Run Flats or Normal Tyres ??? Help

[Aksh]

Hi Gents , Thinking of changing my runflats to normal tyres , as runflats are too costly , what are your views on changing to normal tyres .
Also will the computer board pick up an error if changed ???

Thanks
Aksh (2008 320i M Sport)

 

[Philip Foglar]

Hi Gents , Thinking of changing my runflats to normal tyres , as runflats are too costly , what are your views on changing to normal tyres .
Also will the computer board pick up an error if changed ???

Thanks
Aksh (2008 320i M Sport)

Some questions:

What size wheels/tyres does your car have? Narrow/wides?
Do you have a space-saver or at least a mobility kit?
Is your car still under motorplan?

Reason for asking - price of 225/45R17 non-RFT's is quite cheap, but wide size is still hellish expensive and almost the same as the equivalent size RFT. At least that's what I noticed. So rather pay the extra bit for the safety advantage of RFT's.

Also, if you change to non-RFT's, best to let your insurance know and acknowledge in writing... :thumbs:

 

[Aksh]

Hi Gents , Thinking of changing my runflats to normal tyres , as runflats are too costly , what are your views on changing to normal tyres .
Also will the computer board pick up an error if changed ???

Thanks
Aksh (2008 320i M Sport)

Some questions:

What size wheels/tyres does your car have? Narrow/wides?
Do you have a space-saver or at least a mobility kit?
Is your car still under motorplan?

Reason for asking - price of 225/45R17 non-RFT's is quite cheap, but wide size is still hellish expensive and almost the same as the equivalent size RFT. At least that's what I noticed. So rather pay the extra bit for the safety advantage of RFT's.

Also, if you change to non-RFT's, best to let your insurance know and acknowledge in writing... :thumbs:

Thanks Philip:thumbs:

(W & N) Front 225/40/R18s and Back 255/35/18.

Car still under motorplan 90000 Km on the clock.

People normally say Runflats are a harder ride and often wears out quicker than normal tyres.

Whats you view

 

[Jakkals_F30]

Runflats is better from a safety perspective to not get stuck next to the road..
Yes runflats is a bit harder than normal tyres but wear is the same i would say as it's still a normal tyre only the sidewalls are reinforced.

---

I have RFT's on my car... replaced them already + have the mobility kit in the boot cause if it's safe to pull over i will still use the kit to seal the puncture and inflate the wheel so that i don't damage the sidewall and that i can get it repaired if possible.

---

Hope that helps :thumbs:

 

[pimpassdaddy]

Hi Gents , Thinking of changing my runflats to normal tyres , as runflats are too costly , what are your views on changing to normal tyres .
Also will the computer board pick up an error if changed ???

Thanks
Aksh (2008 320i M Sport)

Some questions:

What size wheels/tyres does your car have? Narrow/wides?
Do you have a space-saver or at least a mobility kit?
Is your car still under motorplan?

Reason for asking - price of 225/45R17 non-RFT's is quite cheap, but wide size is still hellish expensive and almost the same as the equivalent size RFT. At least that's what I noticed. So rather pay the extra bit for the safety advantage of RFT's.

Also, if you change to non-RFT's, best to let your insurance know and acknowledge in writing... :thumbs:

Thanks Philip:thumbs:

(W & N) Front 225/40/R18s and Back 255/35/18.

Car still under motorplan 90000 Km on the clock.

People normally say Runflats are a harder ride and often wears out quicker than normal tyres.

Whats you view

If you go normal, this will void your motorplan if I'm correct.

 

[Philip Foglar]

Hi Gents , Thinking of changing my runflats to normal tyres , as runflats are too costly , what are your views on changing to normal tyres .
Also will the computer board pick up an error if changed ???

Thanks
Aksh (2008 320i M Sport)

Some questions:

What size wheels/tyres does your car have? Narrow/wides?
Do you have a space-saver or at least a mobility kit?
Is your car still under motorplan?

Reason for asking - price of 225/45R17 non-RFT's is quite cheap, but wide size is still hellish expensive and almost the same as the equivalent size RFT. At least that's what I noticed. So rather pay the extra bit for the safety advantage of RFT's.

Also, if you change to non-RFT's, best to let your insurance know and acknowledge in writing... :thumbs:

Thanks Philip:thumbs:

(W & N) Front 225/40/R18s and Back 255/35/18.

Car still under motorplan 90000 Km on the clock.

People normally say Runflats are a harder ride and often wears out quicker than normal tyres.

