[iliketurtles]

I'm quite late to the party, but allow me to congratulate you on your Bavarian Beauty. Blue really does complement it quite fantastically, although I am also a fan of Havana Brown.

The new 3 is the pick of the lot in its segment purely from a drivers perspective without doubt. I've been following this thread quite actively but somehow forgot to post. Silly of me. Nonetheless, have a wonderful time and take good care of her (him?). I lust after this current-gen 3 series, and I'm drawing up plans to rob a few banks and buy one in some years. Wish me luck, and see you around!

[drmohitg]

Originally Posted by iliketurtles

The new 3 is the pick of the lot in its segment purely from a drivers perspective without doubt. I've been following this thread quite actively but somehow forgot to post. Silly of me. Nonetheless, have a wonderful time and take good care of her (him?). I lust after this current-gen 3 series, and I'm drawing up plans to rob a few banks and buy one in some years. Wish me luck, and see you around!

Thanks for the kind words. The car is really amazing to drive.

So finally I got my space saver tyre. Finally can look forward to those highway trips now due to the peace of mind even if in reality the chances of getting a flat are pretty low. Anyways what I liked was the way they have all these belts and buckles to keep the tyre in place. The boot space has ofcourse gone down but there is still room for approximately one large sized bag. Here are the pics ( taken from my new Nexus 5 ):

[275BHP]

Originally Posted by drmohitg

So finally I got my space saver tyre. Finally can look forward to those highway trips now due to the peace of mind even if in reality the chances of getting a flat are pretty low. Anyways what I liked was the way they have all these belts and buckles to keep the tyre in place. The boot space has ofcourse gone down but there is still room for approximately one large sized bag. Here are the pics ( taken from my new Nexus 5 ):

Could you please share more details about the space saver tyre such as dimensions of the tyre, cost and whether you got it from the dealership itself?

It certainly is worth getting despite the reduction in boot space, for that peace of mind during long trips.

Thanks in advance. Cheers!

[drmohitg]

Originally Posted by 275BHP

Could you please share more details about the space saver tyre such as dimensions of the tyre, cost and whether you got it from the dealership itself?

It certainly is worth getting despite the reduction in boot space, for that peace of mind during long trips.

Thanks in advance. Cheers!

Will confirm the dimensions to you in a while. Yes I got it from the dealership itself. It comes with the cover to hold it and a tool kit that has the jack, spanner and all. Total cost is around 28k for the 3 series but I got it free as part of my deal.

And yes after the space saver, one can drive the car slightly more relieved. Although with RFTs I rarely would ever have to change a tyre since it is more convenient to just drive on to the next puncture repair shop. Even the SA a the dealership told me the same that use the space saver only when you have a tyre burst or something where it is impossible to drive on.

[arihant jain]

I got the space saver and changed to tubeless immediately after taking delivery of 320d sportsline. My area is full of potholes hence runflats are a pain.

[drmohitg]

Originally Posted by arihant jain

I got the space saver and changed to tubeless immediately after taking delivery of 320d sportsline. My area is full of potholes hence runflats are a pain.

There have been multiple debates over this. To be honest if you ask me, I am fine with the RFTs till now. But yes when the time comes for the first change then I might switch to regular tubeless too if the cost difference is too much. Otherwise I will rather continue with these. They do offer you that extra peace of mind. Also there always is BMW Secure to offer you 4 tyres a year. Even if you do not buy Secure, I think even Insurance policies these days have add ons covering RFTs too.

[sharadmumbai]

Originally Posted by arihant jain

I got the space saver and changed to tubeless immediately after taking delivery of 320d sportsline. My area is full of potholes hence runflats are a pain.

I guess you are aware that your warranty becomes void if you change to tubeless.
However, how is the ride with the regular tubeless?

Originally Posted by drmohitg

Also there always is BMW Secure to offer you 4 tyres a year. Even if you do not buy Secure, I think even Insurance policies these days have add ons covering RFTs too.

BMW secure offers 4 tyres but at graded valuation. So as the tread goes down, you will also need to pay a %age of the tyre cost which even at 50% will be close to 10k for 1 tyre. So its not really free.

Originally Posted by drmohitg

And yes after the space saver, one can drive the car slightly more relieved. Although with RFTs I rarely would ever have to change a tyre since it is more convenient to just drive on to the next puncture repair shop. Even the SA a the dealership told me the same that use the space saver only when you have a tyre burst or something where it is impossible to drive on.

