My wife took in our Mini today and was told by the dealership that both front tires need to be replaced. This is upsetting because the car has only 10K miles? She did not have the tires rotated before finding this out. The car has never been driven hard or been involved in AX. Is this normal? I cannot change the fact that we need two new tires, just wanting to vent and get some information.

 

I went through two sets of run-flats - the first in 17K, the second in 7K (the second aided by a toe problem). Check your toe, but 10K, when not rotated every 3K, is not unusual.

I have since gone to non-runflats at less than 1/2 the price of runflats and can expect 35K+ on the non-runflats. Dropping the runflats was the best thing I did to increase the performance of the vehicle. I wish I had not waited as long as I did.

 

Thanks Trico! I am currently looking into non-runflats. Dealership said inside lip of each front tire was in bad shape.

 

I'm almost at 3K and two of my runflats are leaking air (no puctures). I could probably rotate the wheels myself, but I think I need to have the beads sealed on the leaky tires. Did the dealer tell you how much they charge for rotation and mounting?

 

The dealer . I recommend going elsewhere for tire work. The dealer quoted me around $150 to rotate & balance my tires (I forget but I think they wanted well over $60 just to rotate). #1 they didn't need balancing at 10K miles & I knew that, #2 Goodyear does 4 tire rotations for $15 in about 5 minutes. So unless you just like to burn money I would avoid the dealer for that kinda thing

 

Is this a runflat issue, or just a performance tire issue? I have the 17" summer runflats, and a 16" set of non runflat winter tires, so I've split the time between the two sets.

However, with high performance tires I've had on other cars, they were very sensitive to balance, rotation, alignment, air pressure etc.

10K seems like a pretty short life span, even for performance tires. I would expect 15K to 20K with "normal" driving (like we drive normally in a MINI Performance tires tend to get noisy when they start to wear as well. They are still prefectly safe, just loud.

Did the dealer tell you why the tires were bad? Cupped, warn on the insides, even wear? This could tell you what you need to fix/change.

 

Check the valved first before you remount the tires. Get some soapy water and put it on the valve and see if you're leaking there. You may just have to tighten the stem (any auto part store will have the tool).

 

I had them aligned for $99.00 at the local Wheelworks and got a lifetime warranty on the alignment. Mounting was something like $45 when I bought the tires (did not buy them through Wheelworks - rather, bought them through Tire Rack via a local shop. The local shop could not do the alignment since it requires the new "photographic laser alignment machine" for low clearance vehicles which they had yet to purchase. So they sent me to Wheel Works for the alignment.)

 

This is SOOOO common with runflats.
BEAD LEAKS! They suck, or should I say they BLOW!
Don't make the mistake of using the product called SLIME.

Just get non-runflat tires, you'll be happy you did.

 

Regardless of whether you're running runflats or soft compound tires, if the inside shoulder is wearing prematurely and the rest of the tire has plenty of tread there's something amiss. Posting a picture might help determine if this is 'normal' wear or a front end alignment issue.

 

If the inside is worn on both tires, either your toe or camber is off. The tires should wear evenly across the tread.

Only exception would be if you corner aggressively, then the outsides would wear, or if you run the tires over or under inflated. Over inflated wears the middle and under wears both outer edges.

I have about 8K on my all season 17" run flats and they have about 7 mm of tread left.