Kyle,

Since we live in the same area, I would appreciate it if you could tell us which dealer gave you all this BS.

Bill

 

I got a nail in one of my runflats at around 7,500 miles. I plugged it myself at home and I am good to go. Unless you will be driving consistently over 100 mph or doing any siort of Auto-X, don't even worry about it. if you plug it, what is the absolute worst that could happenn ? ? ? I mean, if it works your golden, if not you'll be back where you are now.

 

There was no hole. There was no need to buy new tires or the one run flat, they never checked the tire to see if it had a hole and they specifically told me that they had checked it and couldnt patch it and all that crap... you guys know the story.

So they said there was no hole and no charge. So I am glad I ddidnt have to pay and I am glad to know that I will never be going back there except for my warranty checkup. Such a stupid ordeal and they hadnt even checked if there was a hole. I almost bought new wheels for nothing.

The place I went and where I bought my car is at Crevier MINI/BMW its in the Santa Ana Automall.

So thanks for all the help everyone, I will be keeping all the wheel choices you gave me in mind and will be preparing to buy new tires.

 

Unless you have a tire mouting machien you plugged and did not patch. A non water tight seal can lead to tire failure down the road - belts are steel and water helps oxsidation. Worth the $20 in repair to save a tire, rather than kill it softly.

Alex

 

One thing to consider about patching a runflat is that if you have driven on it while it has no air pressure, you have probably used up the life of the stiff sidewall that allows the tire to be a runflat, thus it will no longer be a runflat and that is why retailers do not want to patch them.

 

Every tire place I've been to in recent years has done a simple patch on the inside of the tire. How is that going to keep water out of the belts?

I have seen the combination plug/patch (looks like a mushroom and combines a plug to fill the hole and a patch to seal it from the inside) but I don't think most tire places actually use them. I have never seen one used, that's for sure.

 

I don't understand this. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the way I read your statement, you're saying that running the tire flat will kill the reinforced sidewall? How? That's what it's designed to do. Why would it be damaged if it's used in the manner for which it was designed?

 

Because it's only designed to support the car for x miles with no pressure. Once you run the tire without air, who knows how long it will last the second time....if it doesn't blow out while you're using it.

 

The Tire Rack has a list of recommended installers. Enter you zip here.
http://www.tirerack.com/installer/index.jsp

If they can't or won't work on your runflats they don't deserve to be on this list and you should let Alex know.

The moral to this whole "I got a puncture in my tire" is this. Run flat or non run flat you should carry a plug kit and a portable compressor in your boot. It will get you back on the road until a time you can have it properly repaired at a tire shop.

 

04 is right - due to additonal heat build up when running w/o air.

Alex