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Old 13th November 2009, 17:44   #1
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Dilemma - BMW X5 - No spare wheel & Run-flats

Okay, fellow Bimmer owners. Have a question from one of my close associates who likes the X5 and asked me "What would I do if I'm 200 kms from civilztion (say in the deep Himalayas on way to Badrinath or something) in my X5, or any other BMW with RFT and one of the tire hits a sharp rock and busts. I do have a emergency repair kit in the car but no spare as there is no room for it. The repair kits are pretty useless as lot of the times the sealent is no good for large size gashes or rips.

What would be my options?"

The above dillema is quite a deal breaker in my opinion, regardless how wonderful BMW vehicles are. The only reason I have a X3 2.0d is cause it has normal tyres and a space saver spare. Don't think I could ever conjure up enough courage to buy a car with no spare tyre, run-flat or no run-flat.
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Old 13th November 2009, 18:08   #2
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Honestly there is much drama over these RFT's than there should be. Yes they are hard but I'd like to believe they have proved effective to me atleast in terms of safety. My dad hit a pothole on the highway at 150km/hr+ and the impact was pretty hard as he described. But he drove back over 100kms home without any problem whatsoever ! I obviously had to get the tyre replaced as it developed a huge bubble but the not a scratch on the rim or suspension damage !

Had this been on a regular tubeless, the effect would be anyones guess. I don't think the tire would have burst, hope not. But I am sure the rim would have been bent badly had it not been on RFTs

However, I have switched to tubeless with a space-saver wheel. And quite happy with my decision as ride quality is wayyy better.

To answer your question, nothing will happy if a sharp rock hits it, it will yet not burst ! Thats the biggest USP of RFTs. However if your associate is worried he should just switch over to tubeless and get a space-saver wheel.
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Old 14th November 2009, 00:25   #3
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What about something like this?

http://www.bmw.com.au/com/en/owners/...el_carrier.pdf

Check out the attached file. A Sparewheel Carrier from BMW.
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Old 14th November 2009, 15:45   #4
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Ride quality & stiffness aside, the problem is the applicability of run flats for India. If you go out on long drives (something that German cars are built for), you will frequently be outside a 300 kms radius to the nearest BMW shop. What does one do then? Sure, in the States, you can drive to the nearest BMW / runflat tyre shop and have a switch. Not so the case in India, as we have a substantially thinner distribution network.

Your friend as valid concerns. As many other BMW owners have, he should switch over to regular tubeless tyres & buy a spare.

Related thread
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Old 14th November 2009, 16:13   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GTO View Post
Ride quality & stiffness aside, the problem is the applicability of run flats for India. If you go out on long drives (something that German cars are built for), you will frequently be outside a 300 kms radius to the nearest BMW shop. What does one do then? Sure, in the States, you can drive to the nearest BMW / runflat tyre shop and have a switch. Not so the case in India, as we have a substantially thinner distribution network.

Your friend as valid concerns. As many other BMW owners have, he should switch over to regular tubeless tyres & buy a spare.

Related thread
GTO, were would the full size spare go? Unless he also goes in for that full size spare wheel contraption for the back of the vehicle (availibility and pricing in India is another issue), he just can't pop it into the boot area. Would eat up most of the trunk volume.

Regarding your thoughts on the Runflats in N. America, browsing through the Bimmer forums there, it seems a lot of people are giving up on BMW just cause of the RFT's. Also, easy availabilty there also seems to be an issue causing long time BMW patrons to switch to Audi, Merc and even Lexus.

BMW ought to give room to put full size spare tyre under the trunk floor, even if they do no want to give the spare, customer should have the option to buy one and have it in the car if he so desires that too in a proper manner. And that goes for 3ers and the 5's and 7 as well. But seeing how well the Bimmers are selling even with the RFT's, this is all just silly wishfull thinking.
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Old 15th November 2009, 14:48   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ackyash View Post
GTO, were would the full size spare go? Unless he also goes in for that full size spare wheel contraption for the back of the vehicle (availibility and pricing in India is another issue), he just can't pop it into the boot area. Would eat up most of the trunk volume.
Rear tail gate mount or just flat in the trunk area. I would also recommend your friend to check out the Audi Q7, it is the premium SUV market leader.

