UPDATE on the ongoing saga: to add insult to injury, I picked up a nail in one of the tires last night. Pirelli says you can never repair their runflats...
https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiret...jsp?techid=226
I bought these at Tire Rack, and they come with road hazard insurance, so they should replace that one for (basically) free. Of course it would be ridiculous to run on 3 bald tire and one new one, so I should replace the others as well.
So I called Tire Rack and complained about the ridiculously low mileage, and they said they would give me 25% off of new ones, and replace the other one for free, so I am only paying for 3, and at a discount. But tire prices have skyrocketed in the last few months, so paying for 3 costs more than it cost for the original 4! And of course I'll have the same stupid tires, so I'll be right back here complaining again in another few months. 😋
Also, Tire Rack does have my OEM tires, Bridgestone Alenza, but they were horrible in every way. And they have Michelin Pilot Sport 4S, but they are backordered
indefinitely. So there ya go -- all options suck.
The other option I had considered
before was switching to 20" all around, but of course then I would need new wheels as well, and also I have no idea what-the-heck that would do to my handling. Actually the total cost for that -- for new 20" wheels, new Michelin Pilot Sport 4S, and new TPMS gizmos -- would be only a few hundred dollars more than 4 new Pirelli 21" jobbies. Dang those 21's are expensive!!