21' Dunlop Flat Tire Fiasco

[MAK3N3]

Some of you might think this is dumb b/c I wouldn't buy a new tire but here's how it went down last week...But there's a reason why I would not buy a tire: If you're bored read below.

Tuesday:
10AM headed to Discount Tire w/one my trailer tires to get replaced from a gash. Drive to work 40 miles away, parked it, went to lunch w/buds in their car since I have two baby seats in back.
2:30 PM went to get something out of my car, noticed left rear tire was obviously flat, two different points of puncture from shrapnel looking bits. Pissed I just spent $115 & came from Discount! ironic!
3:30 PM make to Advantage BMW (closest to my work) since I have easy care tire warranty. They can't look at it today too late for easy care to come out. Bring it back in the AM.
4:30 PM dealer puts some air in it and I drive home 30 miles away to pick up my kids from daycare.

Wed:
10AM drop off my car at Advantage, take their shuttle to work.
3PM I had to call for an update...I got kids to pick up! They haven't gotten to it yet...I said it's a tire, takes 5 mins to tell it's flat! SA: We can't just put your car ahead of everyone else. Give me loaner then, we don't have any loaners, well I'm not driving it back home again...SA: OK our shuttle will pick you up and drop you off at Enterprise down the street. Well I usually work from home on Thursdays so can I bring it back Fri. SA: NO I'm only paying for one day.
4:45 PM got my VW Tiguan and head over to dealer to pick up the baby seats and then to pick up kids.

Thurs:
12:30PM headed to work late b/c of a previous engagement, buddy was picking up my trailer at 11 for track weekend at COTA, hence replacing one tires Tues. Ate fast food in my rental as you someone would do!
4PM I called for an update. SA: Easycare said your tires are worn past the limit to replace (I kinda thought this and was gambling on it) It will cost you $1871 for both rear tires and an alignment. I just sent you an email w/the findings. I declined of course...took my rental back to the dealer n picked up the X, porter put some air in it again.
5PM called discount by house to see if they can patch it...Yes, OK cool I'm headed your way. Called the wife...you gotta pick up kids.
5:45PM Discount: Your tires are worn past the wear limit and mainly where the hole is located, the plug would rip right out. Dammit! Started driving home.
6PM Called the one place I knew would have a tire if any, Tire59 40 miles back the other way. YES - we have one tire. 70% tread left with one patch $200 installed. AWESOME I'll be there in AM.

Fri:
9:30 AM head to work, called Tire59 - looks like it's going to be lunchtime before I can get there I have some meetings at work...OK cool.
12:30 PM Finally got there...waited about an 1hr chatted with some interesting folks, OK it's done. That will be $216 Paid cash....FINALLY, DAMN!
go back to work and start looking to replace the other tire on ebay.


WHY I wouldn't buy a new tire?!?!?!? I have a set of 214's sitting in my garage and I shit you not I was planning on dropping them off at the powder coating place that very Thurs when I work from home.

One reason is I have already replaced the back set once with good slightly used ones off ebay w/no patches n even wear. Got both fronts replaced via easy care in Nov 2014, I'm putting too many miles on this to keep buying tires so I sought the cheaper route of finding 214's since I have a better/cheaper selection. I will always buy the Run Flats since we have kids and I tow occasionally and no room for a spare.

Another reason is when I had the fronts replaced...Easycare said I had to pay the difference for 21's since my X5 originally came with 20's even though BMW sold me the car with 21's and easy care. I'm a fan of the tire warranty b/c on my wife's E90 it paid for itself w/in the first 1.5 yrs and we got a total of 6 tires from BMW during it's 5 yr warranty period.

Anyways I know this was long...this week I've been trying to find a good ebay tire to replace the last one and buy me some more time on powder coating my 214's and getting tires/tpms etc. for them.

Thanks for reading! Have a good weekend everyone!

[ard]

Wow.

I would have put on the spare, and then took the bad tire and one of my spare tires I collect in the garage and paid $25 to have is swapped out. 10 min to drop off, 10 min to pick up.

You have a trailer and race car? Plenty of room for a spare. Even a full size rim at home is a decent spare- a spare doesnt need to always be in the car to be valuable. Gives you time to order the right tire at the right price.


Say, at $8 a hour, all that dicking around was about $200 eh?

[bawareca]

I feel for you.
20s may be the worst nightmare in this SUV, but there is no way i would drive one with 18s or 19s. I am just going leave in my misery and pay for the bad habit of having 20s
I also buy a used tires at 70% and more and no more than 2 years old. Neither one has lasted some meaningfull amount of time or miles, so if i buy them at 40% of the price that is what i am saving. I buy Conti's because they can be rotated in the wheel, and Bridgestones are marked "inside/outside" and are not directional.
So last August I had to tow a car from San Diego and on my way back a rear tire blew up, and until I pulled off the freeway it was completely destroyed. Of course in the hurry I forgot to load my spare tire for the X5(spare tire for the trailer sits in the compartment for the space saver spare. "Luckily" it turned out there is a Discount tire or similar sh*ty store just 12 miles away. So I unhook the trailer and take the freeway shoulder. Got to the place with almost no tire and fender liner left. It takes 10 minutes for the SA to see me. He has only Bridgestones in stock @ $430 installed. Of course he finds out I need 2. I insist on 1. I explain him the situation and ask him if he can organize expedited tire change. He replies that i need to wait for my turn. 2 1/2 hours later and with a life expectancy 4 years shorter i leave with a brand new Bridgestone.
I have deliberately decreased the camber on the rear as much as possible, which should be at around 1 degree. I didnt tow much since this tire is installed, and 10 k miles later the inside shoulder is gone. Completely. in 1k miles the cords will show up.
So here is my plan: I'd just go with a Toyos and put a space saver spare in the trunk. In the race car trailer and the boat trailer there will be a full size 18" wheel and tire. The only good news is that all sizes shown on the BMW sticker are the same height and can be combined without affecting the diffs or traction control.

