Run flats or alternatives

[Piff]

I've recently bought a BWM X3 (ducks & runs for cover) fitted with run flat Michelins.
Car has 245/45R19 front & 275/40R19 rears, all with around 4mm tread.
So in the near future I will need to replace all 4 tyres.
There is no spare wheel & no spare wheel well, there is no space under the car for an underslung spare as the exhaust back box is in the way.

So, at the moment I'm weighing up the options:-
4 new run flats. Expensive & if punctured presumably they are non repairable.
4 new standard tyres together with puncture repair slime & a small compressor. Are tyres which have been slime repaired then non repairable?
4 new standard tyres together with a jack, spanner & a skinny spare which could be stored in the boot.

Opinions invited...................................

 

[markjay]

For me It's the last option from those you listed.

 

[Mactech]

I currently run 4 vehicles. None of them carry spare wheels. There is certainly no provision for one on the motorcycle or the Mx-5.
It is possible to carry them in the other 2.
I last changed a wheel at the roadside in 1999. That's over 1/3 of a million miles ago.....

 

[Deleted member 113659]

I currently run 4 vehicles. None of them carry spare wheels. There is certainly no provision for one on the motorcycle or the Mx-5.
It is possible to carry them in the other 2.
I last changed a wheel at the roadside in 1999. That's over 1/3 of a million miles ago.....

Great point. Strange thing is that when I was a kid it seemed that everyone had more punctures than they do nowadays. Are tyres better or are our roads cleaner?

I’ll be going for opt 2 very soon. Changing from run flats to standards and a tin of gunk in the boot.

 

[Piff]

I currently run 4 vehicles. None of them carry spare wheels. There is certainly no provision for one on the motorcycle or the Mx-5.
It is possible to carry them in the other 2.
I last changed a wheel at the roadside in 1999. That's over 1/3 of a million miles ago.....

Hmmm
Could nearly agree with you. Hadn't had a puncture for probably 30+ years until a couple of months ago when the L200 had one. Spare fitted & tyre to local tyre shop. Turned out to be a rusty bit of wire.
We live on an "unmade" pot holed road and have had several tyres with side wall damage over recent years.

 

[Chrishazle]

Not just a case of getting a nail/wire through the tyre, I've had 2 "experiences" in the past couple of years with GY Eagle F1 Assyms splitting, first was inside side of OS rear, little warning, just cratered, split was "impressive". Second was inside side of front NS, tyre loosing pressure, pumped back up, within 1 supermarket 1 1/2-2 hour visit had again gone flat, small split but again non-repairable. Now have Michelin XClimates on the front and hoping to soon get similar on the rear of the S204 once the GY's are worn out. Both cases the tyres had less than 20K on them.

However, as you're on 19's, I'd imagine the ride on RF's is a bit stiff so I'd think ordinary tyres and alternative arrangements will improve life for you!

 

[markjay]

In the last 10 years, I had:

2 punctures on the Merc (careless builders dumping screws on the road)

2 tyres damaged by hitting the kerb on the wife's car (other relatives driving)

So that's an average of one wheel change every 2.5 years...

I cary in my car a full size spare (alloy, identical to the other 4), jack, and also MB Tirefit for good measure. The space-saver that came with the car is in storage.

The wife's car has a space-saver and jack (which I bought), and an original tyre sealent/inflator.

Belt and braces...

 

[Piff]

Not just a case of getting a nail/wire through the tyre, I've had 2 "experiences" in the past couple of years with GY Eagle F1 Assyms splitting, first was inside side of OS rear, little warning, just cratered, split was "impressive". Second was inside side of front NS, tyre loosing pressure, pumped back up, within 1 supermarket 1 1/2-2 hour visit had again gone flat, small split but again non-repairable. Now have Michelin XClimates on the front and hoping to soon get similar on the rear of the S204 once the GY's are worn out. Both cases the tyres had less than 20K on them.

However, as you're on 19's, I'd imagine the ride on RF's is a bit stiff so I'd think ordinary tyres and alternative arrangements will improve life for you!

Ride is quite good - it's an X-Line not an M Sport. Having said that any ride improvement is a bonus.
edit - I had Goodyear assyms on both previous MB's with no issues, think they were assym 3's & 4 or 5's though

 

[Piff]

In the last 10 years, I had:

2 punctures on the Merc (careless builders dumping screws on the road)

2 tyres damaged by hitting the kerb on the wife's car (other relatives driving)

So that's an average of one wheel change every 2.5 years...

I cary in my car a full size spare (alloy, identical to the other 4), jack, and also MB Tirefit for good measure. The space-saver that came with the car is in storage.

The wife's car has a space-saver and jack (which I bought), and an original tyre sealent/inflator.

Belt and braces...

Full size spare isn't really an option - fronts & rears are different sizes and at 245 or 275 and an outside wheel diameter of around 700mm, a bit big for the boot.

 

[markjay]

Full size spare isn't really an option - fronts & rears are different sizes and at 245 or 275 and an outside wheel diameter of around 700mm, a bit big for the boot.

Easy. Two spares... on a roof rack

 

[Mactech]

It really is worth doing a sanity check of what you require from the car and what is valuable to you. if it is better ride quality, then a standard tyre normally improves on that of a run flat.
For the Le Mans 24 hr race we were always faced with the question of what (if any) spares and tools should be carried on board for the race as only the driver is allowed to work on the car outside the pit road.
It is worth doing the audit for your own situation and use.
I decided that lugging an additional 30kgs around (that's 1/2 a person!) over 1/3 a million miles was neither cost effective or sensible for my my particular circumstances.

