[Statler]

Well it finally happened, got a puncture in a runflat 19" tyre. I got the pressure warning on the dash on Wednesday afternoon but managed to drive carefully home. I've very impressed that the car really didn't appear to drive any differently to normal but I kept it below 50 just to be safe.

Checked the pressures and discovered it was the rear passenger tyre. It's not obvious which one is flat from the sidewall.

No problem I thought, I'll just stick those winters on since they've been sitting in the garage and the temperature in NI has finally fallen below zero.

Worked my way round from front passenger. The inner edge on the blown tyre wore through to the canvas and ripped. Lucky to get home without it properly shredding I suppose. Anyway got to the front drivers wheel, last one, hooray, not easy to do this in the dark!

Do you think I could shift the studs, not on your life. In the end I managed to strip the locking wheel nut key and the splines on the stud, so here I am in a pickle, three 17" wheels and one 19".
Bloody nightmare - after I stripped the locking stud, I checked the studs with my torque wrench and nearly broke it, off the scale.

What to do? I know, phone BMW 24 hour assistance, they'll send a man who knows how to fix this... but no, he doesn't and he won't get to my home until after 9am tomorrow... bollox.

Make the decision to drive 20 mile to the dealer and proceed with care, car feels ok, no pull on steering or other glitches and get there in one piece.

Dealer turns out to be brilliant and at 5:30 yesterday I've 4 17" winters on the car with an undamaged 19" in the boot.

Technical bit : make sure you can loosen off your studs before you actually need to or you, like me may be stranded...

Now gives me some time to find decent non-runflat 19" tyres because they are all basically scrap now. Rears are just on the lower limit and with 19K miles on them I don't think they did too badly.

Also bought a green slime goo kit off ebay for the boot just in case.

Car drives like a different model, crash bang wallop has been replaced by smooth progress. I may actually enjoy driving with these wheels on despite them looking a bit puny :-)

Anyway, here's a pic



Also had this attached to my key when I left the Dealer... shameless publicity!



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