needforspeed

Had a puncture on Friday on the M1 - had to get BMW assist to put the skinny pram wheel space saver on cause the lorries were swerving very close to the offside rear - where I had the flat. Then had a fun journey home at 50mph.

After many calls I found that no-one could get a 275/30/19 goodyear f1 until Tues / Wed, so I ended up getting a new pair of continental sport contact 2's today (so I had matching tyres on the back axle).

Total cost for the punture ?440 :thumbsdown:

Still - I've kept the non punctured goodyear which was only about 50% worn, which I'll use as a temp fix in case it happens again, so I can continue to use the car whilst waiting for a matching tyre.

WHY CAN'T I JUST HAVE A FULL SIZE SPARE WHEEL ????????? If I had had this I could have waited for the goodyear to be delivered and saved ?220.

Ricracing

Sorry the hear about your mishap!

In this case the RF's could have been good to have?

Since you have the 275/30 19" rears you must have 245/35 19" in front.
Would you like to have a spare front and rear wheel in your trunk?

The 19 inchers are not only harder, giving less comfort,
but they are also more vounerable to punktures.

But they do look good on a E60, don't they?

A 245/40 18" spare fits nicely in the trunk!

Mr 5er

Hey needforspeed, sorry to hear about that. May I ask a favor. How much was that in American currency???

UUronL

I've driven literally for months on skinny spares at 70+ MPH - basically commuting (not in my E60, this was back in my younger days). I know it's verboten, but I've never had an issue. You should be able to get away with a fair amount of high-ish speeds on the spare.

rlinger

I would note that when you were commuting, your tires were probably narrower than are on the e60. The difference between tire contact patch is quite extreme on the e60 spare and the rest of the tires. If you do hit ice, snow, or water -- you may see your car react much differently! -- be safe -- spend very little time with the donut (the spare) on the asphalt.

ps. -- everyone should check the inflation on the tire -- it should be MUCH higher than the regular inflation -- {check the sidewall}

KAF

$770................................ plus change

andy545

Fully understand...
Isn't though that either roadside assistance or insurance provide a replacement auto if your own cannot be on the road within 48 hours? Both my insurance and roadside assistance offer this - and would have applied in the above situation...I know it's only a puncture, but since you have to wait for some kind of repair, it would apply.

wales34part

i know its a rip off at around ?150 but the spare wheel kit IMO is essential if you move away from the run flats.

As for the 19's being harder riding than the 18's from the research i've done most comments seem to disagree with this.

Have you noticed any differences in ride/traction etc between the gsd3's and the conti's maybe to soon to say before the tyres are a little scrubbed.?

petem77

I drove 2 Msport E60s back to back to decide on tyre/wheel choice before placing my 530d order - one with the standard style 135 245/40 18s all round the other with style 172 245/35 19 front, 275/30 19 rear.

All 3 of us on the test reckoned the car on 135s and runflats was slightly quieter than the non-runflat 172s. The 135 car was a late 2005 model 530d auto, 172 a 2006 model 530i auto. Unfortunately I failed to pay attention to what make of tyre was fitted in either case
On the basis of this I chose the standard 135s. Which also gives me the option of improving ride later by going to non-runflats later.
At the same time we drove a 520d manual, which really was quite pleasant. But despite the ludicrous price premium of the 530d over the 520d (around ?5660) ended up choosing a manual (very unusual in the UK) 530d MSport.

As to driving fast/long distances on space-savers: last summer had a tyre self-destruct in a fully-laden Saab 9-5 Aero estate driving up through France. Felt sudden vibration whilst overtaking a lorry at around 90mph. Car was impressively stable & managed to stop with no drama. 1 rear tyre was totallly flat, and smoking very slightly. On taking the tyre off found inner sidewall had several holes.
Ended up driving fully laden the last 300 miles to home on a space saver. At ifrst I stuck to 50-60 mph. But after several stops to monitor heat build up (of which there was none) progressivley increased cruising speed to 80/85mph. This, I repeat, was fully laden.
Over the 15years or so of having only a space saver spare in my car I'd always been concerned about the impact of a puncture on long trips. Now I'm not quite so concerned.

But I'd still prefer a full-size spare.

needforspeed

Run flats would have got me off the motorway faster, but as it was it only took 30 mins from calling BMW assist to being back on my way again - thanks to the brave recovery driver who (shielded by his truck) dropped the space saver on with lorries about an inch from his back.

I honestly don't find the 19's affect the ride, but I'm interested why are they more prone to punctures?

One things for certain the tyres are bloody expensive.

I think the conti's look better than the goodyears though and (so far) they seem a bit more grippy. Looking at the tread pattern I think they's be MUCH better in the wet.