Longtime, I needto get new tires. I have runflats on the tires now. I am wondering whether I am able to go from runflats to normal tires, or whether that is impossible with the package I have. As well I only need to replace one because it has a bubble in it, so naturally I am going to replace the adjacent tire. The second question is that if I were to switch from runflats to normal would I have to do all four or could i have two and two. Appreciate any help.

 

Runflats to Normal tires is no problem, keep the size the same for fitment issues. I would replace all four as well. Handeling will compromised with dissimilar sidewall stiffness (2 RFs & 2 Non RFs).

 

You will be able to buy 4 non-RFs for less money than you can buy 2 RFs. By all means, replace them all. YOu don't need to do anything except replace them. You may want to give some thought to a compact spare or some slime and a small compressor to relieve the paranoia of not having the RFs (needlessly, modern tires are very good as long as you don't buy gumballs or something that will pick up every shard of glass you encounter).

You haven't mentioned whether yo have an "S" model, or a good one (oops, here it comes), but if you have a good one, you already have a spare under the back end. The "S" models needed the extra space for additional horsepower, so they left the spare out.

You may find some good advice by talking with Alex at TireRack, but there are some really good prices on some really good tires right now (Grid 019s, Yokohoma Avids, or even Pilot S types will point you in a good direction.

Don't get hooked on buying expensive RFs, you don't need'em, and you won't miss'em.

Good luck.

 

If you want sticky tires that are inexpensive but good quality, Go for Hankook Ventus V12 evo K110. That's a mouth full. Right now you can get them from tire rack at $88 each, with a $50 rebate for all 4. Total about $300 before shipping. Thier wear speed is about equal to RFs, but at less than half the price. Thier wet traction is great, too. The one nitpick i have Is that they pick up rocks faster than a hooker gets Chlamydia


Plus, the tread pattern looks super aggressive on the rears.

 

Run flats have never lasted past the original set on any of the BMWs we have bought, I assemble a mobility kit when making the change to non-run-flat tires that includes an air compressor and plug kit- no tire goo for me but that might be an option for some. Here is a pic of what and where in my MCS, fits nicely in the driver side rear boot panel, cover fits with no interference and no noises/rattles- I had an old VW/Audi air compressor that fits like it was made to go here:



I plan to go with the Hankook V12s or some slightly wider Dunlop Direzza Sport Z1 StarSpecs (215, no 205/45/17 available) when I replace the Kumho ASTs on the car now.

 

Great Information! I do have a 2004 S. I am going to make the switch to Non Run Flats. The other question is the handeling. Living in the curvy backroads that I do. I pride my car in being able to handle the way it does. If anyone has made the change can you telany difference in handeling?
I will say that the Hankook Ventus V12 evo K110 look very appetizing right now. But do I really want chlmaydia? Might have to think about that one.

 

Making the switch from run flats to non-run flats was the best thing I did. Ride was so much smoother, quieter, and definitely better handling. Run flats are like riding on wagon wheels

 

It will handle better without the runflats. Runflats have really stiff sidewalls that prevent flex with changes in the weight balance. Many people with runflats have trouble with them rolling over (not the car, the tire) when they are autocrossing because they can't properly absorb the load changes. You don't have that problem with conventional tires. I ran my BMW Z4 for nearly four years with standard tires with no problem.

 

I'm running the Hankook Ventus Evo's as well and absolutely love them. Awesome tires. Predictable, sticky, quiet, great wet weather performance. I'm running them in the 215/40-18 size with no rubbing or other problems on a full JCW 06 cabriolet. 'Highly recommend them!

 

RF or not RF - another side of the question

For the most part I agree with everything presented here concerning RFs wrt handling and cost and I even went to non-RFs on my 02S after a time for pure financial reasons. You can buy 2 sets of plain for the cost of a set of RF. But are there other considerations? I'd say yes, most definitly.

1. When Cell Phones were new I thought they were silly - 82 or so. Then the wife was trying to come home from a very late night of required overtime and in a dark deserted part of town punctured two tires. She's mechanical but can't do much with two flats at the same time. And no nearby phone booth in a neighborhood I'd not want to walk about myself at night. Eventually a police car came by .... eventually. I bought a cell phone the next day as the overtime was manditory. RFs can mitigate this situation. You CAN drive on them to get to a safe haven. I've a friend - and I DO NOT recommend this - that drove nearly 2000 miles on a flat run flat....highway speeds. He though if he reset the warning it would come on again if the tire was REALLY flat. RFs offer a valuable safety net in some situations.

