[blackbeast]

Congratulations swopsk923 for the wonderful buy

So, what is the most popular choice for the Bimmer owners on team-bhp ?
1) Run with runflats
2) Run with funflats + buy space saver
3) change to tubless
4) change to tubeless + buy space saver

For me, option 4 sounds sensible. you do not necessarily find a puncture shop at 200 km distance. changing a wheel on a deserted highway is a risky affair and on top of that using the puncture kit scares me.

[AirbusA340]

Originally Posted by swopsk293

Thanks a lot dude!

Update:
Had my first unfortunate incident with the car today.
I was taking a three-point U-turn on a somewhat crowded road, and out of nowhere, a scrawny kid on a rusty bajaj chetak came and grazed my front bumper quite hard.
I couldn't do anything more than give him a scowl, since it was a crowded road and he zoomed off into the traffic!

Looks like the BMW Secure plan will get used this year after all!

Oops!

I'm sorry man but it's kind of normal these days to have at least one encounter like that. I've had two on the 325i and one on the E60. On the latter, I was saved by the number plate and was very lucky that day. The 325i smooches were very very stupid and you feel gutted when it happens when the car is stationary. I never tailgate heavies or cars in my bimmers, but inspite of some distance I had a nasty stone chip on my 325i hood and eventually got it repainted since it was looking very bad close to the headlights.

So, secure it is after all. True peace of mind. On my 5 year old 325i, I had the dreaded DSC hydro unit failure out of the blue. It was close to 1.9L to fix. BMW goodwill stepped in and paid half of it. This was after no secure for 2007 models, no BSI applicable anymore to include warranty. I'm a customer for life.

Anyways, take your own precautions as much as you can on the road. At least the probability of an encounter would come down. The rest, unfortunately, isn't in our hands.

Enjoy your ride

pEaCe

[BeamerBoy]

Originally Posted by blackbeast

Congratulations swopsk923 for the wonderful buy

So, what is the most popular choice for the Bimmer owners on team-bhp ?
1) Run with runflats
2) Run with funflats + buy space saver
3) change to tubless
4) change to tubeless + buy space saver

For me, option 4 sounds sensible. you do not necessarily find a puncture shop at 200 km distance. changing a wheel on a deserted highway is a risky affair and on top of that using the puncture kit scares me.

Option 2 for me.

For all through my driving experience, whenever I had a puncture, it was an utter nuisance. Either I was getting late for an appointment, was wearing a suit, it was raining, heavy traffic etc etc. Changing a spare wheel on your own or for that matter finding a puncture shop on FIRST priority is not a pleasurable experience.

Have been with runflats for 6 years now. Had some punctures but proceeded with wick repairs. Easy. DIY or get it done at any tyre shop. Space saver is a big peace of mind. Put to use only once.

Option 4! Well, the tubeless once it is collapsed you cannot do much. The story with my wife's car (Cruise). She is dressed up in the morning, all ready to go. And lo! All heal breaks loose when she sees a flat tyre. I wish that car had run flats.

Coming to putting normal tubeless radials on BMW rims, just remember that those rims are EH2+. So, be careful which shop mounts and dismounts the tyre on the rims. May damage the rim or crack the bead of the tyre.

[blackbeast]

Originally Posted by BeamerBoy

Coming to putting normal tubeless radials on BMW rims, just remember that those rims are EH2+. So, be careful which shop mounts and dismounts the tyre on the rims. May damage the rim or crack the bead of the tyre.

I don't own a bimmer and i don't wear suits as well but thanks a lot for the information. However, this is the case for your city runs where finding a puncture shop is easy. In my driving experience of 10 yrs, i have never had a puncture in city. How would you take on the same issue when you're on highways. I do not know how easy it is to use the puncture kit and how far do we get post that repair. Is it easier than changing the wheel ?

