mdobin

The E61 we purchased had aftermarket chrome wheels with 18" tires. It also had a spare, so I knew that the wheels were not factory.

One of the tires was losing air so I went to the tire store. They showed me the corrosion on the inside of the wheel that was causing the problem.

I decided to get new wheels and tires. My wife suggested going to Run Flats. I had read on this and other boards about the hassles of run flats, other than their run flat ability. For instance, there appears to be no dealer or tire store that will repair a run flat tire. Since I'm not made of money, I don't like the idea of throwing a tire away for a nail hole.

We decided to go with the original wheel tire combo that came with the car Style 128s with 225/50 17s. It's my wife's car and she doesn't drive it hard.

Here's the rest of the story.

My parents were driving to Florida from New Jersey in their 07 335i convertible. The car came with run flat 19s and the dealer put on runflat 21s. The TPM indicated a low tire condition. The tried to drive on as the nearest dealer was 20 miles away.

They started to smell rubber and pulled over to find a hole in the sidewall, making the car undrivable. Flat bed to the dealer in Florence, South Carolina. No tire. Two days for a new one, if they're lucky.

Unfortunately, the car was likely not even designed for a donut, certainly not a full-size spare. My '03 E39 and '04 E65 both have full size spares so a flat is a minor inconvenience. BMW always prided itself on keeping its performance even when a tire went flat. In the interest of dollars, they seemed to have moved away from that philosophy and I think this is a mistake.

No run-flats for me, thanks.

bad2bone

Nice story. By the way, those are styling 138s not 128s and the ride quality will be much better with the 17" tires. I use the same wheels and tires in winter. Enjoy!

Russ1974

Run flats have saved me a couple of times. I love them. Two rear flat tyres (after running over a shed load of nails on the motorway) at 80mph? No problem - slowed down to 60mph and continued 20 miles to get to my important meeting. After the meeting, drove 5 miles to BMW garage, and got new tyres fitted, and drove home.

Run flats do not stop major sidewall damage. They do let you drive if you have a "pierced" tyre, nails / screws / police stinger, etc! My guess is a major tire or wheel fault in the above case.

Anyway, my new car is coming soon and it has no run flats (as I wanted the 19" wheels), and I can honestly say I am a little worried about it. Here's hoping I don't run over nails on the motorway. I expect the results would be slightly more dramatic without RFs !

mdobin

Here's an update.

The tire warranty company didn't call back the day of the flat so, without any meaningful assistance from the company, my folks ordered the tire through the dealer for $600, including overnight shipping.

The tire arrived the next day and, SURPRISE, the dealer in Middle-of-nowhere South Carolina didn't have equipment that could handle a 35 aspect ratio 19 inch tire. In fact, they had not seen a 335i convertible before the day my parents showed up with their car on a flatbed.

Then the tire warranty company called. They told my parents that they overpaid for the tire, which may be true, when there is a supply of tires and an endless supply of time. In this situation, there were no tires available other than through whatever supply chain the dealer uses. Since there appears to be a part number on the work order, it looks like this is an item that is obtained as a BMW part.

I did some searching and found out what a disaster run-flats are, other than saving folks who have a hole in the tread area and can't safely pull over. In my parents' case, with a sidewall slash, there is no benefit to run-flats. And the rules for repair of runflats appear to be so onerous that, essentially, a flat runflat is a soon-to-be-recycled runflat. What a crock.

Makes me feel a little guilty that I recommended a BMW to my parents.

mdobin

B2B -

Thanks for the words of encouragement. The wheels, IMHO, look better than the knock-off poorly-chromed 135s with 18s. I put Michelin Pilot Sport A/S on the car. Driving the car home, I noticed a considerable difference in ride quality and noise level. The prior tires were Pirelli P Zero.