Today I went out to my MINI to head home and saw this




The bulge is on the front left tire, these are 17' stock all-season runflats, I have not recieved a tire warning light and still need to check the pressures. I have the feeling that this is the cause of the nosie that I could not reproduce for the dealer in December, asw I can still hear the noise, I had originally thought it was related to brake rubbing. I called MINIUSA they said that I should be okay to drive to the dealer tomarrow and if anything happend were I needed to stop that I could call them and they would give me a tow, they also said about three times not to go to the track and do any racing. I'm going to call the dealer first thing in the morning and schedlue an appointment, I'll probably even email the photos in advance. MINIUSA said that something like this typically results from a manufacturer defect, so I expect to have this covered underwarranty. I did a searchand could not find anybody who had a similar issue however any input would be appreciated. My dealer is 89.2 miles (143.5 km) from my location.

 

That is a common problem with tires (not nearly as common as nail in tire but I have seen it several times). Its a bubble in the sidewall. Some of the belts snapped or were never properly joined and thus that part of the tire is weak and could blowout. A tire issue is not something the dealer needs to fix, especially if it is 90 miles away! If the dealer has that tire in stock and will put it on for free within half hour, then maybe, but you can go to any reputable tire shop to get a new tire. I say call the tire shop of your choice and ask if they have that tire in stock.

BLOW-OUT: If it does blow out like on the interstate (you might want to stay the speed limit to help reduce heat buildup), KEEP YOUR FOOT ON THE GAS to maintain control and then slowly ease off the gas and pull over.

Heres the tire rack link for blow-out recovery:tire rack http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete....jsp?techid=13

 

Hit any potholes????? Could be an impact break. If, upon removing the tire from the wheel there is a small tear/cut on the inner liner, it's probably from an impact w/ a pothole/road hazard. That is more common than belt sepo's especially on high end tires.
Just my .02 cents worth.

Later

 

Thanks for the link I will keep that info in mind, I plan on taking A1A, along the coast at the crack of dawn, this will keep my speed less than 50, give me many a parking lot to pull into should anything go wrong and it will be the coolest time of day, plus if I arrive at the dealer shortly after the open, I hope they will be free enough to do a quick swap and have me on my way. I'm kinda stuck on going to the dealer as this is a warranty repair, there is one that 60 miles away but I just can't trust them when I knew more after reading the manual than the service advisor about what I could and could not have programmed on my car- not the level of competance I expected having visited a dozen different MINI dealers. I wish my local BMW dealer could do the fix.

 

I've done really well at avoiding pot holes and such though I do have road hazard coverage in case that was the cause, these runflats are so stiff a switch from conrete to asphualt feels like a pot hole.

 

I had the same thing happen to me here in Honolulu. Took it to the dealer and they chalked it up to a rim pinch from a pot hole.

$330 dollars later I leave with a new run flat tire and a good lesson!

Aloha!

JCW04

 

The tire isn't a MINI warranty item to my knowledge, it would be a dunlop (or whatever brand tire) warranty.

 

Got it fixed today! Covered under my road hazard extended warranty. Things are much less stressful driving now.

 

Happened to me as well, drove it for a while. Happy when the tread was gone, and I could move on to other tires.

Matt

 

4900 miles, run flats, right front tire buldge, dealer says no warranty, must have hit pothole (did not happen) told me to pay to have repaired, send bill to city stating I hit a pothole, about 6 months get refunded from city, sounds like BS to me!

Queastion is does Goodyear cover this type of defect, or what are my options?

 

My dealer offered road hazard coverage, which saved my butt, MINI considers it a wear item and won't pay for a replacement. I'd call Goodyear and see if you could convince them its a manufacture defect. How bad are the roads in Hawaii if the dealer assumes you hit a pot hole and you're the second from Honolulu in this thread? The city may be willing to pay for it.

 

I will have to at least try Goodyear, but am not going to hold my breath waiting for the city to pay!

 

I bought a new car ('97 Miata M edition) when I lived in Honolulu and at delivery, I was given a booklet that explained the tire warranty. It also referenced a particular tire dealer that would service my warranty. Yes, the tire has a warranty.

Doubtful, but do you still have the defective tire? Without the tire, you're probably you know what'en in the wind. You may only have the city to deal with now, and that would be hard to fight way after-the-fact.

I left Honolulu in 1999. Is the MINI dealer the same as the Bimmer dealer? If so, I'd only imagine they'd know a defect from pothole damage. At slow slow Hawaii speeds (60 mph and under) you'd be hard pressed to damage a tire. My vote is that your tire was defective. Afterall, that Goodyear RS-A (I presume) was/is new technology and rarely do folks get it right the first time out, which I don't think they did. "Those things are bricks," is what I told myself when I test drove a MINI S shod with them. Made it easy to check the "performance" tire option when I ordered my MINI S.

 

The tire is still on the car, not enough money in my pocket to go out and get a new on yet. I will try to find the warranty information with the papers I got with my Mini. (Purchased in Germany) I might just be SOL!