[AirbusA340]

Either way, option 2 is the best with or without a suit

pEaCe

[black12rr]

Originally Posted by swopsk293

The spare wheel with the package costs something like 25,000 bucks I guess. I didn't find it worth to spend that much.

Is it not possible to buy any ordinary alloy of same PDC and size and a nice tyre to go with it ? . It should cost around 10 k ? .

[swopsk293]

Originally Posted by blackbeast

Congratulations swopsk923 for the wonderful buy

So, what is the most popular choice for the Bimmer owners on team-bhp ?
1) Run with runflats
2) Run with funflats + buy space saver
3) change to tubless
4) change to tubeless + buy space saver

For me, option 4 sounds sensible. you do not necessarily find a puncture shop at 200 km distance. changing a wheel on a deserted highway is a risky affair and on top of that using the puncture kit scares me.

Thanks a lot buddy!!

As far as I know, only 1 Team BHP member has changed to normal tubeless tyres.
However, option 2 makes the most sense, since run-flats are a huge convenience when you are in a hurry or it is dangerous to stop and change a tyre.
Options 3 & 4 do not make sense when the second option exists!
I may buy a space-saver in the near future, but in my 3 years of driving, I have experienced only 1 flat tyre (that too done on purpose I guess) till now. So buying a space-saver was not the first priority for me when I got the car.
The puncture kit cost me 10 grand. But having it gives a sense of security on long drives. Also, it is to be used only in case of zero tyre pressure or for increasing the range when I am more than 100~150kms. away from a puncture shop. And quite frankly, the puncture kit is not so difficult to use!

Originally Posted by AirbusA340

Oops!

I'm sorry man but it's kind of normal these days to have at least one encounter like that. I've had two on the 325i and one on the E60. On the latter, I was saved by the number plate and was very lucky that day. The 325i smooches were very very stupid and you feel gutted when it happens when the car is stationary. I never tailgate heavies or cars in my bimmers, but inspite of some distance I had a nasty stone chip on my 325i hood and eventually got it repainted since it was looking very bad close to the headlights.

So, secure it is after all. True peace of mind. On my 5 year old 325i, I had the dreaded DSC hydro unit failure out of the blue. It was close to 1.9L to fix. BMW goodwill stepped in and paid half of it. This was after no secure for 2007 models, no BSI applicable anymore to include warranty. I'm a customer for life.

Anyways, take your own precautions as much as you can on the road. At least the probability of an encounter would come down. The rest, unfortunately, isn't in our hands.

Enjoy your ride

pEaCe

Yeah man, with our road conditions, such encounters are inevitable nowadays! And it is more frustrating when the car is stationary when such a thing happens.
The number plate has been a life saver many times for me too on my corolla. I wish the number plate had saved me this time too!
BSI is also a boon for unforeseen servicing expenditures!

By the way, if I use Secure to get the front bumper replaced, do you have any idea of how much my premium for next year will go up by?

Originally Posted by black12rr

Is it not possible to buy any ordinary alloy of same PDC and size and a nice tyre to go with it ? . It should cost around 10 k ? .

I don't think so. I haven't heard of anyone else doing it. Also an ordinary alloy will take up a huge chunk of boot space, and frankly, since there is no separate tyre well, it is not a good idea!

[FlyingSpur]

The one thing everyone is ignoring here, is the MASSIVE difference in ride quality with normal tubeless tyres. It's worth it. With the runflats, the E90 is a horrid, uncomfortable car for anyone in the back. It's criminal for a 3 million rupee car to be so harsh on it's occupants.

Originally Posted by BeamerBoy

Coming to putting normal tubeless radials on BMW rims, just remember that those rims are EH2+. So, be careful which shop mounts and dismounts the tyre on the rims. May damage the rim or crack the bead of the tyre.

Could you please elaborate?

[AirbusA340]

Originally Posted by swopsk293

By the way, if I use Secure to get the front bumper replaced, do you have any idea of how much my premium for next year will go up by?

