Just had my second Pirelli Cintrauto P7 runflat on my 2011 Countryman take a nail in three weeks. Called my dealer after the first one and was told they couldn't be repaired and even went to the Pirelli website where it didn't recommend repairs. Asked about road hazard and told that was a separate warranty plan from MINI which I turned down as it is very expensive. So I got a new tire for $221 (got a 20% discount for donating food to Harvesters). Three weeks later got another nail, went ahead and ordered a tire through my local Firestone tire dealer for less than through the dealer. Both times the pressure never went below about 32 PSI (I run the tires on 35psi) when the TPM light came on. Filled the first one and drove 250 miles back home and filled the second one and it never leaked in 5 days.

On the day the second tire came in, I called Pirelli to ask them about repairing a tire that really never got damaged. I was thinking about getting it plugged and keeping it for a spare as I have had 5 nails on three different cars since I bought the Countryman (alot of new roofs in the neighborhood, all were roofing nails). The customer service rep informed me that they really don't recommend it as they don't know what happened to the tire or if it was runflat. Then she told me that is why Pirelli offers Road Hazard Warranty on all their runflats and that the MINI dealer should have given me a new tire since it was in the first year and less than 2/32s wear. Even though they aren't a Pirelli dealer, they will work through the distributor to reimburse the dealer. All they have to do is return the tire through the distributor. And they will work with the Firestone dealer through their distributor to get me my money back on the second tire. What is also interesting is that I talked to NTB, an authorized dealer, about a new Pirelli tire and they didn't say anything about the RHW and they didn't have any in stock and it would be a few days and they would be glad to sell me another brand. If they had only told me about the RHW and taken care of me, NTB would have already put two tires on my MINI and they may have had a customer for life, at least for the Countryman.

I was quite disappointed that the MINI dealer didn't know about this. They do have a good service department and have treated me well otherwise. I made a call and the service advisor told me that was first he had heard of that and he was upset if it was true as he had a few come in recently on Countryman. He did say the service manager wasn't in and that he would let him know about it and have him get back with me. The manager called me back the next day and said he had read the warranty and it appeared to be for retail purchase, not original equipment and he would call MINI regional to find out more. He called me back about an hour later and told me that he couldn't get through to regional but called Pirelli directly and found out that it was covered. He was very apologetic and is sending me a check for what I paid for the tire installed. And they won't even get reimbursed by Pirelli as the tire is long gone. Now all I need is for Firestone to work through the distributor.

I know this is a long story but it just shows it pays to do research. Too bad I didn't do it earlier and I would not have had to wait for the second tire nor to get paid.

For those who complain about wear on the runflats, I have over 12,000 miles on the Countryman and less than 2/32 wear. If this keeps up, I will get about 50,000 miles on the tires and I am keeping my fingers crossed. Many of you don't like runflats and say they run rough or harsh or noisy. I really haven't had that problem. But we will see. Will I get runflats when I need a new set, maybe not, but I am not going to run out and replace them all any time soon.

 

Or if you wear out the Pirelli warranty you can just plug it like a regular tire. I have quite a few plugs in my RFTs and no issues.

 

Depends on the manufacturer. Some will allow a repair if the tire is removed from the wheel and inspected on the inside for damage. If you didn't really drive on it flat (pulled over as soon as the light came on) there is a possibility it is fine. Personally I would ditch the RF's and get a good set of regular tires. Tis how I roll...

 

If you didn't drive on the tire with 0psi pressure, then you can probably plug it. Not all tire shops will do it, but a Dynaplug may be sufficient.

My last car had a damaged run flat and that cost me $270 for a replacement RFT... crazy prices. No way I am paying that much for an all-season tire again non-run-flat tires for me. I could have bought two performance tires for that price - but it was leased so I had no choice.

 

Thanks to all for the advice, I definitely will eventually switch away from runflats but for now, the Pirelli warranty is there..and I will look into plugging even after that for a while. Will check out Dynaplug.