I have a 2005 MCSc. Just 3 weeks ago, I bought 4 spanking new 215/35ZR -18 Continental ExtremeContact DWS XL tires (non-runflats) for my 18 inch JCW R95 wheels, from Tire Rack...Everything went great - tires arrived at my installer's location promptly, etc.

Then two nights ago, while arriving home at 1 AM from picking up a friend at the airport, my tire pressure light came on. I thought "Oh, it must be a malfunction of some sort" - I have had an issue recently with radio static, and I thought maybe this was part of some electrical gremlin in my car. My other car is a BMW 330 xi, and about 6 months ago, I had had a problem with the light going off JUST after having the stealer/dealer install four new tires. It turned out that the light was going on because one of the tires pressure was too low (I was told that perhaps one of the tire beads was not seated properly at the time of installation - whatever - they fixed something and it's been fine since).

Anyhow, since I knew that I didn't have RFs any more on my Mini, I figured there was no way that the tire warning light could be detecting anything with the tires on this car. So I reset it and drove to work yesterday morning, a 54 mile trip.

Well, don't you know that later that day, one of my co-worker's said to me "Did you know that your right rear tire looks flat?"

Sure enough, it had no pressure...and I saw why - there was a quarter-inch gash at the edge where the tread meets the sidewall!! I had not remembered hitting anything on the road - and there was no nail, etc. to cause it. It was 8 PM and I was an hour from home, stuck with brand-new tires, one of which whooshed air out when I tried to inflate it, and no spare. My nightmare....I have AAA, but that would have entailed towing the car all the way, etc. and I thought that just maybe I could get away with a tire plug, if I drove slowly all the way. I made it to Kragen's just before closing, bought a kit, and stuck a gooey plug into the gash. It seemed to work - inflated it again, no obvious air leak. I limped home at 55 MPH.

I figured I was out of luck, and would just get stuck with having to pay $$$ to buy a new tire.

SO - imagine my surprise when I called Adrian at Tire Rack this morning and he told me that Conti had a ONE YEAR ROAD HAZARD WARRANTY on their tires! Unlike an aftermarket warranty, it did not cost me anything extra. Continental is the ONLY tire company that has this!! He connected me to a warranty rep at Conti, who sent me a FedEx shipping label via email. All I need to do is to drop off the tire with the shipping label at a FedEx or Kinko's - no boxing the tire, etc. - just the tire and the label - and I will get a full refund!!! All I had to do was to order the new tire first (which of course I did).

As far as the tire warning light - apparently, in my 2005 Mini, it is an entirely different monitoring system than what my BMW has. Unlike the BMW, there is no pressure sensor in the tire itself - but instead, a sensor attached to the braking system that detects when the diameter of a tire decreases relative to the other tires - the sensor picks up on the increased spin of the more deflated tire, and the sensor goes off! So my car was indeed trying to tell me something - now I know!

This was by far the easiest, least messy, and most rewarding experience I have ever had when dealing with a ruined tire - Tire Rack and Conti ROCK!!! and I will most certainly continue to use them for the future. There are lots of tires to choose from - but if you are in a 50:50 decision about Conti's vs. another brand, this extra that Conti offers just might help tip the scales in your decision-making process. Tires are not cheap - and you never know what the road will do to your tires, no matter HOW new they are!

Melanie

 

55 mph with a string plug in a gash at the sidewall? Let's be careful out there.

$119 seems quite cheap to me considering it is an 18" tire.

 

Not in the sidewall - in the tread edge just above the sidewall...

I waited a while after inflating it, and upon rechecking, saw no drop in tire pressure. The TPMS light never went back on after this (believe me, I was looking over at it all the time!) after I re-set it. When I got home, I checked the pressure, and it was the same as when I left. I was lucky, the plug/cement held up OK!

 

Either the 2002 - 2006 or the 2007 + MINI's tire pressure monitoring systems are not dependent upon the use of runflat tires.

As you found out the 2002 - 2006 MINIs monitor wheel rotation speed, looking for differences in wheel speed. The Mk.II version, in the 2007+ MINIs, uses an actual air pressure monitor, mounted to the rim in place of a conventional tire stem, that transmits a signal to the car's ECU, or another system, which will then turn on a light on the dash. So either system will work with either conventional or runflat tires.

 

"there was a quarter-inch gash at the edge where the tread meets the sidewall"

"Not in the sidewall - in the tread edge just above the sidewall... "

What makes it unsafe to plug and patch?

 

The lack of internal contruction in that region of the tire - a plug or patch would be blown right back out.

Alex

 

Full circle back to where we started. Let's be careful out there.

 

Sorry to dig up an old post. I wanted to ask how the DWS's ride and handle in an 18" size? I have been running them for a while and I am thinking of going to 18" wheels and was looking for some info.

 

This is good info, as I have the Extreme Contact DW's.