I thought I new everything about my r56s when I bought it ,but the last thing my sales guy told me after handing me the key is that if I get a nail in my 17 inch run flat dunlops they will need to be replaced! In two years my truck has had 10 punctures nails, bolts, glass. It cost $10 to fix any gas station can do it. I've had actual nightmares about this . Can someone set my mind at ease or is this just one of the perks of being a mini driver?

 

From a practical standpoint, it is a perk of owning run-flats. Although they can be repaired, finding a place that is willing to do it, especially in close proximity to the location you get a flat, is not a very hopeful prospect. The problem is that they are much harder to mount and unmount.

 

I have had nails in my runfalts repaired on my R53. Your MA was giving you mis-information. You do NOT have to replace a run flat that has a nail or other object that penetrates the tire, causing it to lose air pressure.

Here is why this myth exists; most tire shops will not accept the liability of repairing a run flat. Reason being, if a runflat gets a puncture then the driver drives on said tire for 50 miles (the longest the manufacturer says you can drive with no pressure, let's say). Well, now the sidewalls of that tire have been basically stressed to their maximum, and may not be able to hold pressure. If the sidewalls have lost most of their strength, because they were holding the car up, instead of keeping air in, they might fail, giving you a blow out.

But, if you don't drive on the flat-run-flat very far, then the integrity of the tire doesn't get compromised, and you can have the puncture repiared just like any ol' tire.

That being said, the runflats were on my MCS for about 4 months before I pulled them off and went to regular tires. The runflats were just too harsh of a ride. Went to Costco.com, picked up some bad-a$$ BFgoodrich KDW2, and haven't looked back since.

Enjoy your R56!!

 

xbook what do you do when you get a flat now?

 

how much did replacement tires cost at costco?

 

Korby
I have a tire patch kit/compressor, a AAA card, and a cell phone. That is what I do when I get a flat. Knock on wood.... (have yet to get one)

NidoPepper
The tires were $128 each installed. But, the site has the price @ $135 now. I priced it against what TireRack would have charged me, plus installation from a tire shop. Costco was cheaper. And the good thing was Costco.com screwed up my order, they only shipped 3 tires to the store, oops. And to keep me happy they gave me one of the tires for free. Yeah, I was stoked...

CostCo Tires

 

What about rodentside assistance?

 

As soon as they wear out, I intend on replacing my run-flats with regular tires. I will have a MC, so I have a spare.

Although I have yet to get a good answer to this question: I know the wheels for the run-flats has a slightly different bead/lip on them. Does the wheel preclude the mounting of regular tires? Do I have to change wheels as well when I go with regular tires?

 

xbook I'll go that route when these wear out.I can sleep now!

 

No you can't, it's like 7:15 in the morning. Man, you gotta get your lazy butt outta bed and get to work YO!!

Lazy bum

 

another myth

I have Yoko' ES-100 on S-lite rims and know a bunch of other folks who've mounted other tires.... special rims for RF's???? never heard of 'em myself.

btw - b4 I went to non-rf's I probably had 4 simple punctures patched. I've two tire shops that seem to be able to handle rf's with no problems....one guy doesn't even charge extra.

post above about driving on a deflated rf is right on target. if you find a nail, but the tire was simply a few pounds low (the sensor should go off in that condition - mine always has) - there is no reason why the tire can't be patched/plugged.

any rf is a bit more difficult to mount than a comparable non-rf due to the stiff side wall. any low profile tire is also more difficult. add the two, a low profile run flat and you get a pia. a kid at a gas station is NOT a good place to take this tire. my prefered guy is a small garage who specializes in handling amateur racers - not autocrossers but real track folks - primarily BMW... he has no trouble with rf's ... he has very good equipment and experienced techs. he charged me 10 bucks to patch the tire - taking it off, remounting and rebalancing.... not common I guess

 

Ok, this is what I mean. I keep getting conflicting information about the wheel/tire combo when run-flats are installed.

Are the S-Lite rims from Mini? Sorry for my ignorance here, but I am a newb to Mini. In case they are not.

Has anyone mounted regular tires on Mini supplied wheels which had run-flats on them?