Whats you view

If you go normal, this will void your motorplan if I'm correct.

Not entirely true, provided the tyres are BMW Approved with the star symbol - from what I understood from the agents is that you could fit a non-RFT BMW Approved tyre like a Bridgestone or Continental for example. But chances are you are going to be paying not much less than the RFT's.

18" unfortunately is one of the more expensive sizes, 17" is at least a bit softer on the pocket, especially the front tyres...

In terms of wear, I think this mostly depends on driving style - have heard that RFT's do tend to wear a bit quicker than normal tyres, but to what extent I cannot say. For example, Pirelli P Zero RFT's are often suggested to wear out very quickly! My father in law has them on his Z4 3.0i SMG and uses the car on a daily basis - also not scared to use the power. His tyres have done over 30k km and still have plenty tread left, even on the rears! Does he do burn-outs or frequent robot launches? Of course not!

Basically, RFT's have improved over the years and are a valuable safety feature as far as I am concerned - costly, but still mostly comparable to same size normal tyres of the same brand. Ditching RFT's for a more budget orientated tyre is where this skews the situation.

Edit: I see that you have an M Sport, so suspension is pretty hard - non-RFT's will offer a nicer ride of course, so still worth considering from the handling/comfort point of view...

 

[Jakkals_F30]

sport suspension + rft's.... pretty hard yes i can vouch for that..

 

[abmi0000]

sport suspension + rft's.... pretty hard yes i can vouch for that..

+1006516849648164158

 

[Aksh]

Hi Gents , Thinking of changing my runflats to normal tyres , as runflats are too costly , what are your views on changing to normal tyres .
Also will the computer board pick up an error if changed ???

Thanks
Aksh (2008 320i M Sport)

Some questions:

What size wheels/tyres does your car have? Narrow/wides?
Do you have a space-saver or at least a mobility kit?
Is your car still under motorplan?

Reason for asking - price of 225/45R17 non-RFT's is quite cheap, but wide size is still hellish expensive and almost the same as the equivalent size RFT. At least that's what I noticed. So rather pay the extra bit for the safety advantage of RFT's.

Also, if you change to non-RFT's, best to let your insurance know and acknowledge in writing... :thumbs:

Thanks Philip:thumbs:

(W & N) Front 225/40/R18s and Back 255/35/18.

Car still under motorplan 90000 Km on the clock.

People normally say Runflats are a harder ride and often wears out quicker than normal tyres.

Whats you view

If you go normal, this will void your motorplan if I'm correct.

Not entirely true, provided the tyres are BMW Approved with the star symbol - from what I understood from the agents is that you could fit a non-RFT BMW Approved tyre like a Bridgestone or Continental for example. But chances are you are going to be paying not much less than the RFT's.

18" unfortunately is one of the more expensive sizes, 17" is at least a bit softer on the pocket, especially the front tyres...

In terms of wear, I think this mostly depends on driving style - have heard that RFT's do tend to wear a bit quicker than normal tyres, but to what extent I cannot say. For example, Pirelli P Zero RFT's are often suggested to wear out very quickly! My father in law has them on his Z4 3.0i SMG and uses the car on a daily basis - also not scared to use the power. His tyres have done over 30k km and still have plenty tread left, even on the rears! Does he do burn-outs or frequent robot launches? Of course not!

Basically, RFT's have improved over the years and are a valuable safety feature as far as I am concerned - costly, but still mostly comparable to same size normal tyres of the same brand. Ditching RFT's for a more budget orientated tyre is where this skews the situation.

Edit: I see that you have an M Sport, so suspension is pretty hard - non-RFT's will offer a nicer ride of course, so still worth considering from the handling/comfort point of view...

Philip , please explain more ( Sorry Im not clued up, only 19 and got my 1st bimmer E90 last year , still lot to learn):thumbdo::fencelook: , as Im not clued up on the suspension part involving runflats , do I need to reset my suspension if putting runflats.

My dad has a E90 exclusive , and he did change to normal tyres , and he didnt do anything to his suspension , well his is not a sports pack and hes running normal tyres.

Buddy Whats the difference in using normal tyres on sports suspension , and a normal suspension.Please help :thumbs:

 

[Josh-ZN]

Runflats is better from a safety perspective to not get stuck next to the road..
Yes runflats is a bit harder than normal tyres but wear is the same i would say as it's still a normal tyre only the sidewalls are reinforced.

