I was driving from one office to another today and I heard a thump-thump-thump. I pulled over and saw a full-on set of keys that were sticking out of my rear tire, keychain and all. One of the keys had cut a big slice in the tire and I could hear the air leaking out. I pulled the key out and then the air really started to flow. I got back in and kept driving and sure enough a warning sign came up saying that I had a flat. Fortunately because of the runflats I drove to my office and later to the tire place.

No greasy hands, no late for work changing a tire.

unfortunately it cost me $450 for a new tire mounted and balanced :wacko:

Yup the only good thing about Run Flats.

:wow: a set of key this is a 1st.
1 in a 10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 0000000.
Now you see RFT are good for something :thumbsup: not everything is bad on the RFT.

Run flats suck ass. :thumbsdown:


And that's about as technical as we need to get around here. :P


That is all. :whistle:

$450 bucks for a new runflat. Where do you shop? Neiman Marcus Tire Department?

I think you got taken for a ride on that transaction.

What brand and size tire are we talking about.

Any idea whether he could have replaced the one tire with a non-RFT? It would have been cheaper.

Yup of course you can but doenst make sense to run differnt kinds of tires on a car. at least not to me.

Hahahah "Neiman Marcus Tire Department" Lets see... $300 for a tire at tire rack... so making it $350 at a local shop... and then balance, dismount, mount, install... ya it not a bargain but "could" be ok... for Neiman Marcus Tire Department. :)

Yup, Unfortunately the tires are about that much...$400+!!!! :wow: So nice to be on the 166's with less costly tires and smoother ride...but yeah, I'll be dead meat once I get a flat with no spare!

From what I can tell, and it's not very scientific, just my own observations, Run Flat Tyres are thankfully getting better.

The original RFTs on my 2004 530d were terrible. Admittedly I didn't have the car from new, but at just beyond 1/2 worn they were awful. My wife's original MINI Cooper S had RFTs and they were like driving with solid wooden wheels and no suspension. I swapped my Run-flats out for normal tyres, she kept hers because she felt safer knowing she could drive home if she had a flat.

Just recently we changed the MINI for a newer one, and what a difference. Presumably they are newer generation runflats, perhaps MINI also tweaked the Cooper S suspension, but it certainly drives much more like a normal (sporty) car.

I just test-drove a 335d Coupe, with 19" wheels and quite low-profile RFTs, and I was surprised by the ride and feel of the suspension/tyre combination - it was really very good. Again I suspect these are latest generation Run-flats with suspension specifically designed for RFTs.

I ended up ordering a 335d, so starting in December I will find out for myself how they are in the real world. Since the E92 335d has no room at all for a space-saver, I am probably stuck with RFTs for the length of time I own the car. My main concern actually is that I've heard that some of the new sizes are hard to get (3 or 4 day lead times, or more) which could pose a problem if I need to replace a tyre in a hurry. I did think of buying and keeping a spare RFT tyre in my garage, but while this might work for a MINI, the 335d Coupe has different sizes front and back, so that's not going to work unless I buy one of each size, and that's getting expensive...