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Comments
First--only lose air as the temp changes and by that I mean when we go from summer to winter type temp changes.
Second--each mfg RFT handles differently, rides differently etc. ie--I found the Firestones to be better than OE Goodyears on ride, handling and quiet.
Finally--I have driven cross country several times--got a sidewall bubble from a pothole on the interstate in New Mexico, it happens.
and I got a flat late nite in Joplin Mo--what happened as I finished an all day run i added air as I was headed north te next day and expected cooler temps-in doing so--on on etire the air hose locked to the vale and broke the valve--the FRT allowed my to drive the 5 miles to the hotel and a local goodyear dealer put in a regular valve so I could continue the trip. That was probably 7-8 years ago so now more dealers have the equipment and knowledge to work with RFT's. But all you need is to be caught 1 time without a spare or not have the right air and sealent and you are in a heap of trouble!
ciao for now
the tires may be 150 at tire rack-plus another 50 to mount esp as they are run flat.
The wheels are costly.
This is especially important if you drive in an eastern city where potholes and rough railroad tracks are abundant.
I have the 335 with sport package so my tires are even lower profile and the wheels a bit more costly. I have 1500 miles on car and already have hit small potholes that felt like craters.
My vette with RFT--already changed tires two times for damage--paid for more than half of the insurance before wheel damage.
I have never "blown" a tire or damaged rims in all the previous several cars I've owned and there is no reason I am going to suddenly start ruining the stock tires and rims in the 4 years I plan to have this car to often enough justify the cost of the tire/rim insurance. If I had purchased tire insurance on all my previous cars, that would have been thousands of dollars of wasted money.
The tire insurance is a profit center, not a public service and they hard sell it for a reason.
$46400.00.
When the Local BMW dealer rips you off by refusing to patch the tire, the tech takes them out of the trash, plugs them and they have a 335 running on 4 Birdegstone RFT's that are all plugged.
Talk about being robbed, we get a load of BS from the dealer, they get free tires and we get ripped off. If you know what B.O.H.I.C.A. stands for you'll understand
Frustrated in Miami
Google -- it's a wonderful thing.
I will never again buy a BMW with a run flat tire on it, and I may never buy a BMW because of this whole experience. The Bridgestone tires give a rough ride and wear out much too quickly for the cost. Bridgestone ought to give you the car if you agree to buy the tires.
Z
Thanks from the Windy City,
Rich
Regards,
OW
-jaj
http://www.sfmslaw.com/pages/cases.php?id=573
I have a 2006 325i, bought new, my run flats have 19,900k miles on them and have been driving loud and rough for the past 6 months or so. Passengers have told me that it feels "weird" and to have my brakes checked. Those were fine, as everything else in the car. Now I know that my issue was the tires. Calling customer service at BMW North America was useless, as their lawyers probably told them to keep their mouths shut. I was given the run-around and they acted as if they hadn't heard of Bridgestone Turanza run-flats having problems. I'm taking my car in next week and demanding removal of these tires and a free replacement of new, non-run flats. A family member also had a blow-out with them and the run-flat barely lasted to drive him home 5 miles away before it totally deflated.
I called my local BMW dealer today and a salesman told me that the current 3 series models STILL are being sold with these tires! BMW, it sounds like, seems to be in bed with Bridgestone.
Be sure to let us know how that goes. Some of us think we know, but I'm always willing to be pleasantly surprised.
Your crap tires are worn out. Buy new ones, of the get-flat variety. Enjoy the better handling and quieter driving.
It's been a while since I reported in. I'm curious. My dealer told me that to rotate my tires, it's $33. To balance as well, it's $99. Since the ContiProContact RFs are about $175/tire, why not put 20,000 miles on them and just replace them? I know it's a little cheaper to rotate them, but then again, I'd have new tread every 20,000 miles. I have almost 12,000 miles on the 225 45R17's that came on my 335xi (which I love, BTW). Tread wear looks very good, and curiouser(?), BMW recommends NOT rotating the tires. By the way, for all you snow tire bigots, winter in the Boston burbs was absolutely no issue with all-season tires even in blizzards and huge snowdrifts. I STILL believe that BMW AWD ROCKS!!
