This past Sunday I picked up a sheetrock screw embedded in my passenger-side rear runflat tire. When the tire monitor light came on -- flashing and accompanied by a single, quiet, chime -- I was about 1 mile from home (where I'd started from) and when I stopped a mile later at a gas station and inspected my tires I could easily see the screw head protruding about an inch from the sidewall, in the main tread of the tire. I checked the pressure and sure enough it was down to about 15psi...and since it was raining, I could actually see air bubbles coming out around the screw (in the water collected on the tire surface). So, I paid my 75 cents to use the station's "Free Air" pump, raised the pressure back to 32psi and drove home. On a sunday before Memorial day, I knew there was no getting the tire fixed right away.

To make a long story short (for those who just want to know the end of the story), I did get the tire fixed on Monday and pressure seems to be holding just fine. Still, the whole experience -- my first flat with runflats on my MINI -- has led to a series of observations...

1) How come air is free, but they still charge you to run the pump? The only truly "free" air seems to come from gas stations where there's not a pressure gauge to be seen. The ones at most self-serivice stations have working gauges, but charge to use the pump.

2) When I went to remove the wheel from my car (to take the tire to be fixed...no need to put even more wear on the runflat by driving while "flat&quot, I had to go to extraordinary measures to remove the wheel. All 4 bolts came out fine, but the wheel itself was stuck tight on the hub (the brake rotor/thing that the bolts go into). I kicked it REAL hard (not a good idea as it could have knocked the car off the jack!!) repeatedly. Tried to lever it loose with a long board. Eventually sprayed WD40 in the bolt holes, and kicked some more...and THEN it came off. This wheel -- btw -- has only been on about 2 months since I switched from snows (steel wheels). It looked like there was some sort of flakey, white, corrosion/deposit that had frozen the alloy wheel onto the hub. I cleaned this up...but hummmmm....I've never had this problem with alloys before. Why would the MINI's alloy wheel react with the cast iron hub?

3) The tire was eventually patched by the old school good guys at my local filling station. The high school drop outs working at the big tire store refused to touch it stating that they "wouldn't be liable if it blew out" later. My pointing out that the tire was a runflat and wasn't in immediate danger of blowing out was non persuasive. They didn't seem to know what a runflat was. (NTB, btw. Overpriced and under-intelligent if you ask me)

4) The MINI owners manual continues to stink. Try to find the instructions for resetting the tire monitor system...look under "tire" in the index, and NONE of the 16 headings relate to the info that I needed. No...flipping through the pages, I eventually found that the instructions were indexed under "F" for FLAT tire monitor. OMG...did they have 14 year olds write this thing???

5) And then, when I do follow the instructions, I find that there's no mention of what exactly to do when your monitor light is actually on (and flashing). The instructions start from a perspective where the light is NOT actually on and rather the driver is just attempting to "recalibrate" the system. Sorry folks...most of us probably have better things to do than recalibrate the system for the heck of it. I had to follow the sketchy instructions about 3 times until I managed to push the button and turn the key in the proper sequence to get the light to go off. A whole lot more difficult than it should have been.

I will say that I'm glad the runflats and the pressure indicator system did what they were supposed to do. And I'm also glad that I came through the process without having to replace one $200 tire before I replace all 4 tires.

 

Get yourself a good wire brush to take off the corrosion on the wheel to hub interface. If I can remember, every time I have my wheels off I use the wire brush. It will make your future wheel changes easier.

 

I use this stuff when I change over from Winter->Summer->Winter

Only use a teensy-tiny amount right around the center hub of the rotor,
and on the threads of the wheel bolts.

If you are worried about having a bolt loosen, don't apply it to the bolts.

 

Thanks! As long as seizing is an issue, it's good to know that there are several solutions. I still find it rather strange to have a wheel seize, but I guess it happens.

 

I feel compelled to answer your first question although I'm sure you know the answer already: It's not the "air" you're paying for which is, in fact free (so far), but rather, the air pressure, which requires a pump and electricity. Neither of these are free. The business of having to pay for air pressure is a fairly recent development, however, and this is what makes it so irksome.

 

Wheel Seizing... Not a great thing but it's say's that your wheels are "Hubcentric". Hubcentric is a good thing because instead of your wheel bolts taking all the wheel loads the hub and wheel mounting take the loads. That's why it's good to have a snug fit. Good idea to protect the area and prevent corrosion. You will always get corrosion with different metals - dissmiliar metal corrosion.

Also, did you eventually find the button to reset the Tire indicator?

 

>>Wheel Seizing... Not a great thing but it's say's that your wheels are "Hubcentric". Hubcentric is a good thing because instead of your wheel bolts taking all the wheel loads the hub and wheel mounting take the loads. That's why it's good to have a snug fit. Good idea to protect the area and prevent corrosion.
>>
>>

so how do u take hubcentric wheels off without using the "kicking method" used by jsun?

 

I really don't recommend the kicking method. I was just standing in the pouring rain and it's the first thing that came to mind. Note that the WD40 (also probably not a great idea if it got on my rotors) is what actually worked. Kicking can knock your car off the jack, causing possible injury to you and certain injury to your MINI. Plus, you'd feel really, really, stupid.

Instead, see the comments about wire brushes and anti-seize goop. That's what I'll use next time.

Oh yeah, I had no problem finding the reset button on the pressure indicator. It was following the cryptic instructions in the manual that was the problem.

