VeeshanVault

Anyone have any experience with these? I have read that they basically suck for longevity. Somewhere in the range of 10-20k miles. To make matters worse, they cost about 2-3x what normal tires cost.

I ask, because I am looking at a 2008 BMW 335xi, and it only comes with these Maybe I could just ask them to swap them out for a set of normal all-seasons?

They only come on 335 if you get the sports package. I got them on my 335i and they do suck especially in the winter when temp drops down to 32 and below...I contemplated buying another set of regular tires and when the lease is up, putting RFT's back on to return the car, but decided against it, since I only drive about 3k a year, I’m hoping I wont have to replace them after 2 years....oh an I heard some people had to replace after 5k miles, I guess it all depends on how hard you will drive the 335 and believe me its very hard not to drive 335 like a maniac

Neroon wrote:Anyone have any experience with these? I have read that they basically suck for longevity. Somewhere in the range of 10-20k miles. To make matters worse, they cost about 2-3x what normal tires cost.

I ask, because I am looking at a 2008 BMW 335xi, and it only comes with these Maybe I could just ask them to swap them out for a set of normal all-seasons?

I had a set on my (Army issue) hummer and ran over 60k miles on them (mixed highway/off-road), no idea what the civilian issue and military issue difference would be but I ran the hell out of mine and never had any problems.

I would get a second set of tires if you are in a cold climate and/or putting a lot of miles on the car. My friend has had to replace two tires already for wear reasons (not nails popping them, etc) on his Jeep SRT8 and he has less than 10k miles on it. I have heard similar stories to his as well, and those tires are damn expensive.

Run flats are nice I guess if you have a model that doesn't come with a spare. But I live in S. Fla, so I have no idea how they run in the cold. Anyways, you don't need to return a lease with the same type of tires. They just have to have enough tread. When I returned my BMW lease, I just had non-run flat tires which ran about 350 a piece. I wasn't about to slap on some 600 tires just to return it with the same type of tires.

valryte wrote:Anyways, you don't need to return a lease with the same type of tires. They just have to have enough tread. When I returned my BMW lease, I just had non-run flat tires which ran about 350 a piece. I wasn't about to slap on some 600 tires just to return it with the same type of tires.

Hehe... I had one with nice alloy rims that got damaged, $600 each to replace. At the end of the lease I turned it in with black steel rims ($60 each) and they didn't say anything. (I did pay about 2 grand for extra mileage tho!)

valryte wrote: Anyways, you don't need to return a lease with the same type of tires.

Thats not true - if you read your contract carefuly, you will find that you must return the car with RFT's. You just got lucky that inspector didnt notice it.

Thats not true - if you read your contract carefuly, you will find that you must return the car with RFT's. You just got lucky that inspector didnt notice it.

Actually, they inspected the car quite well. One of my tires didn't have enough tread so they charged us like $350 for a replacement. He said it didn't have to be an RFT. But yeah, you should check with your leasing contract to see what exactly is expected when you return the car, each situation could be different. BTW the car was an M3, so maybe because of the high lease they really didn't care if they came back with RFT's or not, either that or it was because we were leasing 3 of them. But still, like you said just check your contract.

Thanks for all the great info all. I ended up keeping my RX-8 and buying a winter car. They kept offering me $5-6k under book trade-in for the Mazda :/ I know it's a summer car, and it's winter here, but damn!

The BMW salesmen even said the runflats sucked, and to just run them til they die and buy non-runflats.

better late than never.

Most cars that come with runflats are also "sports cars". Sports cars come with soft rubber tires to make them sporty. So they will wear FAST. Imagine buying a new corvette and spending $2400 a year on tires. The runflat feature easilly doubles tire costs. So bassicly, if you cant afford it, dont buy it. If you already made that mistake, you can replace them with standard tires and not have any problems performance wise until you pick up a nail. But thats what AAA is for.

Noysyrump wrote:better late than never.

Most cars that come with runflats are also "sports cars". Sports cars come with soft rubber tires to make them sporty. So they will wear FAST. Imagine buying a new corvette and spending $2400 a year on tires. The runflat feature easilly doubles tire costs. So bassicly, if you cant afford it, dont buy it. If you already made that mistake, you can replace them with standard tires and not have any problems performance wise until you pick up a nail. But thats what AAA is for.

Hell yeah, AAA rules - I can't imagine every going back to not having it.

Funkmasterr wrote:

Noysyrump wrote:better late than never.

Most cars that come with runflats are also "sports cars". Sports cars come with soft rubber tires to make them sporty. So they will wear FAST. Imagine buying a new corvette and spending $2400 a year on tires. The runflat feature easilly doubles tire costs. So bassicly, if you cant afford it, dont buy it. If you already made that mistake, you can replace them with standard tires and not have any problems performance wise until you pick up a nail. But thats what AAA is for.

Hell yeah, AAA rules - I can't imagine every going back to not having it.

I pay $24 a year for gold membership....Best service for that amount of the money.

I have AAA Plus membership.I get it as a gift every year so I don't know what it costs but it usually helps me out at least once a year with a dead battery or breaking down somewhere.

Last time I got towed, I gave tow truck driver a six pack of beer as a tip because I had no cash on me. (he said he was getting off work soon so hopefully he didn't drink it on the way home!)