Greetings 5series gurus. So I got a flat today and took my car in to a tire chain company to fix the flat. They refused to fix the flat because of a welded rim. This is new to me, as I never thought to search the rims for welds from previous cracks before I purchased the car (about three weeks ago). A quick search on these forums and I learn that these 124s crack often. My question(s) for you all are:

1. Are welded rims safe? The guy at the tire place claims he would never nor let anyone of his family members drive on a welded rim.

2. Should I find a shop that would be willing to fix the flat on a welded rim and move on from it?

3. Should I just bite the bullet and purchase a new OEM rim from BMW (actually I would need two as another rim is also welded).

4. Or should I shop around for a new set of rims. The problem is, I'm not looking to spend more than $2000 for rims that I never wanted in the first place.

Thanks for any replies/advice.

 

Go to a different shop. They have no idea what they are talking about. Their job is to fix a flat tire. Welded rims are fine as long as the shop welded correctly. Also the shop knows if the rims can be welded or not so obviously, the cracks on the rims were insignificant.

 

agreed.....welded rims are fine as long as it's done right. shops can weld on the inside lip but i believe it's not safe to weld the outside lip. i had a rim welded on a previous car with no problems at all.

 

Thanks for the replies. Yes, the welds were on the inside lip. I too thought it was a bit strange for them to turn down business. I called another shop and they fixed the flat with no issues. I do have a slow leak on another tire ( with a weld also). They could not find the leak, even though I need to put air in twice a week. Anyone have issues using Nitrogen? Would this help? Thanks again.

Aaron

 

FWIW, I think that they might have felt the welded rim was a risk and didn't want to be involved in any way after the flat was fixed.... Personally I don't know if it's a risk or not....

 

Here's another option for you ...

https://5series.net/forums/topic/999...50a-run-flats/

 

Update: So the cracked rim is leaking air....badly. I put air in the tire at least once a day, twice on days I do a lot of driving. Looks like I'm in the market for a replacement (Passenger side rear). If any of you have a set of 124s laying around and want to sell em, please shoot me a pm. Hoping you'd be willing to part it out, but if there is little curb rash I may be interested in all 4.