HONESTLY

I need some owners answers...

How many of you have actually had to replace or repair (i know that is far fetched) a runflat tire, or tire and rim???? Due to damage or flat??

Reason I ask is that when I go in (when my car finally arrives) They offer a tire and rim replacement plan......
Need to know if it is worth it.....

3 years or 80,000km
tire and rim replacement
towing to nearest bmw to get that tire and rim replaced

$650.00

 

I had one of my runflats patched. I have a feeling that if I took it to the dealer they would have told me that runflats can't be patched and told me to buy a new one.

Since I've gone to non-runflats I've had one patched and one replaced after an impact separation. That averages out to about one tire issue per year.

I bought the replacement plan from Discount Tire for $84 (for 4 tires) so they replaced the impact separated tire for free. The $600 plan from the dealer would only pay off if you damaged a wheel or had to have 2 tires replaced during the time of the plan. That seems unlikely to me.

 

I think such plans are probably not worth it with 15", probably worth it with "17, but hard to predict with 16". YMMV.

 

When I purchased my MCS I was offered the tire/wheel replacement insurance for something like $350. Naturally my first thought was, no I don't need that. From all I've read, its just away for the dealer to make some more money off of me. So, I didn't buy it.

Fast forward 2 weeks. I happened to walk behind my car in the mall parking lot and noticed something shiney on the inside sidewall of my rear tire. I got down on my hands and knees a to have a look, and there it was, the head of a big nail.

So off to the local tire fix-it shop. The first one I went to wouldn't even look at it, because it was a run flat tire. He stated that he won't mess with those things. The next guy took a look at it, pulled the nail out of it and plugged the tire. But, because of the location of the hole (being in the sidewall) he said the tire was toast, and for safety reasons would have to be replaced. He recommended a couple of tire shops where I could get a replacement, he said that he didn't sell run-flats.

So to make a long story short, I priced a new run-flat @ $300 (boy, that insurance didn't sound too bad at that point) but decided to ditch the run-flats all together and go with a complete set of non-run flats. So, I purchased a set of good non-run flats for less than $100 more than 1 tire was going to cost me. I'm happier with the non-run flats; much better ride, just as good of control, less road noise.

About a month ago I purchased a Honda Element SC. Yes, I purchased the tire/wheel insurance on it.

To answer your question, its great if you ever need it, but if you don't use it, its money wasted. But if you have it, you also have "peice of mind" that its there if you need it.

There is another discussion thread about this subject if you won't to search for it. Seems like its only a couple of weeks old.

Good luck on your decision.

Here's the link to the other discussion:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...d.php?t=110066

 

44,000 miles; no flats

 

Any puncture in a side wall of a tire will be cause for replacement.

I find it hard to believe that there are tire companies selling tires that won't repair a regular flat (in the body tread of the tire) regardless of the type of tire it is.
Even if they didn't want to plug it and they patch it from inside(I prefer patching to plugging) the integrity of the tire should be ok. IMO


I would highly doubt that you would damage a wheel in every day driving but it can happen depending upon the road surface conditions.

I always buy the road hazard warranty when I purchase tires...it is fairly cheap and good to have especially since tires are not that cheap anymore

 

Lost two 17" rims and a runflat to a nasty pothole (more like a ditch) on I-40. Tires, rims (2 used @ $75 ea), and mounting ran me about $700. I paid about $180/tire from TireRack. Last time I checked, the runflats were running about $285 - not sure why the price has jumped so much.

While expensive, I will say that those runflats held up about 300 miles before I lost enough air for my sensor to go off.

Its one of those things - if you buy it you probably won't need it, if you don't you end up like me.

 

It’s going to depend on how you get a flat. I had two get nails dead center and repaired both without a problem. I also cut the sidewall on one and had to replace it, so what you ask is a very open question.

 

just chatted with a nice owner... the local road repair crew forgot to mark a crater they just created so that they had something to repair...

anyway, his 17" rim was bent in 2 places (or was that 2 rims were bent?), but the tire didn't blow out.
(BTW, he got the NY DOT to pay for the rim).

In 186,000 mi of driving with my last car, I had exactly 1 puncture, and the tire was at the end of its life anyway.

HTH.

 

I had 2 run flats patched at different times. I had to call around to a couple of shops before one said they knew how to work on one. Both repairs cost me something like $40.

 

In 2 1/2 years of using runflats, I have had 2 inside patches done, one remount due to tire separating from the rim, and one set of replacements to non-RFs all done for less than the cost of the insurance policy.

It also occurs to me that the RF tires get damaged more easily and are not quite ready for prime-time yet. I would probably go back to RFs when they get the technology more advanced and the price becomes more reasonable as I see the advantages to such an idea. But for now, they're just too much trouble.

 

If you bought your Mini at Flow, then the $350 price for tire/wheel insurance is what I paid. I didn't know about tire/wheel insurance until I was taking delivery, and as soon as they offered it to me at that price, I was happy to add it to my bill.

The price of one wheel & tire is far more than I paid to insure all four.

 

03 MCS Dunlop runflats - nail puncture within first month of driving, local tire shop plugged, cost <$20. Another repairable puncture on different tire almost a year later, same shop, same cost. First tire flat again yet another year later (maybe the original repair wore out?), same shop, same cost. Total outlay for three flat repairs over 2-1/2 years and 21000 miles: <$60.
Traded to 05 MCS, same rims, same Dunlops - no flats yet in 2 years, 19000miles [knocks on wood].

Neither of my 03 nor 05 dealers ever mentioned combined tire/rim insurance, but I would not have taken it, certainly not at $650, not even at $350.

I know people do damage their rims sometimes, but I suspect the numbers are relatively few. I personally would never consider rim insurance. I will be buying insurance for my first set of replacement tires (happening soon!)

Of course, if you face extraordinary road hazards in your part of the world, you may think/choose differently.

 

I just had a major blow-out of one of my "runflat" tires last week. Seems all the speed bumps in my neighborhood cause my car to run on its sidewalls a bit and the siffer RF sidewall started to separate from the tread causing the first groove of tread to split. I replaced all for tires with non-RFs for less than the cost of 1 RF tire. I've always had a compressor and a can of slime in my car's boot. In the two years I've had my MINI, I've had 4 issues with the RF tires. In the 22 years I've had my other daily driver, I have had 1 puncture fix and have never had to use the mini-spare tire.

When my MINI dealer offered me tire insurance when I bought my car, I told him they were crazy to charge the price of a tire as insurance. It automatically assumes that risk of needing a replacement is very high. My theory was if I need to use the insurance (or extended warranties), then the product in question probably isn't very reliable and I should be looking to replace them as soon as possible. The runflat tires I had still probably had at least a year's worth of tread on them.

Here's a link to some of my thoughts regarding my experience with RF tires.

http://bekentech.spaces.live.com/blo...63DB!310.entry