Has anybody found a reliable alternative to having their run-flats replaced at the dealer in San Francisco or the bay area. I have to replace Dunlop RFT's at 24,000 miles either with new RFT's or regular tires. Of course, they are beyond the 20,000 miles for the free replacement, so I am looking for a less expensive route ($400 each), but without doing damage to the wheels or tires. Is there any tire dealer in San Francisco who can safely handle these tires? Thanks for advice and personal experience.

What is this 20k or less replacement?

Also the dealer sucks-expensive and as I emntioned in another post they screwed up my TPM sensors by leaving one so loose it lost air out of the valve.

Dont you have discount tire or something out there? Any big tire shop can do them just fine. People complain about the dunlops but I find them just fine. I enjoy the benefit of runflats and think the only other big brand people go with are hte eagle F1 EMTs or the Bridestone potenzas runflats. Maybe I am missing one big runflat but I think those are the 3 popular one.

And 400/tire?? The dunlops are only 330 and the most expensive eagle F1 are 369. so not sure what you will find for MORE than 400.

Back in 2005 when I had runflats, I got a nail embedded on the sidewall of the left rear tire rendering it unrepairable. Fortunately, I bought tire insurance. I took the car to Discount Tires in Costa Mesa and had them replace it. As added insurance take pictures before taking it into Discount Tires. Inspect the wheel after the job is completed so if there is any damage you have proof.

400 per tire is what the BMW dealer charges which is more than elsewhere.

The Dunlop RFT's have a service bulletin for there defective early and uneven wear and excessive road noise. If you bring the car in and complain they will replace them for free. I was well aware of this and planned to do so, but for some reason mine did not wear as fast as others reported. That and the inconvenience in SF for service appointments made me put it off and I lost track of the 20,000 mile limit, so I can't get the free dealer replacement (this time around). I have toyed with regular Michelin PS2's but others warn me that I will lose the sport handling. I just can't stand the freeway noise (that is all I drive).

I have just heard horror stories locally about bent wheels and poorly installed run-flats. I thought at least the dealer had the equipment and training.

Does anyone have a service bulletin for the dunlop wear? I have heard the uneven one but not for simple quick wear. My backs are wearing fast buy fronts are fine so I think it would be hard sell for me to try to claim quick wear. Fact is I have driven the car hard but they had less than 20 when I got them replaced in the backs. Fronts are still fine and will likely go to about 24k at this rate.

The tire guy was a total jerk when I took my car to the dealer and asked them about the quick wear-in 11k miles! My backs were at the wear bars-admittedly I drove the car hard but the guy was just an a-hole to me and went to point out that I would be breaking the law if I drove away from here with that little tread-it was JUSt at the wear bar-total ass and he said there was no way they cover wear in the rears since it was simple over use-but I would love to come show him some service bulletin.

Sorry I can't help you with someone in SF but I do agree the dealer might not be the best place for run flat replacement. Each time they mounted a tire for me they scratched the rim. I finally found the place around here that does the super high end cars ( Ferrari etc) and ironically my dealer sends out their "special" jobs to this place.