No offense Capt, but I am getting conflicted information about this topic. I have never had run-flats, and quite frankly, it never occurred to me the wheel may be different. The conscensus about the wheel being different had something to do with extending the lip of the wheel to help hold the sidewall more vertical when it was out of air. Sounded logical at the time.

 

I wonder if the same (wheel bead) is true for the 3-series.

 

Like LynnEl said, what about Roadside Assistance. That's what they're for. If I get a flat I plan to pull out the old cell phone and give them a call.

Also, unless my sidewall is damaged or I have a puncture on either edge of the tread I plan on insisting that the tire be repaired. Come to think of it, I think I'll go to a respected site that says, "OK to fix runflats", print out a copy and carry it in my car. I want to have an argument handy if Roadside Assistance or some other place insists that the runflat must be replaced. When I find that statement I'll post it here for others to use.

 

Try not to get a flat next to any rodents. If you do, just shoo them away with the jack.


To answer some other questions,
YES, the MINI 16 and 17" rims are designed for runflats, with an extra hump inside the bead to help keep the tire seated. (I'll see if I can get a pick tonight from a bare Slite rim.)
YES, you can mount a conventional tire on the those rims without an issue.

 

FYI most tread punctures(nails,screws,or my personal favorite, sheet rock screws) can be plugged without taking the wheel off or taking the tire off, in about 5 minutes, 10 MAX!

 

Those plug type patches are fine, but it's better to dismount the tire and apply a real patch on the inside.

 

17" S-Lites from MINI ; aka S-Heavies ; what my 02 came with- it appears nothing precludes running non-runflats on those wheels which MANY are doing w/out ill effect. I've got better than 25k on the current set.



listening to a dealer talk tires .... ya, good idea

use search - find hundreds of posts here on this topic. Call, what's his name? Alex @ tirerack .... if he doesn't qualify as an expert well .... there's always the dealer.

local dealer here just told a new ower if they changed the spark plug wires it would void the warranty... {might want to see the article in most recent MC2 on this topic}

btw: if you read the fine print - auto manuf's never warrant tires .... that is covered by the tire company.

MINI didn't put rf's on the old S cuz they are good tires - there's no place to put a spare!

 

Frankly tire warranties seem to be worthless for the most part unless you can prove it's a defective tire. For comment purposes: Few tire stores carry any runflats. Let me change that to virtually no retail tire stores carry them. I live in Seattle and found out the hard way that MINI dealers are about the only ones that have them in stock. $400+ per.

 

That is because they require specific mounting equipment not commonly found in gas stations

If you need a place to mount runflats, just go to the tirerack website and find installers in your zipcode. They are becoming more and more common.

The S-lites are a MINI OEM wheel.

You can mount any tire on them.

The wheels are different just as you described. If you run RFs on a wheel not designed for them, you run the risk of them not supporting the tire in case of failure (or so I've read)

In addition, you can patch RFs. Go to mini2.com's FAQ and read all about it.

The question is ... what are you using the tire for? For commuting its fine. But do you want to trust a patched tire on a track or during, lets say, spirited fast driving? Some car makers specifically tell you to never patch the tire ... get it replaced.

 

It's too bad you can't get a tire warranty on runflats like you can with most tires. I got a whole new set for my Jeep because I punctured one with a rock (repair not possible) and the 4WD system cannot have a tread difference of over 1/16 inch and they had 40K miles on them. It was worth the $100 I paid for the warranty.

 

Thank you chows and Capt. Appreciate the information.

By the way Capt, I did a search on the board and that is what got me confused tobegin with. Then I called a couple of local tire dealers (NTSB, and Firestone) and got different answers from them as well.

The key thing missing was what chows said about the wheel being different, but it not preventing the mounting of standard tires.

Anyway, thanks guys and gals.

 

Thank you for sharing the information.

 

My dealer had a warranty for them and everything else under the sun ... no wait, the moon and stars were warrantied also. I think the tire warranty alone was like $500. I don't do warranties and I figure I'm about 2 lifetimes ahead on cost so far.

 

Tirerack sells road hazard warranties for runflats.

And yep, you just have to patch them yourself.