Run flat tires

[740iS]

Originally Posted by kaput

I thought you looked familiar...

On the run-flat front, however, I've stuck with them myself as I prefer my wife not have to worry about a spare if she's driving the X. But with having the 3rd-row seating, don't want to have a loose spare in the back or on the roof. So I'll stick with the run flat tire type. Brand right now is Bridgestone, when I replaced my Michelin's a few months ago and thus far I really like them. Might try the Pirelli's next time, though.

[Skyline]

Originally Posted by Crowz

I plan on getting Scorpion Verde All Season Run Flat - Size: 255/50R19 at the moment. My driveway is very muddy and I also deal with snow from time to time and these seem to be the best for that from what I have been able to find researching them.



I have cooper cs5's on the wife's e53 and her pacifica awd and they do amazing but cooper doesn't make run flats.

If I lived in the city I would probably go with the goodyear f1's that are on the back now. They do ok so if the Pirelli's don't "shine" I may go back to them later.

The goodyear's do look good




I don't clock up that many miles on the e70 so I'm not really worried about tread life since I normally replace tires on what I drive now from dry rotting more than tire wear

Ideally, you should have identical tires on all four wheels. Otherwise you can screw up the handling balance of the car. Also, with an AWD car, it is important to keep tread depth pretty close to identical on all four wheels. When tires are different brands, this becomes more difficult, as you'd need to compare circumferences and shave accordingly...possible but not really practical to do.

So in your situation, the best result would be to order a second pair of F1 runflats for the front of your car, (making sure both are the correct sizes for a staggered set, so that when new, the circumferences were the same). Measure the tread depth of your existing rears, then order them from TireRack and have them shave them to the match the tread depth of the rears. OR buy a new set of four tires of your choice that are a matched staggered set. (I'm not aware of other vendors or local shops who shave tires, but I'm sure they are out there.)

If you have significant difference is tire outside diameter front to rear, you will screw up all sorts of things in your car.

[Crowz]

Originally Posted by Skyline

Ideally, you should have identical tires on all four wheels. Otherwise you can screw up the handling balance of the car. Also, with an AWD car, it is important to keep tread depth pretty close to identical on all four wheels. When tires are different brands, this becomes more difficult, as you'd need to compare circumferences and shave accordingly...possible but not really practical to do.

So in your situation, the best result would be to order a second pair of F1 runflats for the front of your car, (making sure both are the correct sizes for a staggered set, so that when new, the circumferences were the same). Measure the tread depth of your existing rears, then order them from TireRack and have them shave them to the match the tread depth of the rears. OR buy a new set of four tires of your choice that are a matched staggered set. (I'm not aware of other vendors or local shops who shave tires, but I'm sure they are out there.)

If you have significant difference is tire outside diameter front to rear, you will screw up all sorts of things in your car.

I will be replacing all at once since I want to keep the tread within the 1% spec. I didn't choose any of the current setup as it had these when I bought it.

[Toothbrush]

Originally Posted by 740iS

On the run-flat front, however, I've stuck with them myself as I prefer my wife not have to worry about a spare if she's driving the X. But with having the 3rd-row seating, don't want to have a loose spare in the back or on the roof. So I'll stick with the run flat tire type. Brand right now is Bridgestone, when I replaced my Michelin's a few months ago and thus far I really like them. Might try the Pirelli's next time, though.

Same here, kept run flats for the same two reasons - wife (mainly) and trunk space.

I have brand new Pirelli Verde Scorpion RFs, but will have to wait to get any idea of how much I like them. Went with them just based on sparse reviews compared to Duelers (had those before). Slowly bringing a neglected X5 back to life.

I would definitely agree it's not easy to find good info on (keeping) run-flats.

[kaput]

Odd thing is, my X5 has run flats and the spare tire kit. I guess I'm double covered.

I kinda wanna ditch the spare and get the storage bin to replace it, you know for more storage.

[ard]

Originally Posted by kaput

Newbie? Kid you are in for a shock. Actually, I can't say you are a kid. The majority of this forum appears to be middle aged men who can't turn a wrench, asking for help because they have no idea how to maintain their cars. You included "T"ard.

I have 34 posts here, because I am new to the X5. I have created one of the most well respected SMG videos on youtube, have 10s of thousands of posts across many other BMW forums, and was the first in the world to put a double din unit in an E46 as well as the first to use an L3 thermal system in an E46.

What have you done? Bought some tires from TireRack and "roasted" others because they didn't get what you got? Like in all honesty, there is no reason to come in here and act like a know it all cock, while trashing this persons ability to discuss whatever he wants. You need to put the keyboard down and get some sunshine. Pegged you exactly as I saw you. Wow, 4706 posts on a forum with literally no real information or innovation. Fucking score dude!

As for your on topic contribution, I believe I have every right to discuss how they are wearing. I might pull numbers on my lift later, or not. But the facts remain the same, the tires wear like sheets in your moms house, quickly.