---

I have RFT's on my car... replaced them already + have the mobility kit in the boot cause if it's safe to pull over i will still use the kit to seal the puncture and inflate the wheel so that i don't damage the sidewall and that i can get it repaired if possible.

---

Hope that helps :thumbs:

---

---

^^ good advice that. what he said

 

[Jakkals_F30]

Some questions:

What size wheels/tyres does your car have? Narrow/wides?
Do you have a space-saver or at least a mobility kit?
Is your car still under motorplan?

Reason for asking - price of 225/45R17 non-RFT's is quite cheap, but wide size is still hellish expensive and almost the same as the equivalent size RFT. At least that's what I noticed. So rather pay the extra bit for the safety advantage of RFT's.

Also, if you change to non-RFT's, best to let your insurance know and acknowledge in writing... :thumbs:

Thanks Philip:thumbs:

(W & N) Front 225/40/R18s and Back 255/35/18.

Car still under motorplan 90000 Km on the clock.

People normally say Runflats are a harder ride and often wears out quicker than normal tyres.

Whats you view

If you go normal, this will void your motorplan if I'm correct.

Not entirely true, provided the tyres are BMW Approved with the star symbol - from what I understood from the agents is that you could fit a non-RFT BMW Approved tyre like a Bridgestone or Continental for example. But chances are you are going to be paying not much less than the RFT's.

18" unfortunately is one of the more expensive sizes, 17" is at least a bit softer on the pocket, especially the front tyres...

In terms of wear, I think this mostly depends on driving style - have heard that RFT's do tend to wear a bit quicker than normal tyres, but to what extent I cannot say. For example, Pirelli P Zero RFT's are often suggested to wear out very quickly! My father in law has them on his Z4 3.0i SMG and uses the car on a daily basis - also not scared to use the power. His tyres have done over 30k km and still have plenty tread left, even on the rears! Does he do burn-outs or frequent robot launches? Of course not!

Basically, RFT's have improved over the years and are a valuable safety feature as far as I am concerned - costly, but still mostly comparable to same size normal tyres of the same brand. Ditching RFT's for a more budget orientated tyre is where this skews the situation.

Edit: I see that you have an M Sport, so suspension is pretty hard - non-RFT's will offer a nicer ride of course, so still worth considering from the handling/comfort point of view...

Philip , please explain more ( Sorry Im not clued up, only 19 and got my 1st bimmer E90 last year , still lot to learn):thumbdo::fencelook: , as Im not clued up on the suspension part involving runflats , do I need to reset my suspension if putting runflats.

My dad has a E90 exclusive , and he did change to normal tyres , and he didnt do anything to his suspension , well his is not a sports pack and hes running normal tyres.

Buddy Whats the difference in using normal tyres on sports suspension , and a normal suspension.Please help :thumbs:

I think all he wants to say is that your suspension etc is made for runflats and why the standard on the e90's... sportpack has a sport suspension... sport suspension = harder ride already as it's lowered.

so if you have runflats with the sport suspension the ride is harder than what it would be with normal tyres.

No reset or anything required on your suspension if you do go normal tyres. If there's anything unclear we are all here to help :thumbs:

 

[petrivanzyl]

I'd go for run flats. They are not really more expensive than any decent brand non-run flats and they are safer.

 

[Philip Foglar]

Thanks Philip:thumbs:

(W & N) Front 225/40/R18s and Back 255/35/18.

Car still under motorplan 90000 Km on the clock.

People normally say Runflats are a harder ride and often wears out quicker than normal tyres.

Whats you view

If you go normal, this will void your motorplan if I'm correct.

Not entirely true, provided the tyres are BMW Approved with the star symbol - from what I understood from the agents is that you could fit a non-RFT BMW Approved tyre like a Bridgestone or Continental for example. But chances are you are going to be paying not much less than the RFT's.

18" unfortunately is one of the more expensive sizes, 17" is at least a bit softer on the pocket, especially the front tyres...

In terms of wear, I think this mostly depends on driving style - have heard that RFT's do tend to wear a bit quicker than normal tyres, but to what extent I cannot say. For example, Pirelli P Zero RFT's are often suggested to wear out very quickly! My father in law has them on his Z4 3.0i SMG and uses the car on a daily basis - also not scared to use the power. His tyres have done over 30k km and still have plenty tread left, even on the rears! Does he do burn-outs or frequent robot launches? Of course not!

Basically, RFT's have improved over the years and are a valuable safety feature as far as I am concerned - costly, but still mostly comparable to same size normal tyres of the same brand. Ditching RFT's for a more budget orientated tyre is where this skews the situation.

