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[STC]

I have OEM 162 style wheels w/ OEM Runflats on my car. I noticed this lil bump on the sidewall of the front passenger side wheel.

What is it? Is it safe to drive on it? Could the wheel be bent? The tires have about 12k on them.

[NiVeDh]

Bubble. Replace the tire.

[Gimmethecash]

The dreaded sidewall bubble. As NiVeDh said, replacement time.

[mid-corner fun]

1. Replace tire
2. Search here for tire insurance. You'll realize why once you see the replacement cost for an RFT.

[Lulz_M3]

You had a pretty nasty impact at one point in time which caused a tear on the inside of the tire. Now the air inside the tire is seeping into the tear, and creating a pocket inbetween the layers of rubber and creating the "lump" you see there. Your tire is in risk of blowing out, get it replaced ASAP.

[hipnotic]

this always happens to all of us. You need to replace the whole tire. No damage to your rim you either hit a pothole or hit something quite hard to get that. Now time for non rft

[STC]

Ok thx guys. Sucks

[STC]

Do you guys think I should replace the fronts with non rft or should I replace all 4?

What is a good replacement non rft that is reasonably priced? Thx guys!

[driverman]

If you go RFT -> non-RFT on the fronts, you should do all four at the same time.

With 12K miles on the car, the rears are probably mostly gone anyhow. So it's probably time to buy a whole set.

[Lulz_M3]

Originally Posted by driverman

If you go RFT -> non-RFT on the fronts, you should do all four at the same time.

With 12K miles on the car, the rears are probably mostly gone anyhow. So it's probably time to buy a whole set.

Agree with this^ IF the rears are worn, if not just replace both fronts. No issues with non run flat on the front and run flat on the rear. You just don't want to mix and match on the same axle.

[STC]

Ok thx, sorry for the dumb question, but will the sensors work the same with non rft too?

[Lulz_M3]

Originally Posted by STC

Ok thx, sorry for the dumb question, but will the sensors work the same with non rft too?

Yep, the tire doesn't affect the sensor at all.

[Three_thirty_I]

Yep, pretty much what everyone has said, replace the tyre with exactly the same brand/size and type etc. At least it's not on the rear axle, so the difference in tread wear from left to right shouldn't really be a problem, not ideal and would bother me (in fact I am now in this same predicament with the used set of wheels fitted today). And as much as I wanted to get these same 18" wheels, this is kind of why I haven't yet - we have lots of potholes and not the best roads here, so becomes too much of a risk...

[STC]

Ok time to do some homework on some front tires. Thx guys!!!

[chromisdesigns]

That's the "dump that junk!" warning...the runflats are well known for sidewall bubbles.

[STC]

What tires do you guys recommend for non rft? Something not too expensive either. thx!

[tscdennab]

If you don't like the stiff ride, replace all four tires with non-RFT and sell your remaining good RFT tires. For non-expensive summer tires, I would recommend Hankook Ventus V12. For non-expensive all-seasons, I would recommend Continental DWS.

[Gary@TireRack]

Given you're not in a snow area you can use summer tires like the Hankook V12 EVO or Continental Extreme Contact DW. If you do head up into snow country sometimes, stick with an all season like the Yokohama Avid Envigor or Continental DWS.

Tires http://www.tirerack.com/a.jsp?a=AH8&...ires/index.jsp

[vasillalov]

If you are going with Non-RFT tires, I recommend finding the stiffest possible tire you can. The suspension on these cars is made to work with the stiff sidewalls on the RFTs. By switching to non-RFT tires you'll be changing how the car behaves in corners. In my case, I ended up getting more understeer with my Pirelli's.

[STC]

Ending up finding a brand new Bridgestone rft on craigslist for $120. Bought it and will have it mounted in a couple days when I have time.

[STC]

[Three_thirty_I]

I must say, I am pretty impressed with these Bridgestones - I bought my car almost two years ago and they had Continental RFT's fitted. Plus they were 17" 225 narrows all around - car suffered from tramlining and general stability issues from day 1! Briefly had Hankook S1 EVO RFT's on the front and the car was a dream to drive, but not BMW Approved tyres. Now have 17" narrow/wides with used Birdgestone RFT's - what a difference! Was expecting worse handling and characteristics simply due to the fact that they were used tyres with less than have their tread left.