[yohans]

Here's my experience with RFTs so far.

My first set on my 20d were Goodyear Efficient Grip on the big Y spoke 322 alloys, different width wheels front and rear. I got about 44,000 kilometres from them. The rears were uniformly worn down and the fronts had feathered on the inner edges/corners even though there was still tread across the flat surface. No punctures even though I do a fair bit of rough dirt road driving including some snow and mud.

There was no stock of the same tires so I ended up with Pirelli P7s.

On both makes of tire the car performed well, its a firm sporty ride and corners incredibly well and has a firm ride.


So after 3,500 kms on the Pirelli P7 RFT's I had a rear wheel puncture. This was at the start of a 4 day weekend away trip to the Victorian Alps about 400 km from Melbourne. I was only about 100km into the trip when ding the warning came on. The car didn't feel any different however I stopped to find a roofing self tapping screw imbedded on the edge of the tread close to the sidewall. I drove to a nationally branded tire retailer in a country town who whipped it off, repaired it and had me back on the road in about an hour for $30.

I continued my trip, drove about another 800 kms without any problem until my last rest stop just 2 hours before home on day 4. When I restarted again ding the warning. Same tire, leaking at the repair.

So I limped home stopping to pump up the tire at every opportunity. The tire never actually ran flat I managed to keep it reasonably inflated but still kept to a reduced speed just in case.

So today off to the my local branch of this national tire retailer I go. They took one look at the tire and stated that P7 RFTs cannot be repaired and must be replaced. End of story. They then quote me a price $150 more than the BMW
dealer.

So now I've off the road for 2 days until the new tire is fitted by BMW.

I now need to decide whether RFT's are ok for me given the experience I've just had as getting a puncture with a rft does not mean you can continue your journey. It only means you can limp to the nearest tire centre who 1. cannot fix the tire for you and 2. cannot supply a new tire immediately. So going to a tire centre is a waste of time. Probably better to have BMW come out and pick up the car on a flat bed. This wrecks the trip and probably is delayed as well as for most of my trips I'm in remote areas of Victoria or NSW.

Expensive puncture too!!

So I've been a happy camper with my RFTs until now. Not sure what to do next.

Comments are welcome