so it took almost 8 months, but i got my first flat last weekend. the tire monitor came on, but i ignored it for a while until i got home (i've found that the damn tire monitor is way too sensitive to temperature changes). sure enough, my rear driver's side tire was completely flat.



a few quick phone calls later (to a local Goodyear Gemini dealer and to Ralph Schomp in Denver) and i got what seems to be the party line;

"We will not, and are not allowed to, patch Run-Flat tires." WTF???

something about the tire only being good for so many miles once flat, and that after that a patched tire is more likely to blow out. i find this a little hard to believe, but then again, what do i know.

here's my info:

205/45R17 GoodYear Eagle RS-A Run-Flat
i purchased a new replacement tire at Ralph Schomp MINI for $260 + install + tax

seems like a rip off to me...

 

yeah that's crummy. You could buy 3 good high performance regular tires for that kind of dough.

 

There is some truth to the party line, but it's not that simple. Before deciding that the tire can't be repaired, it is necessary to know where the puncture is (where on the tread and how close to the sidewall), how big it is, and how many miles you drove with no air in the tire. It's that last point that sounds sort of ominious in your case as you say you "ignored it" for the drive home. If that drive was like 40 miles at highway speeds, then yeah, your tire may be toast regardless of where the hole is. But the point is, you need to give all of the details to another tire shop and THEN see what they say (they'll probably want to inspect the tire too).

Others on NAM have had runflats repaired...sometimes by dealers! I drove 10,000 miles (until I took it off to mount my snows) on a patched runflat. As with all things MINI, it all depends on who you ask. Good luck!

 

yeah, i'll spend part of next week calling around to see if anyone is willing / able to patch it. the dealership and the Goodyear place won't do it.

i probably drove ~10-15 miles on it, and it wasn't fully deflated the entire time. after i noticed it was flat, i filled it up to 33psi before i drove the 10 miles to the dealership to get it replaced. both times, it was stop and go traffic, no highway, and i kept it under 40. the nail was in the tread of the tire, about 2-3 inches in from the sidewall edge.

it would be sweet to have it around as an emergency replacement, but we'll see.

 

an update:

yesterday i took my punctured tire to the Goodyear Gemini to see if i could get them to patch my old tire. the service desk guy said that they were contracted by BMW not to. end of story. pretty much the same answer that they gave me on the phone a few weeks back.

however, as i was leaving, a manager came out and asked about my tire. he inspected it, saw that the puncture was is the tread block, and offered to patch and remount it. of course, he mumbled something under his breath about not being speed rated anymore, and that they were not allowed if it was anywhere near the sidewall, but within "a specified region" they could do the patch.

long story short - old tire is back on, and new tire with ~100 miles on it is in the garage.

 

I had a runflat repaired - Dunlop SP3000, guys looked at it , said no, then said yes. Never had any further problems, I suspect it's all about where the puncture is when these guys decide to do it or not.

 

I've had 2 flats with my 17" runflats... first time I used fix-a-flat, worked fine, second time I used the green goop stuff, worked fine too. Haven't felt any balance issues, even at 90+ mph.

 

I got my mini in April, andi had to have my run flat tire patched at around 20k (sept) i really did not noticed any problems until the tire started to wear out. Around 27k (Nov) i started to notice a balance thump coming from my tire. At that time i was ready to put snow tires and rims on. I will not be putting the old run flats on for the summer i will be buying new ones.
So... yes patch it but after the tread goes down you will need to replace it..
Just my 0.02 worth

 

*** update ***

so the other day i was totally psyched that Goodyear Gemini service decided to patch my runflat after all. what i didn't mention was that about a mile after i left, my Tire Warning Light came on. i figured they just didn't know to reset it, and continued the next 2 miles home.

it was dark when i got home, so i didn't notice anything amiss.

however, the next day i went ot go to lunch, and sure enough, the newly patched tire was completely flat! :evil: i pumped some air into it and drove back downtown to Goodyear to have them look at it. turns out they missed the hole when they patched the tire! and by missed it, i mean by about an inch. bastards. then the service manager had the audacity to say "in my 20 years here that's the first time i've ever seen that happen." which is crap because last summer they patched an Ealge for my Jetta, only to discover that three miles later the tire was flat and they had completely missed the puncture.

so, they fixed it for free of course (although i paid $30 the day before) and sent me on my way. i stopped at a filling station on the way home to double check all the air pressures and reset the Tire Monitor - only to discover that they had replaced my metal "S" tire valve cap with a cheap black plastic cap! aarrgh! :evil:

needless to say, i will never do business there again. ever. even if my car is on fire and i'm a block away from them. and i'm going to go out of my way to let them know how upset i am over the whole ordeal!

BOYCOTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I have my JCW for about a month and had a nail in back tire, only very slow leak so I had a plug put in. I figure worst case it won't work and I will have to get new tire. Plug cost 10 bucks.

 

Here's the deal: Some places will patch a Run-Flat provided you have maintained the proper (or close to proper) air pressure in the tire on the drive to a dealer or vender. Otherwises, if a tire has been driven flat for 50 or 60 miles, it requires a new Run-Flat tire. So it's generally at the dealers discretion, but for your own safety, if you've been smart about driving on the tire then you can just patch it and save yourself money.