Well, BMW secure is on a mandatory tie up with Bajaj Allianz in our state.

Note :

1. if it's your first time using the insurance, the NCB would be history!
2. If you do not use secure this year, then the secure quote for the next year renewal would still go up by about 10k. Hence, if you use secure this year, then the quote for next year secure renewal would go up almost by 20k. These are the quotes i got this march for one of my renewals. But sometimes these increased renewal amounts hardly matter since the repair costs are quite high. So, use it only if the repair bills are high. IMHO, for most of the repairs, it makes sense to use it.

pEaCe

[BeamerBoy]

Originally Posted by black12rr

Is it not possible to buy any ordinary alloy of same PDC and size and a nice tyre to go with it ? . It should cost around 10 k ? .

It would still total to 15+ all put together. First you buy the alloy, then source the tyre and then the jack+spanner and the choke block. I doubt if something is available all put together within 10K.

[rajeshchand]

Originally Posted by blackbeast

4) change to tubeless + buy space saver

This would be my choice once i am done with the mileage of the factory fitted RFTs.

Originally Posted by AirbusA340

So, secure it is after all. True peace of mind. On my 5 year old 325i, I had the dreaded DSC hydro unit failure out of the blue. It was close to 1.9L to fix. BMW goodwill stepped in and paid half of it. This was after no secure for 2007 models, no BSI applicable anymore to include warranty. I'm a customer for life.

This particular DSC hydro unit failure is covered in secure, i remember the sales guy mentioning it, but never bothered to ask what it is about the DSC Hydro Unit failure, can you throw some light on this.

Originally Posted by swopsk293

The puncture kit cost me 10 grand. But having it gives a sense of security on long drives. Also, it is to be used only in case of zero tyre pressure or for increasing the range when I am more than 100~150kms. away from a puncture shop. And quite frankly, the puncture kit is not so difficult to use!

I have also heard that it is not very easy to do use the puncture kit, do you have any kind of manual or full procedure laid out on the usage of this, may be it might come handy for me when i am on highway especially since i am planning to do Delhi Kerala after two weeks and some of it being night drives, though i am yet to buy it will only buy it if it is easy enough to use it.

[BeamerBoy]

Originally Posted by FlyingSpur

The one thing everyone is ignoring here, is the MASSIVE difference in ride quality with normal tubeless tyres. It's worth it. With the runflats, the E90 is a horrid, uncomfortable car for anyone in the back. It's criminal for a 3 million rupee car to be so harsh on it's occupants.



Could you please elaborate?

EH2+ is the designation of the rims with added safety. Stands for Enhanced Hump 2+ etc. That in simple terms translates into the fact that these rims have a deeper groove where the bead of the tyre locks into the rim. It is required for protection in case of tyre pressure loss so that the bead does not come off the alloy and endanger the vehicle stability.

With runflats, the firmly seated bead allows added mileage covered with a deflated tyre. If runflats were to be mounted on a normal alloy, they would have a tendency to slip off the alloy when on low pressure, get deformed and end up as a mangled piece of rubber.

Coming to mounting and demounting care, since the bead is secured in a deeper groove of the EH2+ rim, it needs a bit of general care to mount or dismount from the rim. If the mechanic or his equipment is not good/careful, it might end up in a damaged rim or worse rubber pealing off or getting cracked near the tyre beading area. A cracked rubber on the bead area will make the steel bead catch moisture causing rust, cracks and air leakage etc.

Tyres these days are expensive.

Regarding the rough ride on run-flats, under inflated RFTs also end up giving hard rides since the car is resting on the tyre side walls. Do check the inflation pressure. It won't do wonders but will surely help a bit.

[AirbusA340]

Originally Posted by rajeshchand

This particular DSC hydro unit failure is covered in secure, i remember the sales guy mentioning it, but never bothered to ask what it is about the DSC Hydro Unit failure, can you throw some light on this.

