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      04-02-2013, 10:40 PM   #1
gator4life108
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Pirelli RFTs....Whoa

Pulled into a city about an hour from my home and the low tire pressure light comes on. Inspect the tire and find a piece of glass punctured my tire. Pissed as I only have 4K miles on the car.

Go to a tire shop and I'm informed our type of Run Flat Tires cannot be repaired. Double checked that info. Now even more ticked.

Call around to different tire shops since then one I'm at is out of stock. Nobody in the area has the tire. Informed that there is a Nationwide back-order on the Pirelli P7 tires. Finally called the local BMW dealership and they have some but want $380 per tire

I had no option as I needed a way to get home and couldn't risk driving an hour all the way back home.

Warning to all. If you puncture your tire with nails, glass, or anything else. The tire is done. No fixing. I'm going to order another Pirelli tire at a lower cost to avoid being stuck paying stearship prices.
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      04-03-2013, 01:41 AM   #2
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must be annoying, glad we took out the insurance, which we already used and had our money back on a new tyre.
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      04-03-2013, 01:54 AM   #3
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Run flats = fail
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      04-03-2013, 02:01 AM   #4
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No RFTs can be totally safely repaired as they can't check the internal damage to the tyre if you've been driving it flat. If you shop around, you'll sometimes find that some places will repair them - there are a few reports on this forum for people getting this done for about £10
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      04-03-2013, 05:29 AM   #5
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Pirelli will cover replacement cost under a 1 year warranty...please confirm.
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      04-03-2013, 06:57 AM   #6
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Pirelli road hazard warranty

They will cover the replacement tire only if you go to a Pirelli dealer. As most of us know our BMW dealers want your money, and will not acknowledge the Pirelli warranty, in fact I think they double dip, charge you full boat for the tire, and the get a full credit from Pirelli. Nice.........
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      04-03-2013, 08:35 AM   #7
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I had a Continental rear pick up a nail when I first got my X3. Same problem it could not be repaired. The cost at that time was close to $1000.00. I have the performance package that was available before the Msport package.
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      04-03-2013, 08:58 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sfax View Post
No RFTs can be totally safely repaired as they can't check the internal damage to the tyre if you've been driving it flat. If you shop around, you'll sometimes find that some places will repair them - there are a few reports on this forum for people getting this done for about £10
Information was provided by Pirelli that these RFTs are not to be repaired. There are some that can be repaired, but per the manufacture these were one of the ones that cannot be fixed.
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      04-03-2013, 09:00 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by X3Bimmer View Post
Pirelli will cover replacement cost under a 1 year warranty...please confirm.
You are correct. I just checked the Tire Cd. Only problem the work has to be done by an authorized Pirelli dealer. My luck I did not have one nearby.
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      04-03-2013, 04:19 PM   #10
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There are various reports on other forums that you can repair some punctures using the strip & glue method, if the damage is localized. Some people have been driving on a repaired tired for quite a long time with no ill effect.
Since I read that, I've put a tire repair kit in the trunk, costs $20 or so and might save me a few hundred.
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      04-03-2013, 04:32 PM   #11
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I really think BMW made a mistake betting on RFTs. Acura had them, but they already went back to std tires. There was a story in USA Today this week about how dissatisfied people are with RFTs. I'm hoping that with time, the selection of RFTs will improve, prices come down, tread wear increases, and road noise decreases. That's hoping for a lot, and all of it is available today in standard tires.
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      04-03-2013, 05:00 PM   #12
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I generally think tire insurance is a waste of money, but after this past winter and how choppy the roads got in CT after the blizzard(s) I caved and bought it on the advice of a friend. Haven't needed it yet, but I remember how expensive the RFTs were on my E90 so it may not be such a bad idea to have... I'm told that in the northeast the dealers lose money on the tire and wheel insurance. Fortunately the rest of the country chips in
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      04-03-2013, 05:27 PM   #13
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Run flat tires are no different than regular tires. If you have not driven on the runflat with zero air pressure, which will compromise the side wall, the runflat can be repair. There are tons of tire shops where I am who are willing to repair runflat, you just need to call around.
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      04-04-2013, 09:35 AM   #14
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My 2 front tires were repaired within the first 10000KMs of getting the car... impressed that I could ride for so long on them before I even knew they were pierced (mistook one for a slow leak, would take over a week for the car to tell me if was low on pressure and I just filled it back up), less impressed on the insane price to outright replace one.

1 was repaired directly at a dealership, the other at a tiny repair shop, both of which cost nothing compared to a replacement.

My winters aren't RFT, and once the RFTs are due for replacement I'll put normal ones on and keep a can of goo for emergency fixes.
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      04-04-2013, 09:37 AM   #15
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FWIW - Here in California, we were informed that there's a law against repairing RFT's. Yes, you read that correctly. I wonder what entities were behind getting that law passed?
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      04-04-2013, 12:50 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gator4life108 View Post
Warning to all. If you puncture your tire with nails, glass, or anything else. The tire is done. No fixing. I'm going to order another Pirelli tire at a lower cost to avoid being stuck paying stearship prices.
I had a nail on a P7 within a week of having the car.... repaired for £10 lasted more than 22000 miles more no issues.
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      04-04-2013, 03:13 PM   #17
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as long as you haven't run the tire flat, and the puncture is in the tread (not in the shoulder or side wall) a run flat tire can be repaired like any other. If you ran the tire flat, you are out of luck.
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      04-05-2013, 12:24 PM   #18
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My X3 came with Pirelli PZERO run flats, and I got a puncture the first week using the car. I fixed the puncture as quickly as I could and have had no problems with the tire at all after 20,000 km. The tire never got completely deflated past 20psi, so I guess that helped.
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      04-05-2013, 12:46 PM   #19
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We bought our run flat with a nail in it to the dealership, they insist on replacing the tire for $400. We ended up plugging and patching the tire at a chain tire store for $30 and bought tire insurance for all 4 tires at the same time. Tire insurance was $50 a tire, much cheaper than BMW's price, which is $1500.
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      04-05-2013, 01:13 PM   #20
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For those who have switched to a standard tire, where did you place your spare?
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      04-05-2013, 04:38 PM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jafeinst View Post
For those who have switched to a standard tire, where did you place your spare?
Mine is permanently tied down in the back with the loading rails just bbeing the right distance apart to accomadate the tyre. I've built a homemade cover over the top to give a flat surface for loading other stuff.

I appreciate this solution will not suit everyone but for us its never been a problem in 18 months of ownership. With the kids off our hands now there's just the two of us now and for long trips there's still plenty of room in the back for luggage. Admittedly. I'm in the fortunate situation that if I ever have to transport a load that doesn't fit in the reduced volume in the back, I can borrow my bother in-law's ute (pickup for you Yanks) who doesn't live to far away.

And if you do go down this path - don't forget you will also need a jack, wheel brace and ideally neat little things such as wheel hangers (thank you Lotus 7).

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      04-06-2013, 02:22 AM   #22
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Folks, Pirelli in North America has a 1 yr road hazard warranty where u get free replacement, and pro rated afterwards. We got a nail in tire at 3200 mi in odo. Dealer replaced tire. They bitched and moaned, but had to show them the Pirelli warranty bulletin from their website. If dealer refuses, just go to any authorized Pirelli dealer, like ntb, discount tire, etc. it's free for a year.
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