[moldcad]

We all hate RFT which BMW forces us to use (luckily not in the M235i). Half an hour ago the BMW carrying the Polish President A. Duda on the A4 motorway in Poland had a tire blown-up. The picture shows how it ended up...

http://ocdn.eu/images/pulscms/NDE7MD...c42563da8.jpeg

[sstarrx3]

Ok...I don't understand your point. Any tire can have a blowout and cause a loss of control. What does RFT have to do with anything? I don't like them because the ride is not nice. Low profile tires are more likely to fail, but my 17s are not really low profile, though they are Run Flats.

[BarryJI]

How does BMW "force" us to use RFTs? My 228i even came with non-RFT Michelin PSS tires as part of the Track Handling Package. Am I mistaken or is it always possible to swap out the run flats for non-RFTs if you don't like them?

[moldcad]

1. RFT is supposed to withstand a blow-out
2. As I said, it doesn't in our 2 series - but with all higher series you have no option to buy it on non-RFT tires. Wen I had my 528xi, I had to ditch the tires and replace them with PSSs.

[Cyberdemon]

Originally Posted by moldcad

1. RFT is supposed to withstand a blow-out
2. As I said, it doesn't in our 2 series - but with all higher series you have no option to buy it on non-RFT tires. Wen I had my 528xi, I had to ditch the tires and replace them with PSSs.

Sorry, but by only posting a picture of a wrecked car what are you trying to get after?

RFT's are designed to be able to be driven on in the event of a puncture or a blow out.

A blowout which happens at highway speed is completely dependent on the conditions. Since you haven't posted what happened, I can only assume the driver hit something at a high enough rate of speed to cause a loss of control - that would have happened regardless of if it was a RFT or not.

I've blown out 2 RFT's, and both times I was able to safely pull over, check for more serious damage, and then drive the car slowly to a gas station for service - which is exactly what the point of the RFT is.

In general RFT's are safer, there is no doubt about that. But pointing out that something can still happen should be obvious.

[bimmerfile]

Originally Posted by moldcad

We all hate RFT which BMW forces us to use (luckily not in the M235i). Half an hour ago the BMW carrying the Polish President A. Duda on the A4 motorway in Poland had a tire blown-up. The picture shows how it ended up...

How do we know that the bimmer was running RFTs? Coulda been on snow shoes, n'est pas?

[JChristie]

I strongly doubt the Polish President is being chauffeured around in a stock BMW with the standard run flat tires. Is there any actual news source confirming this was a blowout of a BMW factory installed RFT?

Not the biggest fan of run flat’s myself, but I’m scratching my head as to how this is evidence of anything.

[raleedy]

Originally Posted by JChristie

I strongly doubt the Polish President is being chauffeured around in a stock BMW with the standard run flat tires. Is there any actual news source confirming this was a blowout of a BMW factory installed RFT?

Not the biggest fan of run flat’s myself, but I’m scratching my head as to how this is evidence of anything.

It does show that the Polish President rides in a 7-series, maybe.

[JChristie]

Originally Posted by raleedy

It does show that the Polish President rides in a 7-series, maybe.

I'm not disputing that it's a BMW 7-series, just that it's probably nothing like the ones we would buy direct from the factory. If it's a car for head of state, I'm guessing at a bare minimum there's a ton of armor plating and bulletproof glass. All that extra weight would mean new suspension, possible frame upgrades and some engine tuning. Even if the stock run flats could deal with the extra weight, I imagine they'd be swapped out for something bullet resistant with special heavy duty rims etc.

[moldcad]

You all have valid arguments, guys - unfortunatley I cannot deny or confirm most of your doubts apart from these most obvious ones:

- the column of Head of State convoy was speeding along the A4 at a speed close to 200 km/h

- the President himself was in the 7-series BMW which suddenly lost the right rear tire, and - luckily not hitting anything/anyone - just landed in the field

- I agree this might have been one of those special vehicles for VIPs, but judging from the picture I doubt it (the President was coming back from one of the ski resorts at the south of Poland, and I suspect they wanted to "travel light" - which doesn't exclude using winter RFT tires)

- my first reaction has probably been a bit emotional, I think for two reasons:

a. In my 528xi times, I had endless disputes with my BMW dealer about how much safer using RFTs is (not just more convenient in case of a simple puncture); I had a really hard time making my decision to replace the RFTs I obviously had on my 528xi with PSSs - especially that it was the first car in my 45 years of motoring without any kind of spare wheel. The dealer kept telling me what I was doing was wrong as - as he put it - the ride harshness is a small price to pay for the complete peace of mind about a possible tire blow-out at high speeds I've always traveled with... To me, this harshness was too much a price to pay so I went with PSSs, even without any spare wheel. So - as you can imagine - this accident sort of proved my point in this dispute

- lat but not least, some political reasons for my over-reaction: as some of you might remember, we have a new President and Goverment who won elections a couple of months ago, and already managed to spoil some basic democracy mechanisms in my country. They are also the same people who kept telling us that the tragic airplane crash near the Smolensk Airport in Russia 5 years ago - killing 96 VIPs including the President, who also represented the same political option (ultra-right, or even nationalistic right) - was nothing but the plot between Mr. Putin and the Polish Prime Minister Tusk against them...

- I got premonitions this incident with President Duda's car can start another national debate that another liberal-democrat opposition plot has just had place

So as you can see it's been a rather emotional post; nevertheless it proves my point that I'm not doing anything stupid speeding well over 200 km/h (on motorways, of course) in my M235i - luckily with non-RFT, excellent Michelin PSS tires

[Hops128i]

This discussion reminds of this old article: http://jalopnik.com/everyone-hates-r...ires-464884753

RFTs actually needed replacement more often than non-rfts

[Luftwaffe1O1]

Originally Posted by moldcad

We all hate RFT which BMW forces us to use (luckily not in the M235i). Half an hour ago the BMW carrying the Polish President A. Duda on the A4 motorway in Poland had a tire blown-up. The picture shows how it ended up...

http://ocdn.eu/images/pulscms/NDE7MD...c42563da8.jpeg

While I am not a fan of RFTs myself, and avoid them in general, I cant exactly deny their usefulness. My girlfriend uses them on her 135i, and the reason being... and just imagine this scenario for a moment, you are a girl/woman in your 20s/30s, tire goes flat and it is dark out on a secluded stretch of road. You would normally be stuck sitting there by yourself, or trying to change the tire to a spare, vs being able to continue on to a safe location.

I feel much better knowing she wont be stranded on the side of the road somewhere.