jay_menon

Dear all,

This is the third time I am changing my run flat tire due to puncture. All in less than a year. Here the roads are tidy and I dont ususally get the car on rough roads.The culprit is a screw which I found thrust on the tyre in all three cases.Why the runflat tyres are so vulnerable to puncture? Or is it me only having the problem? Or anyone else has faced a worse situation than me? If I go for normal tyres,any comprimise on the ride quality is expected? Please advise me .

cheers
Jay

Matts

Hi Jay,

a screw can damage every tire, no matter if a runflat or a "normal" one.
Three times in a year.....hard to believe it happens accidentally.
Maybe a jealous neighbour?

Cheers
Matts

fraseman999

yeah, i agree someone could be doing it.

xBMWx

Sounds a little suspect, but could also just be bad luck. I'm assuming its not the same screw each time!

As for changing to non-RFT tyres, you will actually get an improvement in ride quality because you are taking away the hard side-walls part of the tyre, which naturally makes it softer. Furthermore, non-RFT tyres have had more development time. There are a lot of posts about non-RFT tyres - I personally moved to Michalin PS2s and am still very happy with my choice.

You will however need to think about what you do in the case of a puncture; get a spare tyre to put in your boot or an alternative temporary solution to get you to the next garage or tyre centre.

aybeesea

You COULD get an improvement in ride quality.

It depends on the profile of the tyre.

ABC

Ian

Can a run-flat be repaired as per normal tyre ? I have a screw related puncture (slow), but the rears need changing about now anyway, so 2 new Goodyear NCT5 run-flats on order. Assuming it's a repairable puncture, can run-flats be plugged like normal tyres ?

aosman

Excellent question! Did anyone ever successfuly repair a puncture on a RFT?

tprenaldo

RFT can be repaired as long as it's on the tread! No sealant in a can, just plain ole plug.

george44

Unless you have a mate in the trade who is willing to do this 'off the record', then I think you will struggle to find any reputable tyre shop willing to touch a RFT from a BMW. I had the same issues with nearly brand new tyres, then suddenly getting a slow puncture through a screw or something. One of my reasons for switch to the non-rft Goodyear F1's.

Two of my mates are sales at the same Rydale dealership in South Wales. I discussed it with them at the time I was looking for someone to plug the tyre. They spoke to the service dept. about it, and their stance is that they won't even do a service on your car if they spot that you've had a tyre plugged!!! A bit extreme I think, but you sort of get the message.

Although technically they can be plugged, and at the time there was nothing on the manufacturer's website saying they couldn't be repaired, the stance now seems to be that from a safety point of view, if you have a puncture, there's no way of telling how long the car may have been driven without/low air, so it's possible the tyre sidewalls have sustained some weakening.
I know we have low pressure detection on our cars, but even BMW are not willing to take the chance (or the word of the customer), that the cr hasn't been driven with a 'flat' tyre, and so they won't put their necks on the line by allowing the repair of such a tyre once it's had a puncture.
I contacted several of the larger tyre outlets in the UK at the time, and none of them were willing to touch the runflats from a repair point of view.
Three of these were KwikFit, ATS-Euromaster and Bathwick Tyres.

I also tow a caravan with the Bimmer, and found out the hard way that you're not going anywhere with a punctured runflat on the back axle, if you've got 1600kg of caravan hooked up! :thumbsdown:

KAF

I had more punctures in 6 months of RFT's than in the last 6 years of normal tyres. Maybe a coincidence, but others have reported the same.

There is no obvious reason why an RFT should be more prone to punctures, but it is a pain having to buy new tyres as no reputable shop will repair them.

Glad I dumped them.