"Flat" Tire :-(

[ay8306]

I got a tire pressure warning light this evening. I pulled over and checked the pressure as soon as I could and found my left rear down to 20 psi. I ran my hand around the tire and found a small nail in the tread groove :-(

I am hoping that it can be plugged or patched. I really dont want to get into replacing a tire right now.

 

[ovrkll]

Regular tires or RFT's? Most tire places will not plug an RFT, something about safety regulations. :idunno:

 

[flyboyaj]

Sorry to hear that. Life throws you curveballs sometimes I suppose :?

 

[ay8306]

Regular tires or RFT's? Most tire places will not plug an RFT, something about safety regulations. :idunno:

RFTs. I have heard mixed reports on repairing RFTs ... I will need to make a few phone calls in the morning.

 

[fire-n-ice]

..yep, hit or miss w/the rft's..for being such POS's they sure as hell are expensive to replace and not many out there willing to plug them..let us know

 

[BlackSapphireZ]

plug them it's like any other tire in the center

i've done it several times on the Z ...now running on regular tire my luck could run out any day now lol

 

[Zeefour]

Same here, had my left rear tire patched from the inside twice, before switching over to non RFTs

 

[WLH]

I repaired the RF tires 2 times on my 2003 Zed with this and it works good and lasted the life of the tire...

Chicky

 

[fire-n-ice]

I repaired the RF tires 2 times on my 2003 Zed with this and it works good and lasted the life of the tire...

Chicky

That's pretty cool WLH...40 bucks..how much is it to plug an RFT anyway?

 

[WLH]

I repaired the RF tires 2 times on my 2003 Zed with this and it works good and lasted the life of the tire...

Chicky

That's pretty cool WLH...40 bucks..how much is it to plug an RFT anyway?

I doubt that it would cost $40 if you can find someone to do it. I carry this kit in my Zed along with a compressor and it will make quick work of a puncture once located.

 

[ay8306]

Just picked up my tire from a local shop. They put an inside patch on the tire for $26.00 (including rebalancing). Hell of a lot cheaper than replacing the tire!

 

[ay8306]

I carry this kit in my Zed along with a compressor and it will make quick work of a puncture once located.

That's a great idea. When I wear down the RFTs I may just do the same. Do you cary a jack of some sort as well? Depending on where the punture is, I could imagine it would be difficult to access it with the gun.

 

[WLH]

I carry this kit in my Zed along with a compressor and it will make quick work of a puncture once located.

That's a great idea. When I wear down the RFTs I may just do the same. Do you cary a jack of some sort as well? Depending on where the punture is, I could imagine it would be difficult to access it with the gun.

I carry one of these from LeatherZ...
http://leatherz.com/Merchant2/merch...Code=01&Product_Code=ToolKit&Category_Code=Z4

 

[ay8306]

Cool. I like your approach to the non-RFT zedding

 

[Thork]

Sorry to hear that, I’m in a similar situation, my tires are around half life and I got a nail on my front r/h, luckily enough the same nail acted as a plug, stopping the leak (as least for now), so instead going thru the aggravation of trying to find a place to get it fix (my local firestone dealer don’t even want to try) I decided to go for a new set of regular tires and get ride of those POS runflats for good. I will be installing the Rinken Raptors any time next week.

 

[ay8306]

Well the saga continues ... the patched tire is not holding pressure. I suppose I could bring it back to where I had the patch done, but at this point I have no confidence that they really know how to deal with the RFT. Unfortunately, I think I am better off just replacing the tire. Not what I wanted to spend money on right now :-(

The one consolation is that the weather is turning nasty here in Connecticut, so I wouldn't be driving the Z4 much anyway.

 

[Thork]

Try tirerack If you are not in a hurry, they have the runflat potenzas cheaper than any dealer. Good luck

 

[ay8306]

Yeah, Tirerack has good prices. But for just one tire, I am not certain that it will be worth the hassle to pay for shipping and find a place to mount the tire. I will make some calls on Monday morning and find out what the going rate is. There happens to be a Bridgestone dealer a short way down from my office, so I will probably just start there.

 

[Anonymous]

The problem with patching RFT's is liability. Most large stores do not want to take the customer's word that he hasn't been driving on the RFT for more than a mile or two. Too much driving with zero pressure causes degradation of the sidewall, and the tire could fail at high speed in the future. BMW doesn't recommend repairs for this reason.

 

[baugelli]

I repaired the RF tires 2 times on my 2003 Zed with this and it works good and lasted the life of the tire...

Hmm. I might have to get one of these. Looks to be nice and convenient to have on hand and no messy slime to deal with either. I just pulled a nail out of my driver's side rear RFT (two weeks old and only 600 miles on the tires). Luckily the local shop was able to patch/plug it and rebalance it for me. There's a lot to be said about finding a good, reliable (and honest) family-owned auto shop. So long as it holds we're in business!