flat completely. I have an air compressor onboard and even foam tyre filler. neither would have worked so it was onto the "space saver" spare with max speed rating of 80 kilometers per hour. then a trip of 200 kilometers to the nearest town to wait a day to receive a new front tyre. Problem was that the roads were single lane with many semi trailers all who travelled 100 kilometers per hour. difficult when there are few safe places to pull over. Solution, i purchased a set of 4 (had to buy the lot) 18 inch BMW rims off another X5 with the same rolling radius as my 20s. I carried one in the cars boot always. When I towed a trailer, I had a spare permanently mounted on the trailer as a backup. Imagine towing 2.4 tonnes with a space saver spare or a flat, run flat! The second puncture 6 months later was again the left front with a pot hole. This time, I swapped over the full size 18 inch spare and drove off wothout issues. I have just purchased an M50d which has factory 22 inch non run flats! I have ordered (from Germany) an original 22 inch front rim of the same type to carry as a full-size spare. This will cover the front and the back. Expensive, though necessary for peace of mind when travelling remotely. Another tip, when mounting a full size spare, I had a dummy wheel stud made up in the form of a threaded pin. This is screwed into the wheel hub so the wheel to be mounted can be hung on the dummy stud. The other studs are then fitted, the dummy is then removed and replaced by the real stud. Makes holding and aligning the wheel much easier. I have also seen a portable wheel jack to help with this process though i havn't been able to find one to buy here!
regards,

John