Tyre dealers and runflats

[sapphireblack]

Making enquiries today for some all season tyres, focused on Vredestein Quatrac Pro's.

Camskill and Oponeo have rears but no fronts, with no forward production planned apparently?

So i called several high street type tyre sellers, nothing available from them either, but in conversation i was treated twice to the previously heard story that BMWs with runflats have matched suspension and fitting regular tyres invalidates my insurance, the ride would be compromised as now too soft, and BMW don't approve. I'm not aware when searching via real oem for example that any BMW has a check box, even with full on M spec cars to select what tyres are fitted.

Call me a cynic and you'd be right. I do wonder whether this long established edict from BMW is utter BS. I read here of non runflats being used and considered good, my insurers wouldnt invalidate my policy either.

My footnote, which i have mentioned before is that on F15/16 cars BMWs supplied winter tyre is a * Pirelli but its not a runflat. Original summer tyres are runflat of course.

Something basically simple turns into a frustrating and almost anger inducing event.

[StuBeeDoo]

the previously heard story that BMWs with runflats have matched suspension and fitting regular tyres invalidates my insurance, the ride would be compromised as now too soft, and BMW don't approve.

I'm calling BS on that one. If BMW don't approve, how come plenty of *-marked tyres are available in both RFT and non-RFT? If BMW don't give approval for the non-RFT variants they'd soon have their lawyers on the tyre manufacturers cases for mis-representation.

Your example sounds like a typical case of cynical sales patter.

[sid10]

Hi I had the same problem when looking for winter tyres on the wifes F20 1 series , was told by several suppliers that they only sell winter tyres in April to June due to demand , as we have just bought the car 3 months ago I am out of look until next April suppose I will have to leave the car on the front when the weather gets bad . Front tyres available 225/40/18 in winter but not rears 255/35/18 they also cost 2.5 times more as they are an odd size . I eventually found a set of wheels and tyres that had only been lightly used for 250 miles cost a fortune but worth it for safety .
As for the F15/F16 had the same thing last year when I bought my F15 40d , bought in November none available until April , again I had to source some 2nd hand ones for last year and finally got a set again lightly used in the size I wanted in July . Mine are Pirelli snow and ice , runflats and are now on the car , some one paid £1796 for them last year then sold the car .
Unfortunately if the car is still under warranty we have to follow the rules to comply with their warranty , like with the Porsche I had invalidating the warranty for even minor none oem parts was a big mistake as these cars can be very costly to fix even if relatively new . My local BMW dealer is over £190 a hour so everything adds up quite quickly .

[sapphireblack]

I have made some sideways progress.

Had a bit of a chat with Yokohama, very helpful people. They dont have an all season in X5/6 fitment but their V905 blue earth winter is competitively priced and perhaps more importantly both sizes are radius matched at 728mm.

As i already have a set of Pirelli winters, that option isnt any use to me but may be to others?

[sapphireblack]

Contrary to information mid-week i see that Vredesteins all season in X5/6 fitting are suddenly available at two sellers.

Problem now is lockdown, i can probably get the wheels to the refurbers before Thursday but can't collect them for a month, thats assuming they're a business that even operates through lockdown.

Theres no urgency i suppose as i can't go anywhere either, but these tyres are hard to come by this time of year

[sapphireblack]

I spoke to a very helpful guy at Apollo Vredestein during the week regarding the approval certificate they sent me last year.

In summary they have further endorsed the use of their Quatrac Pro in mixed sizes on an X6/E71. The decision now is whether to spend near on a grand immediately and have wheels refurbed and tyres fitted in December.

Subsequently fit them and remove and sell the summer wheels set

[X5Sport]

I talked about this with my Dealer when the X6 was being MOT’d this morning - it passed - but the Service Team absolutely insisted that no ‘*’ or MOE mark on the tyres invalidated my warranty. I really don’t know who to trust or what to believe from the motor trade anymore. Some are fine with use of non-approved tyres, others like Baron’s aren’t and BMW GB are useless as usual.

I can’t get these tyres in the sizes I need. At this rate I might as well sell the 19” rims are give up! Normal tyres no problem, but winter tyres just seem to have vanished now from all manufacturers in the wider 19” 285/45/R19 size.

[sapphireblack]

If the fronts are 255 50 19 then one option is square set tyres on the staggered rims. 255 on a 10" rim is minimum but is also approved.

Problem solved and cheaper and BMW can hardly disapprove.

I think lack of clarity and direction from BMW allows dealers to make it up or simply guess. Ignorance is bliss as the saying goes but ever more i become disenchanted with big dealerships who often talk utter BX because they don't know or worse, think they do. As i already have the last car i will ever own its not a problem to me but is nevertheless frustrating.