 

[MCFastybloke]

Had a 5 series on R/F for 3 years, the run flats were a great get you home tool,saved me a couple of times but at a cost, in our case £215 a go. Roadside wheel changes are rarer nowadays but for BMW a more common failure was sidewall deformity,bumping up kerbs,potholes whatever, then a split or failure of the integrity of the tyre tripping the TPMS. In 70k miles we had 5 tyres fail in this manner. Really painful scrapping a tyre with all that tread left. We stuck with them as the wife did a lot of work miles alone and the get you home/hotel/tyre house was more important.

 

[Dickster]

I agree, what is the car used for?

I had a nasty puncture in the SL on the M25 outside lane and just about made it to the hard shoulder before the tyre split in half and ruined the rim. I spent 5 hours with the AA getting a replacement fitted.

that made me think about our X5 which my wife uses for work occasionally up and down the country. Gunk only works 50% of the time - I’ve had plenty of experience with my m/bike. so I decided the best solution for the X5, given its use, was going back to the original RFs. Yes they do give a harsh ride, especially on the SD that we’ve got, but you get used to it. Oh, and make sure whatever you decide, the tyres are bmw approved....

on the other hand, my SL now has a spare in the wheel well.

 

[geoffus]

I'm slowly replacing the run flats on the wife's B200, the ride is very firm on the goodyear eagle 18" tyres and they do seem to wear quickly.
There are loads of cheap unused space savers on EBay so I bought one and stuffed it in the boot with a jack and wrench. It's only normally used for shopping trips but used 3 times a year to holiday in the Lake District (pre lockdown), I dont fancy waiting for 2 hours for Green Flag to arrive when I can change it myself.

 

[SpikyMikey]

One of the first things I did when I got my 3 Series Touring a few years ago was ditch the runflats. The improvement in ride quality on a car with M-Sport suspension was marked. I bought a spacesaver spare with a natty zip up cover and a couple of ratchet straps, plus decent jack and telescopic wheelbrace. OK the spare in the boot was a PITA on occasion but (possibly irrationally) I felt happier with it there.

 

[vijilants]

I've recently bought a BWM X3 (ducks & runs for cover) fitted with run flat Michelins.
Car has 245/45R19 front & 275/40R19 rears, all with around 4mm tread.
So in the near future I will need to replace all 4 tyres.
There is no spare wheel & no spare wheel well, there is no space under the car for an underslung spare as the exhaust back box is in the way.

So, at the moment I'm weighing up the options:-
4 new run flats. Expensive & if punctured presumably they are non repairable.
4 new standard tyres together with puncture repair slime & a small compressor. Are tyres which have been slime repaired then non repairable?
4 new standard tyres together with a jack, spanner & a skinny spare which could be stored in the boot.

Opinions invited...................................

I would and do go with option 4. I did the same with my C43....purchased a skinny and a jack.

I had runflats but they were awful and made the ride on my car way too firm, so I replaced all four for non runflats.

I just don't lke the idea of being stuck somewhere just for the sake of a puncture. It takes minutes to replace the wheel. It would take forever to have the tyre replaced / repaired in such a situation.

Punctures may be a rare thing, however they do happen, and the day you get unluky, no spare and your journey is ruined.

You are then either taken home on a transporter, to a tyre shop or a mobile tyre fitter comes to you. Those sizes they will not be in stock and if you want to stick with the same brand, again a potential issue if you are taken at the time to a tyre shop.

If by some miracle they can obtain the same make and size, you will have to again hope that they arrive very quickly to proceed with your journey (which they won't) and you will also be held to randsome on the price.

 

[Deleted member 159894]

I hate runflats, however, you don't always need to buy new if punctured.

It depends on whether you drove on them when flat, I had several repaired on previous cars where the tyres deflated overnight and were not driven on.

 

[jc651]

I work in the tyre trade...... It's our policy not to repair run flat tyres because you can not really tell if the sidewall is damaged because they only last on average 50 miles when driven on flat and your average driver won't realise there is a problem or take no notice of the run flat indicator. Also something to keep in mind is that if your vehicle come with run flat tyres from New and you change to standard tyres it can void your insurance as it's classed as a modification so always ask your insurance company first otherwise when it hits the fan you might find yourself in the smelly stuff.........

 

[Piff]

It really is worth doing a sanity check of what you require from the car and what is valuable to you. if it is better ride quality, then a standard tyre normally improves on that of a run flat.
For the Le Mans 24 hr race we were always faced with the question of what (if any) spares and tools should be carried on board for the race as only the driver is allowed to work on the car outside the pit road.
It is worth doing the audit for your own situation and use.
I decided that lugging an additional 30kgs around (that's 1/2 a person!) over 1/3 a million miles was neither cost effective or sensible for my my particular circumstances.

At the moment car is hardly used at all . Bought just before christmas and haven't used a tank of fuel yet.
Once Covid is over it will most likely be used for local shopping (up to 20 mile round trip) say twice a week. Occasional weekend visits to the coast or similar (up to 50 mile round trip). Uk weeks/weekend trips away (anything between 150 mile and 1000 mile round trips)
We have in recent years done the Grand Tour of Italy - 3000+ mile trip, North Coast 500 - 1500+ mile trip.

Ride quality is not an issue. But the risk on a longer trip of a puncture then a range on a run flat of 50 miles could be an issue.

 

[rf065]

I work in the tyre trade...... It's our policy not to repair run flat tyres

It might be your policy but it's not illegal and plenty of tyre places will fix them. The ones that don't are generally the usual suspects who always tell you that your puncture cannot be repaired just to sell you a new tyre.