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Comments
Best regards,
Shipo
Were those your Kumhos? I've had a couple of sets, so far, and they've been quite good. Maybe I've just been lucky.
That doesn't mean that the odometer is incorrect, or that the car was used as a demo. I dont think a BMW dealership would risk their multi-million dollar investment to try and roll back an odometer. Yes, they should have told you, but I wouldn't assume the odometer is incorrect.
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I have a very close relationship with my local dealership (BMW of Eugene) and as such see many vehicles treated this way. EXAMPLE: 335i is ordered by the dealer and when it arrives, they have no 335i's as demos so they label "your" car as a demo. Then you come along and buy it. It is still a demo but has no mileage on it.
As long as the mileage is low, lets say under 500, it could have been used as a "loaner" to clients while their car was serviced. Take the 55k warranty as long as the extra 5k covers the number on the odometer. I have found over the ownership of 5 late model BMWs, that BMW of North America is VERY FAIR AND HONEST in dealings with their customers. One of my vehicles is a 2006 330i on which the warranty just ran out March 16th. The battery want yesterday, March 24th. The local dealer got BMW's approval and replaced it no questions asked.
Have fun with your new Bimmer
John, Springfield, Oregon
Assuming the 5 miles on the clock is the true mileage, the way I see it is that you get extra 5k miles warranty because your dealer label it as demo. With 5 miles on the clock, there probably had been no other customer ever test drove your car. (When I took delivery of my custom-ordered 3-series, the odometer showed 6 miles on it.) And when I bought my "brand new" Infiniti G37, there has been 128 miles on the clock. It was not called a demo, but God knows how many people had test-drove it before I bought it.
Just give your dealer a call and see what it has to say. Let us know.
Besides, that extra 5K warranty is WORTH something.
That car has less miles on her than many other new cars have. Only 5 miles in the odometer. Very probably no harm done to the car either (unless fraud has been committed, and I do not think so).
I'd rather enjoy the car and tipped warranty without remorse. I did a deal close to this when I bought my 335d two years ago. The difference was that I new it was a demo new car that never was demo-ed. As she was, she was to be sold to a big client, a company with a float, with a nice price rebate. I got she offered to me. So what? The purest is an enemy of the good.
Regards,
Jose
The warranty on the demo is extended by 3 months and 5K miles.. So, a demo car has 4yrs, 3 mos or 55K miles from the in-service date.
If they demo-ed the car more than 3 months before you got it, then you are going to be short on your 4 years of warranty... If not, then I wouldn't sweat it, a bit..
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My friends own a tire shop and they repair them FOR the BMW dealer---LOL!
No, at 67 years of age, I do not drive erratically as my close friend who owns a BMW dealership suggests.
I agree with the reply who states that "yes, they can be repaired". I have never had to repair any of them. I have however replaced them because of "early" wear. (25,000 miles max. before tread is mostly gone).
RFTs is a way BMW cheapened the cost of production while not passing it on to the consumer. Because they purchase so many RFTs, "DEAL" is the word....not the price you are going to pay when you replace 1 or more. Your lucky if you do not have the Sports Package with the larger EXPENSIVE rear tires. YUK!!!!!!
I have no idea where you live, BUT make sure you can buy locally (in emergency situations) before you run around in rural areas without a "donut" spare / jack & tools. My trunks carry all of these.
RFTs have been a sore in BMW purchasers sides since inception of the idea. Nevertheless, BMW persists on loosing customers because of it. They just do not care. But then, who am I to talk. I still own 2 of the 3 Bimmers that came with "Bad Rubbers".
Regards.John
In conventional tires, you can tell if the tire has a damaged sidewall by the abrasion either on the outside or on the inside (which is why plug type repairs are not recommended).
With a RunFlat tire, there won't be any abrasion, AND any indication that the sidewall is damaged is hidden underneath the hard rubber insert. If the sidewall were to fail at high speed, this would be potentially fatal.
