Run Flat limits

[ard]

Originally Posted by trucky

Funny you should mention overheating as that was my first concern. Being an old truck driver with over a million miles crossing Donner Pass most days I take my tires and safety very seriously. One of my OCD habits during and after any trip is to actually feel the tires with the back of my hand and "taste" the temperature. While not an entirely scientific process it does allow me to know if one tire is significantly hotter than another. Running duals on truck and trailers it's not always visually apparent that one of your tires is low. The hand trick has saved me from adding to the tire carcasses along the road by discovering a hot tire and taking appropriate action.

I did the same with my X5 after arriving and found no discernible difference between the low RFT and the other 3 tires. I guess the proof will be to see if it survives as long as the other tires over time.

And why run on a RFT? Isn't that exactly the point of having RFTs? Having 3rd row seating there is no place to stow a spare. I was originally thinking about replacing the RFTs with non RFTs when they wore out but now I'm rethinking those thoughts.

Not trying to be adversarial at all Ard. I highly value your opinions on this and other BMW forums. Just sharing my personal perspective.

Good input.

While the point of having a RFT is to be able to drive on them, the question of "once driven on will this retain a safety rating" drives repair shops (and BMW) to declare 'no'. This protects them against the idiot that damages a tire, goes to a shop and an untrained tech pops a plug in a tire with a damaged carcass.


Personally havent seen enough internally damaged tires to know when they are toast- once I saw a tire with fine rubber 'shreads' coming off the interior. But in terms of looking at a puncture, feeling for delams, how to inspect the inner surface of the tire- I dunno.

I carry a spare, Id pull off the next exit or safe spot. My wife would do the same and call AAA. And Id have no qualms about repair of the tire in that scenario.

Finally I applaud the 'we will see how it fares' attitude. I cannot tell you how annoying the 'gotta pay to play' and 'are you willing to risk your FAMILY to save a few bucks" responses are.

PS Put that tire on the rear, just in case....