2. Slime and pumps and plug kits all work. When I had non-RF on the 02S I carried a pump, a DYNAPLUG and pliers (to pull the nail). Are you prepared to use them by the side of the road at night in the rain? Is everyone who drives the car? Again the RF provides the ability to seek a safe haven if you don't want to deal with the issue; or can't.

3. If you have a real blowout, the plug is not an option. Granted an RF won't be much help here either. Hit a pothole and blow the sidewall out while bending a rim and nothing helps but a spare or a tow (son did that a few weeks ago .. expensive lesson about potholes.) I carry AAA for just such a situation. Note that MINI roadside includes coverage for flats ... but AAA covers the entire family no matter what car they are in. Owning a 79 Mini as well, AAA is nearly manditory for me {note that into the 2007 model year MINI roadside was actually supplied by AAA - says so on my card - but I understand MINI has changed providers}

So IMHO, consider the soft facts about RFs too when you make this decision. As part of learning how to drive each of my kids had to demonstrate changing a tire on what would be their starter vehicle after which they were awarded their AAA card.

 

i can't imagine going back to RF, having experience that my Mini rides pretty damn stiff even with non-RF.

 

if you want a stiff ride find a well preserved early 02S with 17's

they started softening the suspension about 6 months after introduction in the US.

which I always found laughable as an early 02 owner and other folks bought stiffer sway bars et al, to bring the bang back

most sway bar buyers I asked "what are you expecting this to do for you?"

and most had no idea but the web sites told them to do it . . .

 

Honestly Captain, I'd much rather use an air compressor and a car of fix-a-flat on the side of the road in the rain then try to change a flat. If I do have a blowout, yes, that would be very inconvenient without a spare, but another thing to consider is that many shops don't have runflats. I have heard tales of people being stranded because they got a flat in X little town on their way to Y city and they had to wait a few days for the shop to get a replacement runflat for them. At least if I get stranded chances are I can find a replacement tire at a shop!

But having gone 60,000 miles on a Z4 with no spare or runflats I'm not too concerned about the what ifs. I got two nails in tires on that car too. It helps if you check your tire pressure religiously and never let them get too bald too-- that is how many flats happen in the first place.

It all comes down to priorities and what you want. If you don't mind running the risk of needing a tow when you run into too big of a problem for fix-a-flat to fill then by all means ditch the run flats, if you would rather pay for the peace of mind then keep them on.

 

I switched from Run flats to NORMAL quite tires and love it.
I bought Falken 912's, a Slime air pump and a bottle of Slime.
The whole set up cost me $470

 

I put on a set of Toyo Extenza H non runflats and they are great.Good deep grooves for water dispersal without the big block treads so they are quiet and really good in the rain. Good dry grip,Snow so-so. I carry a tire plugging kit and a compressor so punctures are fixable and if it's anything worse I'll call for a tow.

 

Slime now makes a product called "Quick Spair" That is how it is spelled. It inflates the tire just like Fix-A-Flat but will not destroy the sensers and will clean up with water. It is an Aerosol and will inflate the tire so no need for a pump. It is a good idea to head for an air hose and fill the tire the rest of the way to proper psi if you need to travel far. It comes in two sizes which are a 16 oz for standard tires and a 20 oz for larger tires. $5.59 & $7.95 at Amazon.com

When using a product like this you need to make sure the puncture is on the bottom when filling with the slime. Then drive as soon as you can. If you park make sure the puncture is on the bottom to insure it is still being sealed until you can plug the tire. I carry a flashlight, a piece of chalk to mark where the puncture is for parking purposes and a small foot operated pump. I found that I could not find a place with a working air hose along I-4 in Florida when I had my flat tire. AAA will not plug a runflat for some stupid reason or another. I had to use Fix-A-Flat and it turned into a very hard blob of plastic that will not come out of my tire. I did not know about slime at the time. The Fix-A-Flat did inflate my tire enough for me to go the 125 miles I needed to go.

Having the runflats got me to a rest area for a nice safe place to call and wait for the AAA guy. I was not stuck on the side of I-4 as I would have with non-runflat tires.

 

I've been driving cars for 35 years now. I've picked up a nail twice in my entire life, but they've always had slow leaks. Enough for me to get to a tire shop to repair. So until I bought my MINI with runflats, I had never needed to use the spare tire.