Given that this is possible, tire manufacturers have different takes on this. Some say a RunFlat is repairable (so they think the risk is low) and others say they are not repairable (so they think the potential results are too risky). Either way, there is a risk, it's just how you want to view the risk and how much risk you are willing to accept.
Last month I went for it and replaced with ExtremeContact DW's. Don't just walk away from rft's, RUN! For the first time in 3 years I enjoy my car again and will continue to drive it for years now. It is a joy, minimal to no noise, absorbs bumps, rides great - totally different car without compromising handling in any way that I can notice and I'm an aggressive driver. I bought fix a flat and the other gunkier stuff in case something worse comes along. Sensors are in brakes, not rims I understand and so you can clean inside of tire if something happens. Not even bothering with spare, tools, etc. Maybe I'll get AAA or something - don't care anyway.
Do yourselves a favor, just get over it and do the right thing for yourselves - ditch the rft's and save money doing it.
BUY A BMW WITH RFTs = BUY A POTENTIALLY EXPENSIVE PROBLEM.
As long as BMW "spends" potential customers who are aware of the problems with RFTs, they will not fully see the potential sales they could.
Certainly they have read all the negative write ups published by both owners / drives AND publications. OFFER EITHER TIRE AS OPTIONS ON NEW CARS!
John
It's clear that there are more at the door to buy BMWs, regardless of what's done to take them away from what built the brand in the first place. There's far more money to be made building fashion accessories than cars enthusiasts wish to drive.
so, finally gave up and put the car on craiglist. then, thought better of it and got a set of 17 inch rims and grand touring tires (was going for HP all season, but tirerack talked me out of it). hopefully that'll reduce if not eliminate the issue. at least if they bust I can get a cheap new tire from any local store and not have to wait for special delivery. my last 2 cars also had low profile tires, but i never busted them. they didn't have RFs. never again. don't get RFTs!!
If you drive on them for too long, then yeah, you can't repair them, or if you puncture the side wall, but otherwise, I'd have a competent shop repair mine without any concern.
Shops refuse to repair them because they don't know how, is what's really going on.
You might findTHESE COMMENTS interesting. Notice how those who say YES you can repair a RFT are talking from experience but that those who say NO only say that because they were told it wasn't possible.
And to be fair, that's honest enough---stay away from whatever you don't know and you'll stay out of trouble.
I'd say the rules are:
1. If you drive too long without air in them, they're toast
2. If they are punctured in a sidewall, they are probably toast
3. If you use "slime" to inflate them, you'll foul up the monitoring sensors (but they can be cleaned
4. If you go to a shop that follows manufacturer's procedures, and if the tire is safely pluggable, you're good to go.
I don't know how expensive it is to convert from 18s to 17s - how long do you think it'll take you to make up that cost?
Also, even though the car has great accelleration, I can't imagine the change from 18s to 17s changing the dynamics much. What is your experience?
Best regards,
Shipo
You're right on with the width vs diameter. BMW also doesn't even recommend tire rotation unless there is a specific need to do so. I have almost 28,000 miles on my ContiProContact RFTs and the wear is perfectly even all the way around with a lot more tread left. Quiet, good grip and smooth, too.
Two big reasons I elected to take the 17" wheels are for the all-season tires (on my '07 335xi) and a much lesser likelihood of cracking a wheel with the craters in the Boston-area roads. I've inadvertently whacked some potholes pretty hard and did no damage. I seriously doubt I would have escaped with 18" wheels, and therefore, less rubber between the wheel and road.
It really depends on where you live, the road conditions and the climate.
When I got my second BMW (a 530i SP), I was in no hurry to rotate the tires, however, after maybe ten-thousand miles, the rear tires got so noisy that it was either try to rotate them, or buy new tires. I chose the former and was so delighted with the results that I rotated every 10,000 miles after that; managed to get over 35,000 miles out of a set of "summer" tires which is kind of unheard of.
