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[n1lul]

Last weekend I was diving on I-66 outside of D.C when I hit a Major pothole and immeditly got the right front low pressure warning.

Still have RFTs on the car, so I check the streering and it seems ok. I moved to the slow lane and kept going to the next exit and to a parking lot. I take a look and see the side wall split. Dang! I pushed the SOS button and had a very good talk with the person on the other end. She was very concerned about my safety and gave me a some options. I decided to try to make it to the dealer which was about 50 miles away and drop the car off.

I picked up my family and headed to Annapolis, after about 20 miles we heard the tire starting to come apart so once again I made it to a open well lit parking lot and called SOS again. A tow was arranged and I called my daughter to come get us. A hour later the truck shows up and away my 335 goes to dealer.

I did get the tire warrantee so everything was covered, including the new wheel (It was a BIG pothole).

I am happy with the service I got from the SOS folks and BMW roadside assistance. I am pretty sure that I will keep that service.

I was going to replace the RFTs with non-RFT this fall, though I have had no problems with my Conti's, but now I am not so sure. They safely got me off the interstate and about halfway home. The sidewall damage was to severe for them to make it the full distance. If I had a non-RFTs and a spare, I could have changed it along side the road, not fun and then gone on my way. Goop and compressor would not have worked since the damage was too much. The 335 trunk is not the big in the first place, a spare would take up a huge percentage of that space.

The new generation of RFT are supposed to be much better than the current generation and with the type of driving we do I really do not need a Ultra High Performance Tire. The plan now is to put winter run flats on the 17" wheels on the car now, and summer RFT on a set of 18" wheels next spring.

Sorry to ramble.

[krhodes1]

With non-RFTs this would likely have been a non-event. If the pothole had been bad enough, you might have still bent the wheel, but you would not have damaged the tire to the point of not being able to drive on it. And you would have likely had a spare tire to put on, rather than waiting for a tow and a ride.

RFTs are a fine idea in Germany where the roads are smooth as a baby's bottom and dealers are practically on every street corner, but here in the pothole-filled wide open spaces of the US? Not so much. I see the engineering reasons why BMW likes them so much, but they should be an option, with space in the car for a spare.

[wuchao1]

the thing i like the most is them SOS service ppl's first question after picking up the phone is to assk if you r in a safe area. Love it!

[zzzbullseye]

Originally Posted by krhodes1

With non-RFTs this would likely have been a non-event. If the pothole had been bad enough, you might have still bent the wheel, but you would not have damaged the tire to the point of not being able to drive on it.

I'm not sure I agree with this assessment...there's no doubt that the sidewall on an RFT is stiffer and more unforgiving, but due to this beefiness, it should be able to sustain a larger impact and maintain sidewall integrity over a non-RFT. I think given the scenario described, a non-RFT would have sustained at least as much damage if not more - the wheel however, may have sustained less due to the more forgiving nature of non-RFTs.

For what it's worth, I just recently swapped out my 19" RFTs for a set of Yokohama AD08s and am very pleased with both the performance and ride quality improvements. I'm carrying a spacesaver spare tire setup from Bimmerzone in the trunk (see pic below), and while it definitely chews up some space, the penalty is not severe in my opinion. It would be nice if there was an option offered by BMW for non-RFTs and a traditional spare setup, but I don't look for that to happen...

[captainaudio]

I replaced the RFTs the second week I had the car in NYC and have still had issues with damaged tires and rims.

Last year I had a split sidewall on a non-rft and the car was not driveable. I called AAA and they were willing to tow the car to the nearest AAA garage which was about 30 miles from my home. BMW assist would tow me to the dealer in Manhattan which was an easy bus ride from my home. I opted from BMW assist but at least over the phone the dealer gave me a very hard time about installing the same tires (Pirelli P_Zero Nero that I had on the car even though it was not a warranty issue and I would be paying for the tire and the installation.

I eventually gave the tow truck driver $30 and he towed me to his garage in Manhattan where they were willing to install Pirelli non-RFTs. Once the car was on the lift it was revealed that the other rear tire had a bubble in the sidewall and I also needed to be replaced. The car was in the shop for 4 days while they ordered the tires and waited for delivery.

FWIW the new 5 Series seems to have worse RFT issues than the 3 Series.

CA
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[tunachris]

I juist got back from a 3,500 road trip in my E92. I ditched the RFT's for Michelin Pilot Sport non-run-flats. I got a Tischer spare kit, jack, and wrench. After the long haul to Yellowstone and Glacier Nat. parks I was very happy to have the new tires due to the ride comfort.

The first day out I drove from SoCal to Provo Utah with my son. 675 miles all told, and it was nice not to have to deal with the harsh ride of the run-flats. My car is pretty well "slammed" with KW coil overs and I had no issues with bottoming out. On the ride back I had all 3 of my kids with me, and could hardly close the trunk with all the gear in it. Still had no issues thanks to the non-run-flats.