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My runflat experience

Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2016 9:36 pm
by Pinewood
I always figured on replacing my 19" runflats when they wore out, now i'm not so sure. 
Left Warrington at 3.30 and the X3 told me about the rear right having an issue within 3 miles of joining the M6 (southbound to London). I drove at 50mph for another few miles and stopped on a very wide off ramp that had a section coned off. 
Checked the tyre and could see a big nail in the middle. Used my compressor to pump it up, but could hear the air coming out.
Phoned the concierge service who sent me the cordinates of the nearest BMW dealer (Crewe) and i asked the sat nav to take me there. 
Rang them whilst driving.... 
Sorry sir we don't have a 275/40r19 runflat in stock. (great, now what)
Can you repair it as i need to drive 100 miles to Nuneaton. NO sir, we don't patch runflats
Can you tell me if there is a national/kwik fit etc nearby? Yes a 1/4 from our location
Visited both tyres centres (time now 5pm), to be told, sorry we can't patch a runflat, but a cheapo tyre place is nearby and he might do it.... 
It was getting dark by this point and i was standing in a strange town,  as luck would have it backstreet guy says yes i will patch it for £15.  Kept the nail (4 inch buggar)  as a momento and inspected the inside of the tyre once off the wheel.  (Minimal damage to sidewalls having driven on it for 18 miles flat)
Drove to my inlaws at a steady 60-70mph and will replace the tyre in the coming days.
Summary: the tyre did what it promised and got me to a garage, and in this case home. A normal tyre would have meant my journey was terminated. So now i will stick with runflats as they proved there worth.

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Re: My runflat experience

Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2016 3:53 pm
by X5Sport
It really annoys me that so many places just won't fix them - because the manufacturer says not as it sells more! - but you go off to a small tyre fitter who fixes them with no problem.  It happened on my X6 5 years ago.  The repaired tyre lasted until it wore out last year. 

Re: My runflat experience

Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2016 6:15 pm
by Pinewood
That's good to hear. I keep checking the status of the tyres since and it's not lost even 0.1 psi. Now i think i will keep the tyre until such time it wears out or god forbid i get another p*****re.
The other thing i'm now looking for is a set of winter (17") wheels, which will have non run flat tyres, with 1 being taken along as a spare on long journeys.