If/when I get another BMW, you can be assured that I will A) order the Sport Package again, "downgrade" the wheel/tire combo to the smallest wheel size that will fit over the brakes, and make them the same width all the way around, and C) make good well and sure that any new rubber I buy is of the good old GFT (Gets Flat Tires) variety.
Best regards,
Shipo
As for repairs, the debate continues here as well. The UK's Tyre Industry Council (Tyresafe), don't recommend repairs unless specific criteria is met and qualified inspection takes place. Most tire shops won't take the risk, as the tire manufacturers also state a similar case. Liability is one of the main issues.
One serious issue we have here is, we use the 'indirect' TPWS. ABS sensor based, so tires can slowly go down 'ahead' of a puncture alert. Some tires have shreaded within a few miles, suggesting users have already run many miles on low pressure, so any repairs are even more suspect. Inspections have shown the inside of the tires are in a right mess, even after just a few miles from the warning gong, completely over heated and turning to dust.
As one tire shop stated to me, "you leave here with a new run-flat tire and get a puncture down the road, we won't repair it, it will be another new tyre". Then let forth on the way he really felt about the problems with run-flats. :mad:
HighlandPete
Best regards,
Shipo
To think of changing front to back is a no, no. We are into the whole concept of handling, controlled understeer and handling balance. The 'staggered' wheels are a sport setup after all.
HighlandPete
regarding the cost: you can go on tirerack or discount tire or probably others and get prices. I got a nice looking set of 17s that look exactly like some people's stock 328s for only 130 each. the tires are standard GFTs, only 130 each. tirerack also talked me out of getting high performance all seasons and into grand touring all seasons, which last up to 60,000 miles vs. 40,000 for the high performance (he asked me if I do any "high performance" related stuff. I said no). grand total, including shipping was 1160. or only about 300 bucks more than what I would;'ve spent on the rear RFTs alone!!
so, if I kept the RFTs I would've had to replace them every 20,000 miles or so. with the grand touring tires, I won't ahve to change them for nearly 3 times as long. that defintely makes it worth while.
performance: the 17s are lighter than the 18s. so, you'll have less unsprung weight=better handling in some situations (such as when encountering nyc potholes that literally swallow smart cars). also less weight to rotate=faster rotation. therefore, you might get a very slight improvement in acceleration. the down side is that I'll probably not be able to corner as fast anymore given the taller and softer sidewalls. not much loss for me.
well, I still haven't received the new set of wheels and tires yet, but I'll let you know how they go. I just received my third replacement RFT for the fronts yesterday. so, for the first time in 5 days I was able to drive my car. which brings up another EXCELLENT point about the switch from RFT to GFs: I don't have to wait days for a replacemtn tire anymore. I just have to go to the nearest auto shop and they'll have my very ordinary touring tires for a very ordinary price.
oh, and as for the spare: the front 18s fit on any corner of the car, so I'll just keep one of them in the trunk to use as a full size spare! it'll be a spare that you wouldn't even need to check the pressure on! I'll have the fastest buick, i mean , bimmer on the block!!
That isn't entirely true. Why? Not only are the 18" wheels heavier, but the bulk of the weight is further from the axis of rotation, and if you've ever tried to turn a heavy gyroscope against its will, you'll realize that the further that weight is from the axis, the longer it takes to actually turn the wheel from its desired rotational plane.
FWIW, there was a study done a few years ago that looked at the handling aspects of various wheel sizes, and said study found that the sweet spot for handling was in the 15"-17" range (many weekend racers have actually downsized the wheels on their E-36 3-Series cars to 15” and gotten better lap times). Move to smaller or larger wheels beyond the range and handling starts to fall off. The flip side of course is that larger wheels allow for larger brakes, so unless you're going to upgrade your BMW with a Big Brake Kit, then you're likely to get better handling with 17" wheels than 18" wheels. Counter intuitive I know, but there you have it.
Best regards,
Shipo