Tyres -- again!

E

eurgain

Member
 North-East Wales
OK, so the consensus seems to be that the run-flats are bad, and should be changed. My car's manual makes explicit that if you have run-flat tyres, it is OK to change to non-run-flat tyres. So-far-so-good!

My question is: if I do change to conventional tyres, what the hell do I do if I have a puncture?

I got my driver's licence in 1982, and since then I have carried around spare tyres, but have never once used one! Since the Z4 does not have any spare, does one just drive on the assumption that one is not going to have a puncture? If so, why bother with the run-flat stuff at all?

A
 
You can carry a foam repair kit that fills the tyre with sealer. You'll need a pump to reinflate the tyre afterwards obviously. I take my chances and don't carry anything. Statistically every individual is likely to have a puncture every 83000 miles. I've exceeded this figure dramaticaly with nothing more than a slow puncture but when my turn comes for a big blowout I'll make a phonecall!
 
While I carry a repair kit including a compressor the 2 incidents that I have had since 2003 have not required me to do anything more that to add air using my compressor until I could make the proper repair with a plug. In other words a slow leak seems the most likely problem.
 
edderby said:
You could buy a BMW E46 17" space saver spare wheel & tyre and a BMW E46 jack (goes really low and fits into the jack slot on your Z4 sill) from EBay for about £100 total (as I did). Oh, and a wheel bolt wrench (an old one from the back of your garage or a new one from an accesory shop for less than £5).
Still plenty of luggage space and no more puncture worries!
Click to expand...

A drawback with that strategy makes itself known if you actually have to change a tire in the middle of an extended trip. Where do you put the larger wheel with dirty blown tire as you're finding somewhere to get it repaired? Either luggage from the trunk must sit in your passenger's lap, or the wheel does.

:sos:
 
my plan is to upgrade to 18ins with normal tires and keep the RFT's for the long trips. If i get a flat around town with the regular tires i will just call the wife and tell her to bring me one of my runflats and i will throw the blown one in the truck when she comes!
 
edderby said:
adama222 said:
edderby said:
You could buy a BMW E46 17" space saver spare wheel & tyre and a BMW E46 jack (goes really low and fits into the jack slot on your Z4 sill) from EBay for about £100 total (as I did). Oh, and a wheel bolt wrench (an old one from the back of your garage or a new one from an accesory shop for less than £5).
Still plenty of luggage space and no more puncture worries!
Click to expand...

A drawback with that strategy makes itself known if you actually have to change a tire in the middle of an extended trip. Where do you put the larger wheel with dirty blown tire as you're finding somewhere to get it repaired? Either luggage from the trunk must sit in your passenger's lap, or the wheel does.

:sos:
Click to expand...
This is no worse than on so many other sports cars with space savers. I don't know about you, but I spend about 5% of my driving with any luggage at all, and <1% with the trunk full.
Click to expand...

Yup. I had a space saver spare with my old Honda S2k and even took it along on road trips when I was otherwise packed to the gills but if I ever really had a flat there was no way to carry the flattened tire somewhere to get it fixed. I dumped the RFTs for a set of Pilot Sport PS2s after about one month of getting the car and would never even dream of looking back.

I do carry a repair kit, a can of fix-a-flat, a small compressor and far more important a AAA Plus card so I can call for help. At the same time I also recognize that the number of miles we typically drive between flats these days (assuming you aren't driving on bald tires) is quite amazing and I would rather take my chances and enjoy the ride in between instead of compromising it all for the sake of the occasional flat.
 
Thanks to all! Very informative indeed, and I think I can see my way clear.

I think I will go down the spacesaver route. Yes, I know that there is the problem of WTF to do with the non-space-saver flat. I have had space-savers in the past (never used) but my plan always was to use the space saver to drive where I really need to go, and simply hide the flat tyre and wheel behind a bush somewhere and pick it up later. (This is almost always possible outside of a town, and I rarely drive in towns.)

My runflats are all wearing out all at once. Within about 4k miles, I will have to replace all four, so I have a completely free choice. So, fire-n-ice, I don't think you will want what I have left over (unless you like BALD run-flat tyres).

All the best
A
 
If you are looking to buy a complete non run flat set,, I just bought all four 18" Falken 452 from here http://www.camskilltyres.co.uk/ £314 for the whole set,, they are very good on other makes too, well worth a look.
 
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