The DSC hydro unit failure, I reckon, would be covered under warranty or the extended warranty through BSI since secure is for accidental cover alongside the insurance.

When I got the chimes and messages on my iDrive, I was on the forums looking for others inputs. Was mentioned that Bosch Hydro units fitted on some 2007 models were at fault. A recall helped customers around the world but being Indian is a curse once in a while. Forget recall, they would simply deny having any knowledge of failing hydro units on any model ever.

Anyways, it gave up three messages. One with DSC/DTC failure. Second with the vehicle's inability to hold on with the gear selector in 'P'. Third with reduced DBC and advising me to reduce speed. I don't remember precisely but these were roughly it. After spending some time at the dealership, they would connect and do their usual thing. Cleared up the ECU memory, disconnected battery once and connected it back. It seems to solve the problem with 'No Faults' showing up.

I drove back and randomly on the road the DSC thing would kick in with the symbol flashing ahead momentarily. Everything seemed ok. Suddenly, the damn thing popped up again. A u-turn and back to the dealership

This time they repeated a few steps and finally disconnected the hydro unit from the engine compartment close to the windshield underneath those plastics. It fits in your palm. The DSC control module, supposedly, uses various inputs to determine vehicle instability during braking, cornering, or reduced traction situations. Based upon these inputs the ABS/DSC control module sends outputs to the engine control module and the ABS/DSC hydraulic unit to activate certain things in its kitty.

The main technician and the service head tried their best but one of the connector pins inside the unit near the rotor was loose. Unfortunately the housing cannot be opened and had to be replaced. 1.9L damn! All because of the taxes. The thing costs only about 1L in UK but my brother bringing that heavy thing is also a problem in one way and quite tricky. Customs, duties, etc., a can of worms I guess.

Even though BMW secure does not cover it, secure currently is only available until the 3rd renewal/4th year and was out for my car. BSI with it's extended warranty was not available early on and i overlooked it later and it most certainly caught up. BMW stepped in after a couple of requests from the dealership for goodwill and paid half. Good one this. Even though it was only about 95k, I'm a customer for life with their goodwill gestures.

pEaCe

[rajeshchand]

Originally Posted by AirbusA340

Was mentioned that Bosch Hydro units fitted on some 2007 models were at fault.

Yes, even i read about those failures (of DSC) in foreign BMW forums. Which model was your BMW of which there was this DSC failure ?

How many kilometers have you driven Beemers on RFTs, what is your opinion of its behavior on long distance running, that is specifically, is there any difficult situation (read puncture) encountered by you at any point. Just clearing my doubts before a long drive...

[swopsk293]

Originally Posted by AirbusA340

Well, BMW secure is on a mandatory tie up with Bajaj Allianz in our state.

Note :

1. if it's your first time using the insurance, the NCB would be history!
2. If you do not use secure this year, then the secure quote for the next year renewal would still go up by about 10k. Hence, if you use secure this year, then the quote for next year secure renewal would go up almost by 20k. These are the quotes i got this march for one of my renewals. But sometimes these increased renewal amounts hardly matter since the repair costs are quite high. So, use it only if the repair bills are high. IMHO, for most of the repairs, it makes sense to use it.

pEaCe

Oh ok! Thanks a lot!
I guess then NCB is history for me!
By the way, what is the approximate premium for Secure for the second year?

Originally Posted by rajeshchand

I have also heard that it is not very easy to do use the puncture kit, do you have any kind of manual or full procedure laid out on the usage of this, may be it might come handy for me when i am on highway especially since i am planning to do Delhi Kerala after two weeks and some of it being night drives, though i am yet to buy it will only buy it if it is easy enough to use it.

If you buy the puncture kit, it includes a 2 page manual with diagrammatic instructions on how to use it.
It is not very easy, but then, it is not difficult either!
If you want, I can post pictures of the puncture kit components and the manual also.
Delhi to Kerala, you say? In a Beemer, it will be hell lot of a fun!!
Will you be driving yourself?