fov001

Hey guys. I recently purchased a 525i 2005 from a friend. After a week, I noticed that one of the tires needed some air, so I filled the tire with air. After this I started getting a message that says "run-flat - tire pressure changed, or tire replaced, needs to be reset" something similar to that . Any ways, I reset the (TPMS) or Tire Pressure Monitoring System and everything was working fine (no more messages). After this I was curious and checked the tires, and they were not run-flat but Michelin tires. My question is do I need to purchase run-flat tires for this? Is it necessary or can I just keep the Michelin? How much this affects the performance of my vehicle? Any advice will be appreciated. Thanks!!


525i 2005 White
Sports/cold/premium sound
M54

flyingpuck

You DON'T need run-flat tires, you can run any tire you like, and most of them will feel better than even the best run-flat tire out there! It really just comes down to whether or not you feel safe enough without them....I myself cannot remember the last time I suffered a catastrophic blowout of a tire, so I don't drive run-flats either! Good Luck with your decision!

fov001

thanks for your reply. a friend of mine, who is very knowledgeble about BMWs said that it is recommended to have them since my car is sports package, but spending 1000 for tires right now is not what I want. Let me ask you this, the tires in the front are a different brand than the ones in the back, can't recall the name brand but they are not Michellin like the ones in the back, is it recommended to have all four tires the same?

rctmthouse

you can run different brand tires between front and back but it is recommended that you run the same brand for each pair, side to side, and same amount of tread wear since the tread pattern for each brand of tires is different. Do recommend to drive with same brand of tires in rainy season though.

v_therussian

Would be nice, if people did some searching before posting threads about things that have been discussed up, down and every other direction...

But to answer your question, OP: ditch those RFT tires and never go back. Do some research on the forum - you'll see that not one person who made the switch has ever gone back to RFTs. They are a great technology only in theory - in reality this is just a waste of money. As an added demerit to RFTs, they also contribute to cracks in rims, because they have very stiff sidewalls that transfer the energy of impacts to the metal of the rims. In my case, I used to get "low tire pressure" warnings all the time, but tires would have no leaks. And then, after tires would finally give, because of the constant depressurization, I'd dismount them to find tiny, microscopic cracks in the wheels, running from the edges of the rims toward the center. I switched to Continental DWS tires on my stock wheels and run Hankook Ventus Evo V12's on my summers. Both decent tires, DWS being a cruising/all weather tires, and Hankook is the curve-carving scalpels.

Don't forget to get a spare, if you don't have one, when you go to non-RFT tires. Whatever BMW tells you about it is BS - don't believe everything you hear/read - which is yet another reason to do your own research and not to believe me.

Anyway, hope you have better luck with new wheels. I personally recommend Continental DWS tires, based on my experience. I've recommended this tire to about a dozen people I know personally now - every one of them is extremely happy with them. Most of them BMW drivers BTW. Good luck!

fov001

Thanks a bunch for your advice. Sorry, but I am a newbie and sometimes it is difficult finding answers for a specific question. I will definitely look more into it, and also I will take your advice on the continental DWS tires.

again...thanks for your response!

v_therussian

No problem, man - you're welcome, anytime. Welcome to the forum, btw

And if you have any specific questions that you want to ask me, don't hesitate to PM me any time - I'm always happy to help people on here, as much as I can

Best of luck to you with the car