[MAK3N3]

I have spare 214's rims only, no tires yet or extra tpms, going to get them powder coated soon and buy tires etc. one of my 215's will then be spare until I decide what to do with those...more on them later.

I know what you're saying but I kept my air tank with me n kept airing up that tire when ever I had to leave from where ever. I put maybe 200 miles on that punctured Dunlop n still drove about 60-65mph n it held up, would just be low by time I got to my destination.

I barely have room on my trailer for one of my trailer tire spares, currently looking at mounting opts b/c way my trailer is...it's just really tight with the car on it - 16ft roll back with a huge air damn on the front which I'd like to remove and get a tire rack built one day. When I tow my car it's loaded down w gear as well as the back of my X.

I guess it was just the fact that I wasn't planning on keeping these 215's any more nor did I want to buy new tires at 600+ rears, I had a flat...didn't have time to buy tires on ebay etc yet to save a buck. Not one Discount had one rear tire in stock also. I'll buy new 20's all day looking at the prices. I gambled on the easy care but yeah I could of searched for a tire sooner.

Bidding on a pr of rear Dunlops now so at least I'll have a spare tire this time!Fronts will have plenty tread left to be covered by easy care by time I get my 214 setup.

Also, I've spent well over 5K since late Dec on parts n maint. on our 3 BMW's and frankly it's getting really annoying, some of it I prob didn't need like my LCI taillights I installed this past week but hey I needed to feel good!

Originally Posted by ard

Wow.

I would have put on the spare, and then took the bad tire and one of my spare tires I collect in the garage and paid $25 to have is swapped out. 10 min to drop off, 10 min to pick up.

You have a trailer and race car? Plenty of room for a spare. Even a full size rim at home is a decent spare- a spare doesnt need to always be in the car to be valuable. Gives you time to order the right tire at the right price.


Say, at $8 a hour, all that dicking around was about $200 eh?

[bawareca]

Originally Posted by MAK3N3

I'll buy new 20's all day looking at the prices.

$800 [for a set] would be Ok for 25-30 k miles but is unacceptable [for me] for 10-12 k miles. Even if it is electric car and charged at public stations only
Oh, and my fronts now have 50-60% thread left on the inside and the middle, but the outside edge is at 0. Just a slightly more aggresive driving
I wonder if these problems will go away with a regular, non-RFT. Will report soon.

[MAK3N3]

You must be really pushing that thing to wear out the outer edges like that!

But honestly a good alignment may help, when I bought my X last year the tires were brand new, asked the dealer if the alignment was good and they said yes, it had a very slight pull when you let go the wheel. 5-6 mo's later maybe 5K miles my rear inner treads were pretty worn but not bald. I swapped the tires on the rims to get the good sides on the inside and drove them until they wore out more.

Bought two used rears at 7/32nd in June 2014 and got an alignment from my indie, up until now they wore out pretty much even all way across and that's with some nice spirited driving in between. Just got one replaced and other on order. I'd say they lasted about 13-14K miles from when I bought them at 7/32nd. My fronts pretty much lasted from Jan2014 to Nov2014 n about 16K.

Originally Posted by bawareca

$800 [for a set] would be Ok for 25-30 k miles but is unacceptable [for me] for 10-12 k miles. Even if it is electric car and charged at public stations only
Oh, and my fronts now have 50-60% thread left on the inside and the middle, but the outside edge is at 0. Just a slightly more aggresive driving
I wonder if these problems will go away with a regular, non-RFT. Will report soon.

[ard]

Originally Posted by MAK3N3

asked the dealer if the alignment was good and they said yes,.

BMW dealers and most tire shops do NOT know how to set an alignment for 'maximum wear'. Simple as that.

[MAK3N3]

Originally Posted by ard

BMW dealers and most tire shops do NOT know how to set an alignment for 'maximum wear'. Simple as that.

Yeah I know...don't even know why I asked!

[bawareca]

I have the rear camber to the least possible settings, which is i believe -1.2 degree. With these settings the rear pulls very bad to the left or right if i hit a bump or dip with one of the tires. Looks like the RFT have a very stiff side wall and even with a small camber all the pressure goes to the inner-most part of the thread. But it is amazing how much the RFT differ-Contis wear the middle of the thread first (along with the inner edge) and on the Brdgestones the middle has most thread left.
I am going with non RFT now and if the trend continues i will install a SLS on the back, whatever it takes.
Double wishbone suspension definitely provides tons of grip, but if there was adjustment I would add -1 degree camber to the front.
My tires are never squeaking, but i always practice in turns (safe of course) to carry decent speed, plus there is a nice 30 mls mountain road where we go skiing. Honda Civics and other agile, sporty cars are shocked that they cannot keep up with the diesel barge