While I certainly understand why automakers have gone to run-flat tires as a means of dealing with ever larger rolling stock and keep weight to a minimum, I’d still like to see them at least include an inflator to let owners try to see if the tire would hold air. The run-flat did get me home from a rural area safely so that’s a good thing. The added stress of driving, even at relatively low speed probably exacerbated the damage although a sidewall slice would be irreparable anyway. In retrospect, it was likely a sharp stone that sliced the sidewall, releasing the pressure. By now, the sidewall had a distinct tear in it and it was clearly beyond repair. About 25 minutes later I pulled into my driveway and inspected the tire again. With the speed and distance restrictions they told me about and the lack of obvious physical damage, I decided to give it a try driving at 30-35 mph. With no spare tire or even an inflator kit in the car, I used the built-in BMW Connected telematics system to call their roadside assistance. Run-flat tire on 2017 BMW 530i after 12 miles at 30 mph Sam Abuelsamid I figured perhaps the bead had pulled away from the wheel and released the pressure. A visual inspection showed no obvious damage, but pressing on the tread revealed the tire to indeed be devoid of air. After pulling over to a safe spot, I went into the vehicle information menu which told me the right front tire had 0 psi of pressure. Moments later, an ominous warning to slow down and stop popped up in the instrument cluster, telling me I had low tire pressure. A few hundred yards later, I felt the telltale thump of pothole I hadn’t managed to completely avoid. About 12 miles from my house, I turned onto a gravel road. While driving home from Cars and Coffee in the 530i on Saturday morning, I opted to take a more scenic route. In hybrid vehicles, the battery is often installed in the space that would hold a spare, forcing the use of inflator kits or run-flats. That can be enough to pick up an extra mpg or two on the new vehicle label. The 30 to 40 pound mass of a spare tire and jack can often be enough to drop the weight of a vehicle into a lower test class for fuel economy dynamometer testing. The other driver for getting rid of spares is fuel economy.
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