Goodyear run flats - have a look at this picture

[silverback mike]

Hi all. If anyone has Goodyear run flats it may be worth checking them. These were fitted to a 5 series estate and approximately 8 months old and 5000 miles on them. This is the second one to do this …..

[Monkeylegend]

Pothole damage?

[South tdf]

From my experience of BMW 330e company cars the inside edge often wore very quickly it not to this level. Have g two do it is very unlucky, have you had the geometry checked?

[silverback mike]

Indeed. And yes geometry was spot on (did the 4 wheel alignment after changing the front offside which didn’t split it had a cut and rather large bulge)

[Driver101]

BMWs are bad for wearing the inner edges of rear tyres. Runflats suffer more than standard tyres.

I think an open diff and a lot of inside wheel wheelspin is the main cause as it happens when geometry is correct.

[Monkeylegend]

I have Bridgestone rf's on mine, I think they are probably the original tyres and they have worn the outside front edges but they have both still got about 4mm tread over the rest of the tyre. Tyre pressure and tracking are all ok, it seems to be a common issue with them.

I need to change soon and was thinking of Goodyear, but maybe not now.

[RTaylor2208]

Had the exact same happen on our BMW 5GT, the rears lasted roughly 6K miles. The alignment was spot on as well.

Ditched the run flats and replaced with Uniroyal Rainsport 5's, so far 11K on those and they have an even 5mm left across the entire tread with no sighs on the insides wearing prematurely.

As the car was under BMW AUC warranty at the time I did try and claim as premium tyres should last far more than 5 months and 6K miles if the alignment is correct, but they said it was due to how the car was driven which is nonsense, it's not like a nearly 2ton 520D is doing donuts and skidding about everywhere.

[E-bmw]

There are 2 causes to this & both were hinted at above & both are well known.

RFT tyres have MUCH stiffer side walls therefore concentrating the wear on the edges of the tyres.

BMW have set up their cars to default to understeer by giving the rear more negative camber than is ideal meaning that the inner edge of the tyre carries most of the load.

The issue is not really the tyres, but BMW suspension settings.

If you ignore the BMW alignment settings & remove the majority of the rear negative camber the problem goes away any the rear tyres last MUCH longer.

[Driver101]

Don't change the suspension setup. Buy standard tyres and you'll find they wear better. The car will also be smoother, quieter and better to drive.

[stevieturbo]

silverback mike said:

Hi all. If anyone has Goodyear run flats it may be worth checking them. These were fitted to a 5 series estate and approximately 8 months old and 5000 miles on them. This is the second one to do this …..[url]

Tyres should be checked regularly on all cars.

Presumably there was still air in this tyre and it has not been driven flat ?

[Volvolover]

Do you drive down any roads with no kerb edges where you may dip a wheel off to let something past on your regular routes?

I cut the inside of a tyre just like that pulling back on and the ‘edge’ of the tarmac doing the damage

[sjj84]

Mine did similar, although didn't split quite as bad as those. No idea on the milage on them, they were down to approx 3mm thread. Couldn't see the splits unless right under the car.

[Panamax]

Never had the slightest difficulty with my Goodyear runflats.

I've never heard anything previously about edges of runflats wearing more quickly. Mine certainly didn't. The usual cause of edge wear (assuming correct geometry) is under-inflation.

[E-bmw]

Panamax said:

Never had the slightest difficulty with my Goodyear runflats.

I've never heard anything previously about edges of runflats wearing more quickly. Mine certainly didn't. The usual cause of edge wear (assuming correct geometry) is under-inflation.

Yes, but that would be both edges, this is due to BMW insistance on high rates of negative camber on the rear axle.

[Mr Tidy]

I wonder if it is more of an issue on newer BMWs?

One of my neighbours had a run-flat on his 17 plate 3 Series that looked like that on the outer edge of a rear tyre. I can't remember what brand of tyre but it was definitely a run-flat because I checked when I saw it!

I'm on my 5th BMW with run-flats but they have all been from between 2005 to 2007 and I've never had that problem (2 on Pirellis and 3 on Bridgestones). If I had an issue with them it was wear on the outer edges of the front tyres.

I can't see the open diff being an issue given how the Traction Control kicks in long before the rear tyres spin up - unless you turn it off!

[Driver101]

Mr Tidy said:

I wonder if it is more of an issue on newer BMWs?

One of my neighbours had a run-flat on his 17 plate 3 Series that looked like that on the outer edge of a rear tyre. I can't remember what brand of tyre but it was definitely a run-flat because I checked when I saw it!

I'm on my 5th BMW with run-flats but they have all been from between 2005 to 2007 and I've never had that problem (2 on Pirellis and 3 on Bridgestones). If I had an issue with them it was wear on the outer edges of the front tyres.

I can't see the open diff being an issue given how the Traction Control kicks in long before the rear tyres spin up - unless you turn it off!

It's not a new issue. ​It's had been widely discussed as far back as I can remember.

A lot of owners found that their tracking was spot on and going to standard tyres solved the issue.

Your runflats weren't low profile?

Traction control still allows the inside wheel to spin quite a bit.