Quote:
Regarding your thoughts on the Runflats in N. America, browsing through the Bimmer forums there, it seems a lot of people are giving up on BMW just cause of the RFT's. Also, easy availabilty there also seems to be an issue causing long time BMW patrons to switch to Audi, Merc and even Lexus.
True. Only a matter of time before run-flats are phased out. They are losing popularity worldwide.
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Old 15th November 2009, 16:03   #7
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All BMWs could be bought by heart not by mind, if your friend will think so much about all these problems regarding BMW he can not buy one.

Pls tell him that if he is going to be a chauffeur driven just go for the all Indians' favourite Audi Q7 or Q5. BMWs are just for them who prefer to drive..
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Old 15th November 2009, 22:29   #8
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one of my friend already had two replacement tyres for two punctures he had for his 530.

50K for each tyre!

so much bmw launching RFT in india!
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Old 15th November 2009, 22:53   #9
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A new tyre for the 530 costs around 17K. ( not 50K ).
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Old 15th November 2009, 23:00   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ecclipse78 View Post
A new tyre for the 530 costs around 17K. ( not 50K ).
he owns the bmw not me, and he told me the price and i dont give a damn if it costs 17k or 50k!
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Old 15th December 2009, 13:16   #11
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I have a X5 where i have removed the third row of seat (hardly of any use) and guess what? It is the perfect cavity for a spare wheel. Took 2 hours to remove the seat. Only issue is that the cavity will not accomodate a full width wheel with tyre. It will of course accomodate a 7J x 18" rim with tyre and that's all you need.
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Old 15th December 2009, 14:54   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GTO View Post
Rear tail gate mount or just flat in the trunk area.
If tyre is to be mounted on the tailgate OEM's ensure that the hinge, hinge mountings and hinge reinforcements sustain the static and dynamic loads of the spare tyre apart from the tailgates normal functional requirements.
After market mounting of spare tyre on tailgate should be avoided as far as possible.
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Old 16th December 2009, 17:11   #13
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Post deleted by the Team-BHP Support : Please do NOT post one-liners that add little or no informational value to the thread. We need your co-operation to maintain the overall quality of this forum.

Please read our rules before proceeding any further.

Last edited by GTO : 17th December 2009 at 12:45.
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Old 19th December 2009, 13:12   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GTO View Post
Ride quality & stiffness aside, the problem is the applicability of run flats for India. If you go out on long drives (something that German cars are built for), you will frequently be outside a 300 kms radius to the nearest BMW shop. What does one do then? Sure, in the States, you can drive to the nearest BMW / runflat tyre shop and have a switch. Not so the case in India, as we have a substantially thinner distribution network.

Your friend as valid concerns. As many other BMW owners have, he should switch over to regular tubeless tyres & buy a spare.

Related thread
GTO....faced the same problem with the 525...On way back from Chandigarh..ran over a bad pothole...the rim of the tyre cut into the RFT...Luckily was just aroung 60 km from delhi so drove it back at a speed of 30 -60kmph...but replacement was quite a hassel...Can i replace the RFT with ordianry tubeless tyres? would it alter the ride quality ? and would it be ok for the suspension?
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Old 19th December 2009, 13:15   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ackyash View Post
Okay, fellow Bimmer owners. Have a question from one of my close associates who likes the X5 and asked me "What would I do if I'm 200 kms from civilztion (say in the deep Himalayas on way to Badrinath or something) in my X5, or any other BMW with RFT and one of the tire hits a sharp rock and busts. I do have a emergency repair kit in the car but no spare as there is no room for it. The repair kits are pretty useless as lot of the times the sealent is no good for large size gashes or rips.

What would be my options?"
Another problem of the RFT is that the it cannot be repaired and have to be replaced. ...plus u have to replace tyre anyways after 18k kms....which i think is costly and unreasonable
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