 

For those driving an MCS, do you, or have you thought of, carrying some form a spare wheel/tire with you on longer trips? If so, how do you do it? Donut or full-size? Where do you put it? Do you wrap it up so that the tire dirt doesn't get everywhere? I do a lot of driving in the Western US (AZ, NM, NV) and there's not a whole lot of service stations between PHX and Reno in the desert.

(I'm looking at getting an MCS, but am researching some of the inconveniences relative to my current 325i)

 

I thought it was federal law that filling stations have to provide, free of charge, compressed air and squeegees for windows.

Thanks for the info on your difficulty removing the wheel! I'm going to try to pry one off to see if I can even do it. Better to know now than when I'm out on the shoulder of a dark road somewhere...

 

rktsci, that's a good question, and one that several have asked. I would definitely prefer to use a donut spare than fix-a-flat if it came down to that. But having just recently done a 4 day trip in my MINI, I have to say that it would be a tough decision to take up cargo space even with a donut spare. Packing my MINI (for me and 2 passengers) was like assembling a jigsaw puzzle. I just don't know where I would have found room for the spare. I guess I'd just risk having to use the fix-a-flat (once I get rid of the runflats) in the event of a flat...or if I was in a populated area, just call roadside assistance and hang out.

Maybe for real desert driving, I'd fashion a way to attach a spare to the roof, ala' the zebra striped Land Rover in Doctari (favorite show of my youth).

 

I know some folks have used the method of letting the jack down a little to let the car's mass do some of the work for them in releasing the wheel. Then, if it still doesn't come off, jack back up, rotate wheel, repeat.

this is a bit more controlled/safer than kicking but likely to take longer and more work depending on the jack you're using.

-dq

 

I had to do an emergency change on the side of the road on my wife's car one day.. I ended up having to call my brother in law and have him bring a sledge hammer, because the wheel was so stuck on the hub. I had him brace the car, and we stuck his spare under the car (it was a giant Pathfinder tire/rim) so I didn't get my arm crushed if the car fell.. bad times...

(not really helpfull, i know, but it just brought back memories...)

Rocketboy_X

 

That's funny davequick, I actually tried the up and down on the jack trick but was too embarassed to admit it in the post (for fear of someone really yelling at me for doing something so unsafe) ops: Anyway, it didn't work...

But to my last point, does anyone else have a problem with the owners manual?..or maybe no one else has even tried to read the thing.

 

>> For those driving an MCS, do you, or have you thought of, carrying some form a spare wheel/tire with you on longer trips? If so, how do you do it? Donut or full-size? Where do you put it? Do you wrap it up so that the tire dirt doesn't get everywhere?<<

I don't travel with more than one person, so space is no problem. I carry a full sized spare on any out of town trips, even though I have runflats. I have one I cleaned so it won't spread dirt in the car. I carry it on the folded down back seats (strapped down, of course). I also carry a sheet of plastic for emergencys that I can wrap the replaced tire in.

Not knocking the fix-a-flat school of thought, but that can won't do you a bit of good if you catch something in your tire bigger than a nail or screw. Not only that, but if you run regular tires and have a flat that goes down quickly, you could find yourself with a tire that's too seriously damaged if it happens at road speed.

The runflat concept is great, but the drawback is that at 2 in the morning, it may get you to a place that sells (or repairs) tires, but you're stuck there until it opens. I've found most 24 hour stations don't carry replacement tires in the less popular sizes like a Mini runs.

 

My MA took a good deal of time to explain this feature to me on my MC...and said to re-set it monthly (when I checked the oil) to maintain the system at peak performance...

It takes all of three seconds and I think it's very well worth the effort.

 

^ That's the first I've heard of that. It's not even in the manual. Anyone else do this?

 

Everyone should check their tire pressure regularly ... so if it's adjusted, the system should be recalibrated too ...

 

just changed my wheels on the MCS..there was non of that "stuck wheel" syndrome...

though i saw the gooey stuff in the middle..but def dig the hub centric wheels...much easier to keep the wheels on..and they dont fall off..even without the bolts

i am so happy..yay yay yay

 

>>2) When I went to remove the wheel from my car (to take the tire to be fixed...no need to put even more wear on the runflat by driving while "flat&quot, I had to go to extraordinary measures to remove the wheel. All 4 bolts came out fine, but the wheel itself was stuck tight on the hub (the brake rotor/thing that the bolts go into). I kicked it REAL hard (not a good idea as it could have knocked the car off the jack!!) repeatedly. Tried to lever it loose with a long board. Eventually sprayed WD40 in the bolt holes, and kicked some more...and THEN it came off. This wheel -- btw -- has only been on about 2 months since I switched from snows (steel wheels). It looked like there was some sort of flakey, white, corrosion/deposit that had frozen the alloy wheel onto the hub. I cleaned this up...but hummmmm....I've never had this problem with alloys before. Why would the MINI's alloy wheel react with the cast iron hub?
>>
My wife's car is a SAAB 9-5. Recently we received a recall notice from SAAB concerning a fix that was necessary for owners who were in the habit of switching from alloy wheels in the summer to steel wheels in the winter. It seems that the steels wheels set up some kind of corrosion in interacting with the hubs that over time could actually cause the bolts to shear off. Sorry to say that because I don't switch wheels, I threw away the recall notice, but apparently it's a serious enough problem that you should look further into.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help.