Edit: I see that you have an M Sport, so suspension is pretty hard - non-RFT's will offer a nicer ride of course, so still worth considering from the handling/comfort point of view...

Philip , please explain more ( Sorry Im not clued up, only 19 and got my 1st bimmer E90 last year , still lot to learn):thumbdo::fencelook: , as Im not clued up on the suspension part involving runflats , do I need to reset my suspension if putting runflats.

My dad has a E90 exclusive , and he did change to normal tyres , and he didnt do anything to his suspension , well his is not a sports pack and hes running normal tyres.

Buddy Whats the difference in using normal tyres on sports suspension , and a normal suspension.Please help :thumbs:

I think all he wants to say is that your suspension etc is made for runflats and why the standard on the e90's... sportpack has a sport suspension... sport suspension = harder ride already as it's lowered.

so if you have runflats with the sport suspension the ride is harder than what it would be with normal tyres.

No reset or anything required on your suspension if you do go normal tyres. If there's anything unclear we are all here to help :thumbs:

+1!

Yep, basically on the normal Exclusive suspension RFT's seem to be fine, but on an M Sport's harder suspension most people complain bitterly about the ride with RFT's. I remember reading about a guy describing how his water bottle jumped violently out of the cup-holder while going over one of those expansion joins on a bridge - that's severe!!

I think maybe 17" narrow/wide RFT's on the M Sport suspension might be okay, but I reckon 18" or 19" is just plain torture!! :nonono:

Edit: Of course the new F30 does have new 3rd generation RFT's which are also a slight larger overall diameter compared to the E90, plus the suspension design is a lot better in terms of making the best of the new RFT technology - even the Sport suspension is silky smooth, smoother than my non-Sport suspension Exclusive E90 for instance!

 

[petrivanzyl]

Of course the new F30 does have new 3rd generation RFT's which are also a slight larger overall diameter compared to the E90, plus the suspension design is a lot better in terms of making the best of the new RFT technology - even the Sport suspension is silky smooth, smoother than my non-Sport suspension Exclusive E90 for instance!

I can vouch for that....so smoooth:thumbs:

 

[Philip Foglar]

Yep, the F30 is very "light" on its feet compared to the E90 - also think maybe active steering is added or standard, so especially at town speeds the steering is very responsive and light!! :thumbs:

 

[mo_s]

Iv got the 18 narrow and wides...put on normal michelin pilot sports 3..huge difference all round esp the ride..im happy with normals ...i didn change simply to duck and dive from tire prices...remember tires are your only link to the road so v v important..rather pay for better tire than try and save and make ur car unsafe..regarding m/p they won't cover suspension wear but from what i gather they don't rely check what tires you using if nothing abnormally wrong on car..cos a freind of mine gets away every time..i never understood how there can be more suspension wear with a tire that has more traction tho..

..i changed cos got 5 months left on m/p and had suspension checked by bm before i switched over..also just had hell with runflats..jus the worry involved every time you get a puncture etc about the tire...and then the few times i had rim damage..i just felt normals were better having used them before runflats and felt happier being on normals..so i gues it depends on preference as well..ul never know the difference til u try it..

with normals u wil hav to get a space saver..i ordered one from bm a week before i switched...stil havnt got it 4 weeks later cos of a back order at bm..

good luck choosing

 

[Brudda P]

Yep, the F30 is very "light" on its feet compared to the E90 - also think maybe active steering is added or standard, so especially at town speeds the steering is very responsive and light!! :thumbs:

Run Flats!!! Had a serious blow out on both rear tyres doing 140 and towing a trailer. Car kept going straight and I did drove 60 km at 80 km/h to the nearest Supa Quik to purchase 2 new tyres @ R 1150 each.

---

Had serious blow-out in August 2011. Lost 2 rear tyres @ 140 km/h towing a trailer. Car kept going straight and could still drive 60 km at 80 km/h to the nearest Supa Quik to buy 2 run flats at R 1200 each. Run flats rule!

 

[Aksh]

Thank all you guys foe your input ,much appreciated!!!!!! Still deciding on this haha... :ty: :bravo:

 

[Rooi_Willie]

I've gone from 17" runflats to 19" non rfts...

The ride quality improved dramatically! Car is much more stable on the road and harshness can compare to the 17" tyres.

Only drawback is having to carry a spare wheel. If you can live with that, I would recommend going non RFT :thumbs:

 

[shia123]

You might have insurance problem should you need to claim something.