Run Flat tyre puncture repair scandal.

[Nat]

Hi,

I thought I would post as the issue has really irritated me.

I know RFT/NON rft topic has been well discussed. However if you have RFT you need to be aware of this ............
So not 2 weeks ago I had 4 new Dunlop RFT tyres at great expense. Yesterday the Mrs got a puncture. We have a nice fat nail  right in the middle of the rear tyre. Thats a £300 tyre.
Not a problem, or at least thats what I thought. She was 1 mile from home. Drive it home and I will get the tyre fixed. Turns out NO ONE and I mean NO ONE will do a puncture repair on a RFT . WTF ??
Everyone has said that they don't want to repair as they don't know if the tyre is damaged. What do you mean damaged I said ? Well we can't tell if the sidewall has any damage. I said take it off the rim and look at it then. They all said they won't do that. I said a RFT is much stronger than a normal tyre and you repair those .
I said the tyre was driven on for 1 mile and was not fully deflated so no damage. Sorry we wont repair, in case the tyre fails and you sue us. What about a normal tyre. Well sir , we don't really like doing those either seems to be the story. Listen mate ,  Dunlop themselves say it is perfectly acceptable to repair a puncture on one of their RFT and you are one of their main/preferred dealers/fitters.............Sorry , we won't do it. Company policy. Thanks for your help. He did offer to sell me a new tyre for £350.............!! Thieving you know what.
I don't mean to swear but what a load of bollocks. Funny enough everyone wants to sell me a new tyre.
And thats the key isn't it. Manufacturers put " only approved tyres " in their handbooks and if you don't use them it invalidates every warranty. That's a scam in itself , to buy certain tyres/ profiteering.  Now we have the " health and safety " / " liability ".
Do you really want me to believe that I have to scrap a £300 tyre that's brand new because of a puncture ?  Well I wont.
Have ordered a tyre plugging kit off the net for £5.95 and I will plug the tyre myself. Problem solved.

However , if you buy /have RFT tyres be aware that very few if any places will repair a rft tyre. I am in kent and must have called 20 places yesterday, they all told me to go forth................

Thinking of opening up RFT repair centre, there is clearly a gap in the market .

Point of the story.................RFT's will cost you much more than normal tyres if you get a puncture. Imagine if the other tyre on the same axle is half worn . You may have to buy 2 new ones because of the " axle wind/transfer box " paranoia...................it all seems like a scam to me.

Regards,

Nat.

[Denis O]

How close are you to Tenterden. If so, there is a place that will repair it if it's not damaged. You won't know if it's damaged until you take to tyre off the rim. At that point you'll maybe be able to see lots of little black rubber balls. If you drive on run-flats the sidewall starts to de-laminate and ends up with the small rubber balls and the tyre is knackered.

1 mile shouldn't be enough to cause this so you should be OK. I drove about 8 miles on a RFT shod Z4 and the tyre was toast.

[sid10]

BMW are now able repair runflats , I was in a dealer last year when one of the tyre fitters I know came in and talked to the guy on service , he had just repaired a runflat that was only supposed to be repaired twice again it was on the forecourt for sale !
Amazing when you think you are unable to repair them but they can sell you a car with 3 puncture repairs in one tyre . We have lots of tyre places up here most do repairs although the main concern is internal tyre wall damage which hopefully yours won't have suffered .
I am surprised they didn't offer you tyre insurance if you got them from BMW as sometimes it is worth its weight in gold .

[pcdee]

We have a place in Canterbury, Kent that repair them as long as the punctures in the middle for a tenner!
I've had mine done several times over the years without any issues

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

[moggyboy]

I've had run flats repaired on two different cars and the only criteria the tyre bloke was worried about was where the damage was.
If it was between the treads, i.e. where the plug won't be in contact with the road then fine but if it was through the high point of the tread or of course the sidewall then no.
Seems logical.
Anyway on both occasions tyres went on happily for many more miles.

[Nat]

Hi,

I agree the tyre is repairable and it was never " out of air " so I am certain no damage at all.

I am in Sevenoaks and I have called dealers as far north as Orpington  and as far south as Tunbridge wells..............every one refuses to fix it.
I even called the BMW dealer I got the car from who are in Maidstone, they said sorry sir , RFT can't be repaired. I said , well thats odd as Dunlop who made the tyre said they can . So where do we go from here. ?
They refused.
I also asked would switching from RFT to non RFT tyres affects the warranty. They said .....well we wouldn't advise it. I said , I am not asking for your advice, I want a definitive YES/NO , will you honour BMW warranty if the car has NON RFT's fitted when it was supplied with RFT tyres.? They said we can't answer that, you have to call BMW warranty and ask them .
Thats the risk..............you fit normal tyres because you are pissed off , then BMW refuses any warranty claims.............its catch 22.

Anyway , I'm still hunting for someone near me who will repair a rft tyre .

I have bought myself a tyre plugging kit and a couple of cans of slime.............won't get caught out again by this again.

Regards,

Nat.

[X5Sport]

Had my Dunlop repaired with no issue either.  The only challenge the tyre fitter said they faced was getting the tyres off, and back on, to the rim.

There are plenty of places that will fix RFTs with no problem, but also plenty of places that won't because they don't think they should or don't have the right kit because they don't see enough of them.

[moggyboy]

Well good luck Nat with finding a repairer or doing it yourself.

[MarkG_M3CP]

Etyres will come to you and repair run flats for £25 if not damaged by driving on them.

Run flats can only be repaired once however, constant fitting/refitting can weaken the side wall.

[Abbot26]

eBay is full of repaired RFT tyres, I reckon it's just a scam, you got to a tyre place, they say sorry sir we can't repair that, you buy a new one, they repair your tyre and sell it for £120 plus, rip-off and it stinks !!

[Alan Gunn]

I had the same thing in one on my 320d and same problem.
Got the ebay plug kit and the tyre is still holding after nearly 2 years now.