I understand that the tires have a short life. The Bmer dealer said that the tires cannot be changed to conventional tires - ever - the local tire dealer said that they can. Has anyone changed the RFT to conventional tires? Does it effect performance/handling/safety. The cost of the RFT are outrageous and the life expectancy is only about 25K miles.
2007-07-27 08:30:31 · 8 answers · asked by clyde 3 in Cars & Transportation ➔ Car Makes ➔ BMW
1) Yes, you can replace the run-flats with traditional tires.
2) Dealer and BMW tend to tell you otherwise due to possible liability issues (run-flat tires ARE safer because there are no blow-outs)
3) You did not say if the car has the Sport Package or not, however, the 3-series with the Sport Package tends to wear out the tires from 15-25k miles, depending on the roads you drive and how you drive. The rear tires go first, due to the aggressive camber angle that allows the car to handle so well. Even if you do replace the tires, they will still wear quickly, if perhaps a little less so. That is the price of performance. If the car is without the Sport package, you should experience noticeably longer tire wear.
4) Be SURE to use a top-notch tire shop, as the wheels are of a special design and have a bead inside that fits to the run-flat tire and can be damaged by those who are not trained.
5) Buy a can of Fix-a-flat
6) If you buy comparable traditional tires with similar performance rating and design, they tend to make the ride of the car a little more comfortable, a lot less noisy, and should be able to improve performance and road feel. Your only trade-off is less safety as mentioned above, and having to pull over to the side of the road if you get a flat.
6) Enjoy the new tires!
2007-07-27 19:13:19 · answer #1 · answered by Eurocarguy 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
My cousin does alignments on BMW's, Audi's and Porsche's - every time I see him, he's replacing a RFT.
People want the prestige and safety of a BMW but do not want to shell out ridiculous amounts of money on replacing up to 4 tires every 25K miles. The other poster's idea of tire insurance is pretty good - that probably comes with the BMW warranty. So many components like ABS, traction control, et al depend on having the RFT's at every wheel. Also, people don't like being stranded and a RFT allows someone to drive home or to a repair shop at a low rate of speed.
Frankly, if one doesn't want RFT's, find a BMW package that doesn't have them at all.
2007-07-28 07:38:38 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
In the owners manual of a 3 series it clearly states you should never replace your tires with anything other than run flat tires. In fact there is a big fat warning about not doing it.
If you do it you could be voiding parts of your warranty and compromising your safety.
On my 2007 BMW, I purchased insurance on my tires that costs $27 per year. If my tire gets destroyed by a nail or some other debris on the road, they give me a new tire.
Sure, I'll probably have to replace the tires on my car at some point before I trade it back in, but equally BMW has no maintenance costs, so while I may spend a lot on tires, I am not going to pay maintenance costs, like I would on similar performance vehicles. Let's not forget that similar performance vehicles will also need expensive tires fairly often. The higher the performance, the softer the rubber compound and the more often you are going to have to replace the tires.
2007-07-28 00:44:25 · answer #3 · answered by ZCT 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
We have a 2005 530i that came with the run-flat tires. They were very problematic and they either lost pressure or blew out . This happpened twice before we decided to get regualar tires and they were a lot cheaper and we havent had any problems since and I feel that the car runs smoother. Sometimes BMW says that you cant change the tires but they just want your money for the expensive run-flats. I would trust the tire guys and you can also patch up a run-flat tire if anything happens that is a minor damage. BMW said that we need new ones but the people at Midas said that there is no problem patching it up. I hope this helps. The run-flats are nothing special and they are very problematic so I would suggest regular tires. You will probably not even have a flat while driving your car.
2007-07-28 07:25:24 · answer #4 · answered by Daniel G 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's not the RFT feature that gives it a short life, it's the tire compound. You can put whatever tires you want on the car as long as they fit, but remember, there is no spare, no jack, and no lug wrench. If you get a flat, you have to call for a tow.
Since i don't buy my bmw's, i get a demo, i don't have to change tires do to wear, only punctures. I did have to replace the 16" and it was a hell of a lot more than my A/T truck tires, but i did like them when i got a flat.
2007-07-27 13:27:24 · answer #5 · answered by jay 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They may be saying this to justify not having a spare and jack in the car.
How can you not be able to take any tire off and substitute another tire? Well there is no reason you cannot except that you dont have a jack and spare in the car to help you when you get a flat with a non run flat.
pretty silly but they get huge profits by not putting the spare and jack or needing to have that room.
2007-07-27 08:41:39 · answer #6 · answered by Father Ted 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
. They can be replaced with non run flats and you can get many performance tires that will handle and ride better, and may last longer, if not too soft a compound.Go to a good tire shop and inquire about replacements. you might be able to trade in the run flats and walk away with free tires.
2007-07-27 09:42:58 · answer #7 · answered by redd headd 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i have high preformnce low profile tires on my m6 no problems there some what expensive and yes about 25k
2007-07-27 18:07:11 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