A little service history: The right front wheel bearing needed to be replaced. I heard a scraping noise from the right front when turning left. I took it to the dealer, left it for a week while I was out of town on business. They hooked up "electronic ears" somehow and determined it was coming from the wheel. No charge, of course.
The dealer also gave me an $1,800 oil cooler for free when they couldn't provide a logical explanation why my 335xi didn't come with one while the 335i did. The reason that the wheels weren't 18" wasn't acceptable.
Kudos for the oil cooler to the Service Director, Bob Fulton, and the dealership (Herb Chambers BMW of Sudbury (MA)), formerly Foreign Motors West, Natick, MA
The 335xi is now paid off (less than 1 year post-purchase!) and we're about to buy a 328xi, black sapphire/black leather, with power/heated seats and the iPOD/USB adapter. I couldn't care less for the adapter but it's my wife's car. I got the turbo engine - I'm happy! She currently has a '95 318ti with ~136,000 miles. Get the revs up and it pulls like a rally car going up Pike's Peak! Anyone interested in a black/black HATCHBACK CAR? (can't get them anymore, you know!).
The dealer is asking $1,570 over invoice for the 328xi. We haven't done any negotiating nor arrived at a trade-in value for the 318ti. I'm going to try to get the price down a little, especially as a repeat buyer. Thoughts?
OK, enough blabbing. Any thoughts on any of this?
xeye
(Soon to be xeye SQUARED!)
As far as replacing the RFT's, the first set on a 2006 330i were a mess after 24,000 miles of a very normal mix of city and highway driving. I am 65 years of age and do not brutilize my tires in any way, shape or form. But they had to be replaced after the 1st 24,000 miles.
I have a second set on the car now and some wear is showing at 32,000, some 8,000 after replacement. I have had the steering etc. checked by the local BMW dealer AND an independent tire dealer and they both state all is in perfect condition.
When these finally do wear out I will replace with conventional tires costing about 1/2 what the RF's cost. I have done extensive research and there are plenty of name brand tires that have four (yes 4) times the wear rating of the RF's that come on BMWs. (They have a wear rating of 100 vs 350 - 450 on tires costing 1/2). This theoretically = 3 to 4 times the wear.
John....Springfield, OR
32K is great. I have never run any tire past 3 years/30K. I believe in good rubber at all times for safety. After 3 years, tires are basically not giving the same performance that I want and that relates to safety to me.
I replaced the Contis at 23-24K but they had some good meat left.
Regards,
OW
I replaced the second set of tires on my 330xi at 23 - 24K which still had about 20% tread life left. I had to anyway because I will turn in this ride in December as it is leased so I wanted good rubber for the last 8 months. Net/net it cost me one set of tires which I got for $580 + $20 tip for 4 225/45 R17 ContiPro Contact SSR's (including mounting/valves/Bal). The first set of BS bad rubber junk was changed for free in May '06 at 12K miles and were really loud with very uneven wear DESPITE tire rotation at 6K!
I rotated the second set of tires (Conti) front/back each 6K miles and the wear was perfect.
You don't have to but since I do it myself, it costs me 20 minutes per rotation.
Good luck shopping because it's a buyers market out there...BMW is competing quite aggressively so let 'er rip!
Regards,
OW
Piece of cake!
Regards,
OW
On my 08 328i, I have the Bridgestone RFT's with about 10k miles on them. Compared to the Michelin Pilots that I had on the E46 that I traded for the '08, I'm not very impressed. I miss the turn-in performance, the dry grip, and -especially!!-the wet grip that my Pilots had.
Since most of my driving (90%, really) is around a major metropolitan area, I'm considering dumping the RFT's, when they wear out in 10 - 15K miles, buying Michelin Pilots again and just calling Roadside Assistance if I DO happen to get a flat after that.
Comments? Warnings? Will Pilots fit on the same rims?
Thanks!
I get a lot of vibration through the steering column and the ride is uncomfortable and noisy. Not the reason I bought the ultimate driving machine.