Now go find someone who will take your undeserved bullshit and put up with it because you have more posts than them. Trying to win the battle of who could care less, and you can't even do that right.

Post count, what are you, 12?

Hmm. Sit on an airplane for a day and all hell breaks loose....

A couple of points. Contrary to the beliefs of some, I am a strong believer in a community of owners and enthusiasts, and despite the gruff persona I portray I try to support our efforts here. While I would surely like to dish back on each of the crap and insults kuput and his admirers have felt compelled to pile on with (‘tard’ and ’my mothers sheets’? real class acts), Ill try not to. I will add that if I used the insults and profanity that kuput has resorted to, Id expect to be banned.

I also looked back on kaput’s very first post. #1. Guess who responded ‘welcome’ as the first response?

740iS and kaput are part of a class of the 3rd or 4th ‘wave’ of owners- not new car buyers, but those guys that roll in with 10-15 year old cars when they reach a certain level of affordability. I’ve described this process before: initially a forum is ‘what color are you ordering’ or ‘when will it get here’. Then you get the “warranty covered XYZ”. Then there is that phase of clueless- “I bought an X5 and it is super expensive, what have I done???” Following that, there is perhaps the most interesting phase- dealers no longer do all the work, the owners that wont tolerate dealer prices come in and we get to see the model-specific DIYers. Deep DIYers that forge new, sometime better solutions to issues beyond the dealer approach. 740iS was such a member, and I welcomed him here. ( I did a quick look back at our interactions.) Futzing around with some bearings, instead of ‘just replace the whole thing.’

(lets take a quick break here- I got to were I am by, in part, buying used cars and maintaining them (well, that and having equity in two successful tech start ups) so I DO NOT cast aspersions on people with used cars, or old cars. Or people that maintain their cars. OK? And just because you DO work on your own car, or have modded cars, doesn’t mean crap.)


So kaput, 740iS seem to represent this 3rd or 4th wave. Its how us long term owners will learn how to go 15, 20 years with these cars. I will add that it’s a big tent, those rich guys that just have book smarts should be able to get along with ‘real mechanics’, or so I thought.

But then this little mess of a thread…. These newbs, and yes, you guys are newbs HERE, have decided that Im a poser, that they- the new guys who are the ‘real mechanics’- need to beat up on me. I wont escalate this, long term it isn’t a good path. However, despite kaput’s admonishing I will not ‘walk away’.

Tomaz posted a silly little public service post about how great runflats are. His impressions. Fine. No questions, just why he likes his runflats. Which is fine. Ive had runflats for 140k+ miles, they are fine for my X5. Whatever. I dont care what you buy, but buy the tire not the feature. I did take issue (as I always do 😉) with ‘run flats as a model’. I posted this.

In response, Tomaz first clarified what model he had. But then he got annoyed, and felt compelled to take a swipe in a second post. (He said some dumb stuff before in an earlier post, and prolly felt butt hurt as he re-read my post...) And I swiped back- and then the pile on.



So there we have it. You boys want to be part of the community, fine. You think because you need to wrench on your older cars this gives you some moral superiority, its gonna be a long road.


Oh, kaput- I stand by my statement that without knowing your alignment you cannot truly assess relative tire wear. I didn’t say you cannot speak, just that any conclusions you draw on wear without knowing the alignment are pointless. You are gonna “put it up on your lift and measure it”? lol dude.

You boys just wanna move on? Is this going to be a community or will this devolve for the next few months? Your call.

[Nanniepoo]

Originally Posted by kaput

Odd thing is, my X5 has run flats and the spare tire kit. I guess I'm double covered.

I kinda wanna ditch the spare and get the storage bin to replace it, you know for more storage.

Is the spare tire the same as the other 4? My guess is a PO replaced the tires with run flats but the car was not originally sold with them. Spare could likely be mounted with the original tire.

[Crowz]

Originally Posted by kaput

Odd thing is, my X5 has run flats and the spare tire kit. I guess I'm double covered.

I kinda wanna ditch the spare and get the storage bin to replace it, you know for more storage.

The storage bin is nice. I have a ton of tools and stuff in mine now.

[Tove22]

Originally Posted by kaput

Odd thing is, my X5 has run flats and the spare tire kit. I guess I'm double covered.

I kinda wanna ditch the spare and get the storage bin to replace it, you know for more storage.

That's peace of mind.

[Dieselfan]

Originally Posted by Crowz

Sounds like me. Except 1981 was the first I got paid turning a wrench and my celica was from 1972.

Best car in the world to learn on. Learn or walk

My was 3 years newer than yours!! Yeah, those 18R and 20R engines were well built. Had the body didn't rotted out I'd still be driving it.
Are you still getting paid wrenching and where do you work?

I remained as a shade tree mechanic but not under the tree anymore since I bought a car lift.

Forget it. Just realized you from Bama.