bagwell

wouldn't run flats be a lot easier?!?!?!?!?!?!!


http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=305726


$1427.00 Flat Tire
Wow, $1427 bucks later and I have a new right, rear tire. BMW Assist came through with shining colors for sure!

I will do my best to make this a short story; was on a business trip calling on the state of Montana and decided scrap the plane ride and take the M3 for the ride cause the weather forcast called for nothing cold mornings and late September sun! (Not to mention the miles and miles of twisty roads and long, deserted straight-aways ) When it happened....along came the quiet, relaxed chime and the indication that my tire was getting low. Crap, I thought...as I was a million miles from no-where, deep in the clenches of the high desserts of the vast state of Montana. I had one gas station within the next 80 miles and it was just a few exits ahead. Made it! Filled the tire (it was only at 25psi--figured it was just low from the drastic change of altitude and cold mornings--I was off and running again! ) 15 miles later---ding....then the smell of burning rubber as my side walls were beginning to burn through. I stopped at the side of the road to find it completey flat. Found the 'emergency-tire-kit' in the trunk and went to work. Lets see, attach compressor to weird plastic bottle, turn compressor on, drive 2 miles at 30mph to spread white goo eveningly, pump 2 bar of pressure in and PRESTO! White glue began to spew out of the 1/4 hold in top of tire!. Now what???? Get the cell out, walk 100 yards to find some sort of signal, call EVERY TIRE SHOP in all of Montana to find out "We don't carry no tire that wide round here--waz it for er tractor or sumpin???". Geez! What now, I thought as I began to panic. Oh yeah...the SOS button! (I should have paid more attention at my orientation--guess I was too busy admiring the sexy lines of my new M3...)

Within a few moments, a calm, cool voice came over the air-waves "BMW Assist, how may I be of service?" I spent the next ten minutes telling her my sob story, and the next thing I new she was ready to dispatch the nearest tow truck. "TOW TRUCK!?!" -- I gasped..."no sir, we will send a flat bed that will gently ease your car onto it's platform". "Then we will tow it to the nearest BMW dealer..." But there are no dealers in Montana, I pondered...."Looks like the nearest dealer is in Spokane Washington, is that alright Mr. Yougottaflat???" Ummm.... (I was wondering how many millions this was going to cost me...) And before I could embarrass myself and ask, she said "This is of course part of your emergency road side assistance program provided to you by BMW..." And with a smile on my face, I said I was ready when she was! 45 minutes later a tow truck arrived and the driver carefully lifted my M3 onto the deck and.....drove....250 miles.....and five hours to Spokane. 250 MILES!!! At $2.75 per mile! + the lift truck! FOR A FLAT!!!! Awesome dealer (CAMP BMW) special ordered my tire and had it next day aired in (for free, by the way) mounted and balanced, and I was on my way. Tire had 60% life left, so the wheel and tire insurance I bought at the time of my purchase paid for most of the tire and labor, BMW picked up the tab for the tow. My only loss was a day and half of time and most of my sanity trying to make small talk with the Montana tow-truck driver for 5 hours. (Oh, and I can now scratch off visiting a truck stop weigh station off of my bucket-list, three of them....kinda scary...)

IS-SV

Good story. But glad I wasn't there.

Threxx

I'm kinda surprised they don't use run flats... I mean it's standard run flats on the 328i and 335i I think... maybe the M3 handles a bit better without them or maybe the suspension was already so stiff they couldn't make it any stiffer with runflats. I know my 335i w/ runflats is already about as stiff as I'd care for it to be.

I am really surprised at how many companies these days are moving to providing their non runflat equipped vehicles with basically just cans of fix a flat. Even a donut would have done a lot more for this guy.

What if he was stuck in an area without cell coverage?

bagwell

I think its crazy too....

guessing the BMW SOS is cellular based?

I'd like to know the weight & cost difference between a donut spare and the compressor/fix-a-flat crap.

LexFather

M cars come with Michelin PS2s...which are also standard on the IS-F (well most of them)....and a slew of other high performance cars.

At least the car could come with a donut, I mean a can of "fix a flat"? This is a rare case, guy is in Montana, no BMW dealers, what a mess.

As a member on that forum stated, the "free" maintenance is not free, its included in the price of the car so you might as well use it.

It was a good story and happy ending.

Joeb427

iTrader: (1)

I took the run flats off the first week I had tmy 335.I went to conventional Michelins.RFTs suck,IMO.
I have a BMW spare kit.
Though,you probably have 19"s so the kit won't work..

http://www.trademotion.com/partlocat...catalogid=4462

rominl

iTrader: (4)

guys... runflats on m3? are you killing me?? power is nothing without traction you know...

all m cars do NOT run runflats. runflats are crap on handling and traction

rominl

iTrader: (4)

now that's a valid point. i wonder what's the difference between the donut spare and then fix a flat. the fix a flat setup for sure looks very small, and i would assume a donut to be somewhere around 30-40lb?

though now i wonder, since my car comes with fix a flat, does it come with jack and wrenches and other tools? if not, those are some more weight there

tex2670

Yeah, but sounds like it would have been the same result, but cost even more. You can only drive 50 miles on the run flats, so where are you going to drive to in the middle of Montana. And the run flat tires cost way more.

tex2670

Someone I work with has a GS350 AWD. He had a nail in his tire that couldn't be fixed, and came to find that he had BOTH run flats, and a donut spare.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

only 50 miles? i never really pay any attention on RF, but i thought it would have been able to go further

IS-SV

I see it more as body/packaging/trunk space/configuration-related decision.

And they are assuming a vast majority of the cars are used as suburban runabouts and weekend toys (in close enough proximity to necessary service).

92 SC400

Even if it had RFTs could it have made it to the next stop? Even the RFTs have mileage limit. If he made it to the next stop wouldn't he need a tow at some point anyway since it seems he was out in the middle of nowhere? It's obvious he was no where near a tire shop that could help him.

Would a temporary spare have been sufficient enough to get him to the next BMW dealer? The closest was 250 mile away.

Glad this all ended well for that guy!

92 SC400

I know someone who had RFTs and within like 10 miles of the warning the they were able to stop and the sidewall was starting to shred so I wouldn't even want to push it that far.

Threxx

I think my RFTs state they go 100 miles but I betcha they'd go either further... that's probably a conservative estimate.

That aside my concern isn't making it to the nearest BMW dealer so much as it is making it to civilization... what I said earlier is what if you're out of cell range and your tire loses pressure and the fix a flat doesn't work? Surely within 100 miles or even 50 you can get back into cell range and find civilization. Maybe not the next BMW dealer but that's a matter of convenience, not safety.

I'm pretty sure all of the On-Star type services from all the major brands are cell-based, aren't they?