Officially BMW recommends to drive the RFTs for 80 to 200kms based on the load and then change the tyre and no puncture repair. Also the tyre after being "Run Flat" for this distance wont be in a condition to be repaired. So I would recommend that as soon as you detect a puncture, change to spare immediately unless the puncture shop is a few kms away, get the puncture repaired and put the RFT back.

One of the biggest flaw in this plan is that the Flat tyre should be detected in time by the OBC. It doesnt have TPMS and it depends on the differential rotation of the wheels to detect a flat tyre which may take a while. Secondly, you need to top the air every 10 days and reinitialize the OBC so that the settings can be saved. Else due to gradual loss in pressure in different tyres at a different rate will lead to an error building up in the system and it may not be able to detect a flat tyre in time.
Above is based on my own understanding and from the manuals, experts are welcome to correct me.

I'm taking a different approach of investing on a strapon TPMS where the sensors can just be plugged on top of the valves. Carry a portable compressor so that I can inflate the flat tyre every 8-10 kms to protect it till I find a puncture shop. I will also eventually buy a space saver keeping yamuna eway in mind, not sure as of now.

BMW could have made this all simple by just having the option of tubeless with spare though RFTs have their own merits as well!!!!!!

[drmohitg]

Originally Posted by sharadmumbai

I guess you are aware that your warranty becomes void if you change to tubeless.

There is some confusion regarding this. As per a lot of people the warranty in unaffected by changing to the same spec tubeless.

BMW secure offers 4 tyres but at graded valuation. So as the tread goes down, you will also need to pay a %age of the tyre cost which even at 50% will be close to 10k for 1 tyre. So its not really free.

That is true. But then the situation of a RFT going bust would not be that frequent I hope/believe/pray. Depends a lot on kind of roads you drive upon.

Officially BMW recommends to drive the RFTs for 80 to 200kms based on the load and then change the tyre and no puncture repair. Also the tyre after being "Run Flat" for this distance wont be in a condition to be repaired. So I would recommend that as soon as you detect a puncture, change to spare immediately unless the puncture shop is a few kms away, get the puncture repaired and put the RFT back.

I meant the same. I doubt there are lot of places these days where you won't find a puncture repair shop. So I totally agree and in that way it is more convenient with RFTs that you can merely drive to the next repair shop and get it fixed than have to get down and change the tyre.

I'm taking a different approach of investing on a strapon TPMS where the sensors can just be plugged on top of the valves. Carry a portable compressor so that I can inflate the flat tyre every 8-10 kms to protect it till I find a puncture shop.

I was under the impression that it will tell you within loss of 5-6 psi from the involved tyre. Can you share more details about these strap on TPMS? Even I am planning to buy a portable air pump.

[sharadmumbai]

Originally Posted by drmohitg

There is some confusion regarding this. As per a lot of people the warranty in unaffected by changing to the same spec tubeless.

I specifically asked this question in Bird in Gurgaon and Sanghi in Jaipur and both places I got same answer as warranty going void as suspension is tuned for RFTs which in my opinion is BS.

Originally Posted by drmohitg

That is true. But then the situation of a RFT going bust would not be that frequent I hope/believe/pray. Depends a lot on kind of roads you drive upon.

Trust me if ever the tyre goes bust, I would want it to be an RFT as it will keep us safe. Tyres go bust due to heat generated at extremely high speeds and thats why Mumbai Pune expressway sees so many tyre burst cases. So bad roads alone cant be blamed.

Originally Posted by drmohitg

I meant the same. I doubt there are lot of places these days where you won't find a puncture repair shop. So I totally agree and in that way it is more convenient with RFTs that you can merely drive to the next repair shop and get it fixed than have to get down and change the tyre.

But say on Yamuna E-way, Mum-Pun expressway, you may have to drive for a while to find a puncture shop. Also, in case the RFT, goes bad, you will be immobilized till you get a replacement tyre and the dealership may not even be present in the closest city. So space saver is definitely going to be a big help and absolutely the right decision by you.

Originally Posted by drmohitg

I was under the impression that it will tell you within loss of 5-6 psi from the involved tyre. Can you share more details about these strap on TPMS? Even I am planning to buy a portable air pump.

I think it should catch the difference but I would be more happier with TPMS as it also monitors temperature along with pressure and can help avoid tyre busts due to heat.

Sunny1974 has been using one has recommended Tyredog on my ownership thread

http://www.ebay.com/bhp/tyredog

I am looking to buy it locally and I need to visit Karol Bagh/Lajpat Nagar as its not available in gurgaon.


if you have the space saver, then I dont think compressor will be of any use. But its low cost and you can always keep it as Toy

[drmohitg]

Originally Posted by sharadmumbai

But say on Yamuna E-way, Mum-Pun expressway, you may have to drive for a while to find a puncture shop. Also, in case the RFT, goes bad, you will be immobilized till you get a replacement tyre and the dealership may not even be present in the closest city. So space saver is definitely going to be a big help and absolutely the right decision by you.