Could I check with you: did you have the dealer put on Continental ContiProContact SSR or something else? Did this void the tire insurance (which I unfortunately signed up for). TIA.
36K Miles on it...
Ok I am new to the BMW world, my wife had one when we got married. So we drive it quite often. Now just last weekend the gauge for the tire inflation when off. Ok cool, put some air in it, but the indicator stayed on. So we went to the BMW dealership (Atlanta, Ga) and after a long wait the told us $300.00 to change out ONE TIME, said they don't patch the RFT. Ok Cool, but I am no fool. I went down the street to Good Year and they had a Great Tire, I had to get two for the back, and paid 260.00 for them both, balanced and all rotated. The tires that came with the car "SUCKED" opps did I say that, they were the loudest tires I have EVER heard. I was like man this is a 40K Car and the tires sound like this...
Anyway, I see nothing wrong with swapping the RFT for something better quality. I will pay for quality, not quantity and definitely not a gimmick. To to either Good Year or Michelin, leave those factory Continentals alone.
Other than the tires, I like and respect the car. I am interested in trying out the M5. First thing I would do is change the tires...
Have a Great Day
Regards,
OW
Ciao for now
Larry
I think you know that I am about to buy a 2008 328xi. Unfortunately, the car comes "equipped" with the Bridgestone Turanza RFT SL42s. I know there were a ton of complaints about the early versions ('06 primarily), but I haven't heard too many complaints lately. Do you (or anyone else) know if there have been significant improvements since then? I'd heard they re-formulated the rubber, but was it enough?
I have the ContiProContacts on my '07 335xi and I'm happy with them even through last Boston's winter. They only rumble at slow speeds, and it's not intrusive.
Let me know.
The rubber compound was changed in 2006 after the onslaught of complaints. I have not seen 2007/2008 3'er complaints with the BS tires. I assume they are OK now but welcome anyones comments on experiences to the contrary.
They should be OK but some posters demanded the Conti's and got them on their new cars. You might want to try that also if you are happy with the Continentals.
Regards,
OW
Pat,
If you're reading this, I'd like to be xeye again. Can you swap the e-mail registered for teeye and make me xeye again?
Thanks.
xeye
Regards,
OW
I had two sets on my 2006, they were crap. Dealership replaced them once for free with the same BS, then I replaced them for lease turn in. Replaced with Continentals and it rides like it's brand new! I hope they have changed the composition with the Bridgestones. I'll definitely bring it in as soon as they start making that awful noise! I was so surprised to look at cars at the dealership still with Bridgestones. Funny, I wasn't looking at the cars as much as the tires! BMW really screwed up on that one.
If you do not have the SP, I suggest rotating the tires ever 5-6K with the new car.
Regards,
OW
They're no more noisy than the Michelin Pilots that I had on my 2003 325i.
I have about 10K on them and they still look OK, but when I bought the car the sales rep told me flatly and honestly that I wouldn't get more than 25K from them.
They weren't a deal-breaker for me...
I do miss the better performance from the Pilots (particularly in the wet, as I mentioned above), but to be fair, the Pilots are exceptional summer tires, while the RFT's are not only RFT's but all season as well.
The honest opinion would be that if you're not pushing the car that hard, the RFT's won't be an issue at all.
Regretably for me, I like to push the car. It's not an M3, but for me the whole point of having a BMW is to drive [only a little, for all you lawyers watching] too fast.
The electronics seem to make up for some of the lost cornering capability, but I'm not used to feeling the rear end slide and then jump into line- and I'm not used to hearing the squeal in a turn. Never happened with the Pilots.
Densmith1 -
I'm a little confused by your story - were the go-flats just the wrong tires, or were they deemed incompatible with the rims?
I'm still musing about changing the BS RFT's out for some Pilots. As I've tried to say above, there's nothing wrong with the BS RFT's on my 2008 - I just miss the better Michelins.
Oh, and I'm on my 4th BMW and I've never rotated the tires on any of them. It's never become an issue with accelerated wear at one end or the other, at least for me. Keep the rotation money, and use it to buy better tires the next time.
Regards,
OW