When I bought my MINI, the MINI dealer recommended I buy tire insurance. The cost was more than the price of a tire. But I also found out one runflat tire costs $600 (CDN) from the dealer I declined.

Granted there was a lot of construction going on for the winter Olympics but three months later, I had a flat. MINI will not fix a tire. They require you to replace it....at $600 + mount and install. Some tire shops will not touch runflat tires because they do not have the equipment or training to deal with them. I found a Pirelli dealer who actually sold the tires. They were charging $300 per tire at the time, about 1/2 what the dealer charges. They did an inside patch to fix the tire. That is, to fix the flat, they pulled the nail, took the tire off the rim and patched it from the inside, and remounted the tire. They charged me $35 to do it.

About three months later, I got another flat. On a different tire. Again, it was a nail from dump trucks dumping stuff on the highways. Again, I paid for an inside patch. Was this bad luck or what? A few months later, my flat tire warning went off and I noted that yet another tire was low on air. As it turned out, the bead had worked loose and was leaking air. I had the tire remounted and all was well again.

The final straw came when I was driving to work and my car felt very wallowy. My flat tire warning came on. I pulled over and noticed a flat but could not see where the problem was. No nail. I reinflated and drove to work. I carry a compressor regardless if I had runflats or not. I barely got to my office parking lot, the warning came on again. After work, as I pulled out, the car felt extremely wallowy again. I drove to the nearest tireshop and they took a look. My left rear tire need replacing. The stiff runflat sidewall on the inside had started to split and separate from the tread. This is likely supposed to be a warranty issue, but I had had enough. I had to replace the tire and for less that than the cost of one tire from the MINI dealer, I could replace all four tires with non-runflats. The car wasn't two years old yet. Having replaced all four tires, I have driven my MINI over 3 years with non-runflats now and have yet to have another flat. I do check my tire pressures regularly.

So my own personal conclusion is that runflat tires are a great idea in concept, but the technology is not ready for prime time. You're spending a lot of money to mitigate what amounts to be a pretty small risk.

Carry a cell phone for emergencies, an AAA membership, a can of slime and a compressor.

One more thing about the liquid fills such as Slime. Tire dealers hate it because when they fix or replace your tire, they have to scrape all the stuff off. It coats everything including your wheel and if you have an internal runflat sensor (R56 and onward), it damages the sensor. So only use it if you absolutely have to.

 

We just put 4 New Touring tires on our Mini. Had to replace the Rear Brakes only. Front were still good. Did have Ceramic Pads put on the Rear Brakes & will do the same on the Front when they need to be replaced. We always carry portable air compressor in the Mini. TIre "GOO" is not for us & it is useless in the Winter

 

I need non run flats also but just to add, Goodyear will repair a puncture on a runflat at specific locations.

 

I'm a firm believer of using Slime or any similar goo only as a very last resort. It's makes a huge mess and can be less than reliable. I'll try to plug it first and for that purpose, I have three separate plugging systems all packed neatly into the slime air compressor case (along with the Slime).

The three systems I have are:

For small punctures: http://www.dynaplug.com/

For medium punctures: http://www.stopngogov.com/THE-TIRE-P...ductinfo/1075/

And for large punctures where more than one plug may be necessary, I have one of the more traditional sticky worm type kits. The one from Slime is typical but there are many different brands available: http://slime.com.au/index.php?main_p...0ae266e3bfdb02

 

Just my experience....I switched my RF's to Nexan N7000's. If I remember correctly they were 80ish per tire, and sticky enough I have a hard time breaking them loose. I originally wanted to replace the old tires with the RF's because (MINI knows best) but after the $$ and ride quality difference, I would never buy RF's.

My $0.02

 

I currently have runflats that are pretty much brand new. Would it be practical to switch them over to a new set of rims if I wanted to ditch the 16" alloys for something lighter and better looking? Or is it a better bet to just burn through the tires and then get new wheels and rims at the same time?

 

well, if you can bare the ride, def utilize what you have right now and then switch over to new set of tires and possibly wheels.

i would do that, my 2 cents.

 

Use up the run flats. Rotate front to back soon enough so that you wear all 4 out at the same time. Then have new rims and tires ready to install. I'd go with 17" at the very least.

 

Thanks for the input. I don't find the ride too rough, so I suppose I'll just wear them out. I just don't particularly like the look of the 16" stock alloys. I was thinking of getting something in black. What's the advantage to a bigger diameter rim? Just aesthetics or is there a performance advantage?