[brissim]

I sincerely hope that I'm not panicking people with my view of runflats. I think the important thing is for people to do your own research, talk to your BMW dealer, talk with your favourite tyre retailer if you have one, and just build up a picture of what is involved in - what even I would concede - is the very rare possibility you might need to either repair or replace a runflat tyre because of a puncture.

ppduck - the tyres I ended up with were Pirelli Scorpion Zero 235/60/17 102V. The cost was $345 fitted and balanced. I would have prefered Pirelli Scorption STRs but they only discountinued this size (in Australia) 6-12 months ago. Also would have preferred Michelins but were not available in this or similar sizes. Bridgestone and Yokohama also have the same size tyre but have had good experience with Pirellis in the past (I appreciate others may not have).

The more observent among you would realise that this tyre size - 235/60/17 - is in fact oversize. It is. It has a tyre OD of 714mm compared with the F25's reference tyre OD of 702mm. However as it is still within the allowance for tyre diameter variance (+15/-26mm in QLD - I believe its +15/-15mm in most other states) its still legal and does not impact on either your BMW warrantee (except obviously for the tyres), or insurance (I have this in writing from 4 insurance companys). The other option for 17" wheels is 225/60/17 99H which of course is listed on the X3's tyre placard. But it only has a load rating of 99 - which while OK - I wanted to maximum the load rating - hence the choice of the 235/60/17 which gives a 102 load rating (and a V speed rating for the Pirelli Scorpion Zero). It is perhaps significant to note that for 18" wheels I could not find any available tyre size that would meet the +15/-26mm variance allowed.

Tony

[sparoz]

Thanks again for the heads up, and I will check with my tyre retailer re stock situation. My wife will be driving on tarmac, so I don't really want to change them out of RFT for the extra convenience factor. Don't want my family to be stuck somewhere because they need to change a flat tyre.

I changed my RFT after 1000km on my 135i, and the pricing was very reasonable, but I don't remember exactly how much I have paid, may be in the vicinity of about $150 a corner.

Even with RFT, I would be carrying a compressor with me as most punctures are slow leaks and as long as the pressure is up, you won't be ruining your tyre too much and can keep going for a while on tarmac.

[ppduck]

thanks Brissim,

honestly i have done some research on tyres for the X3, you are right, it is very difficult to find the exact size as for this gen. X3, so your choice is good to me and i may be considered.
thanks again for your detail report.
cheers