| My teen daughter recently inherited a ten year-old BMW 328i from her grandmother in another state. We are going through the Maryland Safety Inspection (Montgomery County, to be exact) and a paper clip was discovered puncturing the sidewall of one tire. We need to get it replaced, but BMW's require special tires. Any suggestions besides the local dealership? Thanks in advance. |
| tirerack.com shipping to whoever the highest rated local shop is. If that's too much of a PITA then Costco. Also BMWs do not require special tires. Some have runflats, but there is nothing uniquely BMW about them |
| Most places you should plan to order 2 new run flats, they don’t typically keep in stock. We’ve used Just Ties and NTB. |
Yes, the current tires are runflats. Our current mechanic does not want to change the tire himself. Not sure why. |
| If you're a Costco member, go there. I take my Audi there. It's easy and a good road hazard warranty plus rotation/balancing (for life of tires?). |
you'll probably need at least two like PP said. tirerack has a list of mechanics they ship to. Costco can do it as well. Getting it from a dealer just means that you'll overpay for OEM which likely has worse performance that most of the other options |
sorry, you'll likely need a set. Unless the tires you currently have are brand new. If a mechanic talks about shaving a tire to match, run |
| OP here. Thank you, everyone! We do not belong to Costco, unfortunately. It sounds like a pain that we need two new tires. Are runflats especially prone to punctures. We just got this car and it already has the stupid paper clip in it. Would it be stupid if we replaced the tires with two non-runflats? |
they aren't more prone to punctures, you just had bad luck. You also have to switch all for if you do it, but they are cheaper so maybe it will be a wash |
| OP here. Has anyone used Quality Discount Tire in Kensington? I have read good reviews online, including from Tirerack.com . |
| Tire rack plus ASAP tire service. They will come to your house with the tires and install them. Cost to install is 25 bucks a tire. I did this for our Mercedes C300. |
| A paper clip? That’s usually a simple repair. $20. For new tires, you can literally go anywhere. There is nothing special about run-flats. |
| Run flats are more expensive to buy but you don’t get stranded on the side of the road. BMWs don’t have a spare which is why they use run flats. |
|
Is there a spare tire in the car? If there is, ditch the run flats and teach your DD to change a tire.
Our AWD Sienna came with runflat tires because there’s no spare. Runflat tires suck so we just buy good regular tires and snow tires and keep AAA coverage. |
The paper clip punctured the side of the tire. The whole tire needs to be replaced to pass Maryland Safety Inspection. As a gift, the car is new to the state of Maryland. |