[bongo77]

Had an expensive week. I spent a few days in Ireland in my F11 on a short break and whilst driving along at a steady pace (progress is slow over there) I got the tyre pressure loss warning.

The wheels were genuine 312 with original bridgestone rfts. The wheels didn't come with the car but were bought on ebay from a UK BMW main dealer. They were off an ex-demo F10 car and had very little wear.

I pulled over a few miles later at the next garage and sure enough, the right rear was reading 10psi. The typre looked ok and I reinflated to 35psi and reset the tyre pressure monitor. The rear tyres were the original 275/30/R20 that came with the F10 wheels BTW. Not the 245 width that the F11 comes with as standard. Could the increased width have caused this? Should F10 wheels not be fitted to an F11???

Drove another 20 miles and the same happened again- right at the end of our journey. I woke up the next morning and decided to have a proper look in daylight before taking the car to a garage 1/2 mile down the road for a puncture repair or replacement. Again the tyre looked ok, but I had a feel round the back of the tyre and to my horror I could feel some severe damage.

I limped the car to the garage just down the road and on removing the wheel, we saw the attached damage.

To add insult to injury, neither the local garage, nor BMW could source the right size tyres in the whole of Ireland withhin the next few days and I had a ferry home booked for the next day. in the end I had some nasty no name 40 profile tyres fitted at great expense and drove the car home carefully the next day before taking the 20" wheels off and replacing them with my orginal 17s.

What could have caused this? The geometry should be ok as its a new car, I'm sure the tyre pressure was ok too- I had the car fully loaded with two adults, two kids, a full boot and a roofbox, but the pressure was set to 35psi to compensate- was this enough?

Do I have a strong enough case to take this to BMW for a refund on the tyres? i.e the tyre failed to cover less than 20 miles at a speed of around 30 mph while deflated? Or do I put this down to Ireland's roads being of a third world standard?

All in all, this will cost me the thick end of £1000 so i'm obviously not hapy & i'm considering getitng rid of the 20 inch wheels and sticking with the 17s.

[tp550i]

Any signs of rubbing on the inside? I really doubt BMW will assist - probably direct you to Dunlop. If you still have the tire I would have a Dunlop rep look at it.

Maybe some of the forum tire gurus can jump in - is that tire rated for the F11 loading?

[scottz5]

RF are just a fail. Great idea but they needed more R&D. I had the same problem on my e90. Thats why I run non runflats.

[bongo77]

Yeah RF with such a low profile are a joke. The ride was very harsh due to the sidewall being so stiff.

It was also a very tough job for the Irish tyre fitter. He really struggled to get them off and left a few marks on the rims.

If I do decide to keep the wheels I'll defiinitely fit non RFTs in future. The theory behind them is sound, but in practice they don't seem to work. I'd rather risk being stranded than risk driving on a low profile RFT.

EDIT: There were no marks on the rim or impacts other than the slight mark you ccan see in the pic. i'm not sure if it's that significant and could have happened after the tyre failed?

It's probably not worth following up with BMW or the tyre manufacturer (actually Dunlop I've just realised) as all I have is the photo as evidence- it wouldn't have been practical to take the damaged tyre home with me while on holiday.