Tires, Wheels, & Brakes Discussion about wheels, tires, and brakes for the new MINI.

Now I need a new Tire or Tires...

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Old 08-16-2009, 11:41 AM
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Now I need a new Tire or Tires...

Ok, so my TPMS light came on a while back, (slow Leak) but i never got a chance to go get it patched, since i work the late shift.

This week i had some free time and too the mini to Les Schwab to get it patched, after seeing many-a-post about how patching>plugging.

I got there and was quoted ~$13 to patch the tire.

After waiting for a while, the tech come out and says that the sidewall was too worn, and that he couldnt patch it because it could explode when he inflated it.

Since he already had the tire off the rim and refused to put it back on, i was stuck. I could:

1) pay ~$100 for him to put on a new random brand runflat.
2) pay ~$35 for him to find a used tire to put on (without balancing)
3) pay ~$55 for him to find a used tire to put on (with balancing)

I opted for option 3. unfortunately the tire he found is a different size.

3 of my tires are 205/45/RF17 Kumho Ecsta runflats, and the 4th is a Falken 215/40/RF17.

I havent noticed any major handling differences, but i think the Falken wheel is making noise (road noise, i guess?). I put the seats back up to deaden it.

My question is, is it worth it to get 4 new non-runflats and try to sell my current tires? (the 3 kumho's are almost new)

How much difficulty am i gonna have selling them?

Tire rack has Yokohama S.Drive's for $81 a pop.
 
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Old 08-16-2009, 12:00 PM
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You might look at the Marketplace to see if anyone is looking for some runflats.

If it were me, I'd get rid of the runflats, as they are heavy and you almost always run the risk of replacement anytime one gets a puncture. That, in itself, makes for really expensive tires. There are real nice non-runflats out there...cheaper and that run well. The only downside is ya gotta either carry a spare tire or get a Slime kit with a small compressor anda patch kit for roadside repairs.
 
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Old 08-16-2009, 05:24 PM
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You said your current Kumhos are almost new. Check the thread thichness. If they are quite new 8/32 or more??, you can replace just one tire. If they are starting to wear down, then you can replace one axle. For safety reasons, you should put the new tires in the back.

The car rides on 4 little tire patches so tires are extremely important. I would highly recommend aganist mixing tires (and tire sizes) on the same axle.
 
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Old 08-17-2009, 02:07 AM
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buy another kuhmo RF and put it on the right front then sell falken here, on ebay and craigslist for cheap. Or you can just keep it as spare and buy 1 more rim to mount it on incase it hapeens again. Then when RFs go bald buy 3 falkens to run. wala
 
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