I have a 2010 mini convertible which I bought new just one year ago. I had to replace all four tires already. Is this normal wear for the run flat? I only have 14000 miles on my car and I sure do not want to spend $1000 every 14-20 k miles for new tires. Do others experience this also? Or was I taken advantage of? I would hate to think that, I trust the mini service people.

 

Without rotation run flats can be gone in 14,000 miles. The construction that allows run flat makes the tire very hard and cause the tire to wear out sooner than normal tire.
This is one of the reasons to switch to non-run flats.

If you want to keep the run flats make sure to rotate at least every 5,000 miles to get the best life.

Also, not knowing your MINI SA's I would say you picked about the worst way to get tires.
MINI dealers will be much more costly for tires vs. Tire Rack (sponsor) and other retailers who specialize in only tires.

 

Live and learn I guess. I should have known better, this was the same dealer who acted liked I was too dumb to buy a mini cooper- after all how could a woman buy a car on her own!

Thanks for the suggestion about the tire rotation, I will definitely do that.

 

That's about right :( My factory runflats only lasted about 14K miles and I did rotate them every 5K. I switched to non-RFTs, as I really couldn't see getting new tires every year

 

Also, unless you intend to participate in 'spirited' driving, challenging the curves, don't buy performance tires. They are not designed for maximum milage. A good set of all season tires will give you the best distance performance with regular rotation.

 

But if you are paying $1000 for a set of tires, you need a new tire store.

You can find very good tires from someplace like Tire Rack and have them mounted almost anywhere. You will spend about half of that amount, or less.

 

The run flats are incredibly expensive compared to regular, non run flat tires. I dumped the run flats but have to run without a spare in my MCS convertible. I carry a compressor, sealant slime, and a plug kit. The car rides and handles better and is quieter without the run flats.

 

I experienced the same thing in my 2010 MCS. Didn't think I'd have to tell the dealer to rotate them at the 6 month oil change I like to do, guess I was wrong. The front set only made it about 8 months. I put on a Hotchkis 19mm rear sawy bar, and the rear set that got rotated to the front has lasted over a year. So that's one way to save your front tires as well.
My new Continental Extreme Contact DW's from Tire Rack just arrived, so I'll get to see how the handling changes with non-RFs.
Even at Tire Rack the OEM Conti RFs are still 1000 bucks. Just get non RFs.

 

I got 17000 out of my OEM Continental All Season runflats (195/55-16). I did not rotate them per advice from my dealer. There was still some life in the rear tires and, in retrospect, if I had rotated I probably would have gotten 25K miles out of the set.

My second set were BF Goodrich g-Force All Season non-runflats (205/50-16). I got 35K miles out of them and regularly rotated them from front to back same side. They were rated at 35K mile wear. So I got as advertized. They were good tires for my driving needs. Never had a flat and they weared well. Slightly more on the inside of the tread than the outside. Also a bit more wear on the right then on the left. Nothing unusual here. Dealer recently told me that the new version is different (better) than when I bought mine.

I just put on a set of non-runflat Yokohama YK580 (205/50-16). Only have about 1K miles on them. They are rated at 60K mile tread wear. Initial impressions are very favorable. Should have more impressions after the AMVIV9 MINI Rally road trips in Las Vegas next week. These have an asymmetric tread design that can, supposedly, be cross rotated. Right now I plan to rotate front to back and cross the back to the front.