On Yaumna expressway and almost every expressway you will have to summon the highway/expressway patrol people. They have a puncture repair kit with them.

[sunny1974]

Originally Posted by drmohitg

There is some confusion regarding this. As per a lot of people the warranty in unaffected by changing to the same spec tubeless.


That is true. But then the situation of a RFT going bust would not be that frequent I hope/believe/pray. Depends a lot on kind of roads you drive upon.




I meant the same. I doubt there are lot of places these days where you won't find a puncture repair shop. So I totally agree and in that way it is more convenient with RFTs that you can merely drive to the next repair shop and get it fixed than have to get down and change the tyre.



I was under the impression that it will tell you within loss of 5-6 psi from the involved tyre. Can you share more details about these strap on TPMS? Even I am planning to buy a portable air pump.

Driving the rft without a portable pump is never advisable. Also keep a simple tyre pressure gauge which will save you the trip to the pump so often.
I would always retain the RFT as its a potential life saver. As far as the tyre burst of an RFT on some e way goes remember your life has already been saved by the RFT. Had you been on a regular tubeless tyre let alone waiting for the BMW helpline one could potentially be waiting got the ambulance
As far as the suspension warranty is concerned ive had an argument with BMW people including service engineers at various levels.
They will void the warranty technically but only related to the suspension if the issue arises. Especially if it may concern BSI related to brake pads or discs change. Whether they do it or not depends on if they actually want to blame you.
The RFT is responsible for the hard ride true but also responsible for your life insurance. BMW forces you to retain it because they are convinced that its as important as Airbags or ABS.
The major reason for tyre bursts is incorrect pressure. Same holds true for RFT. Most of us underinflate the RFT considering a softer ride which puts more pressure on the sidewall leading to weaknesses and possible failures.

The loss of pressure might not be shown as your warning if the equation doesn't match the percentile loss at which it will beep.
I haven't tried it but it will only record the baseline after running for 5 km at the same diameter as told to me by the engineer.
It will also show the error after running for 5 km without shutting down the engine etc at the lowset limit set.
that's the reason why it wont sometimes show up even if the pressure is less.
The ideal would be a tmps dedicated as mention here.
A method may be tried to make it more sensitive. Inflate all tyres at 40 psi and run for more than 5 km.
Then inflate to normal pressure of 36-33 or whatever you want.
that way the limit will be set at 5-6 psi or whatever is permissible. When it goes down to 34 it will beep and you can inflate the tyre. That way it may be fooled to become more accurate compared to the default 5-6 or maybe ever 10 psi difference.
Some one with a lot of patience will have to try different permutations and combinations to figure out the limit of the bmw tmps and report it here so we can all do the needful and save us from the tyre dog money.

[rolling_stone]

Originally Posted by sunny1974

Driving the rft without a portable pump is never advisable. Also keep a simple tyre pressure gauge which will save you the trip to the pump so often.

Based on RFT repair guidelines given by manufacturers in the US, it seems clear that most expect a minimum of 15 psi to be maintained if driving from point of puncture detection to repair such that there is some confidence that the punctured tire's internal structural integrity has not been compromised. Simple examination of the tire will not show the internal damage! It is better for the sake of the punctured tire that you immediately inflate it with a portable pump and keep checking the pressure with a gauge every few kilometers and top-up the pressure as needed. This way one would be more confident of reusing the repaired RFT without much risk that the damaged RFT is only giving us false confidence of safety!

[drmohitg]

So what is the ideal pressure I should run on for everyday intra-city drives? Currently I am running on 29 PSI in front and 31 PSI at the back, as recommended by BMW.
Since the car is almost always run inside NCR region and there are mostly less than 4 occupants, I can compromise on ride quality to some extent. Hence I can even afford to run on higher PSI values if it helps the life of the RFTs. Please advice.

[rolling_stone]

I use 29.5 in front and 32.5 in rear so that I need to check pressures every 3 weeks or so. Get a good gauge such as one by Michelin. And always fill up the air with your own pump and gauge since roadside stations have poorly calibrated gauges with inter-pump variability of over 2-3 psi!

[drmohitg]

The car has started showing that the next service is due in 7000 kms. This message flashes whenever you start the car. Currently the odo stands at 2500 kms. I would say that is pretty early in terms of number of kms run. But with BSI I am not worried .
The individual parameters are all OK according to the idrive though.