Dead to run flat!

Front tires are 225/40 R18W. I'd heard about run flats being hard. I hadn't quite expected them to tram line so badly (lorry grooves on motorways, uneven country roads, esp when wet, off camber straight roads). At times the wheel gets pulled from your grip nearly - as someone else noted. Tracking and wheel alignment were all fine in case you wonder, but when I changed the tires (after a decent 29000 miles), the shoulders were really badly warn (down to 2mm or less) but the centre had maybe 5mm left. Some of this could be underinflation (but I check fairly often). Others have pointed out the hard sidewalls cause high shoulder wear, which I can believe. I've changed tires for Conti SC3 all round (not RF) and it's like having a different car. Much smoother and tramlining is mostly gone. I've sacrificed the run flat safety/convenience, but I don't think the technology works well enough yet. Bridgestone have announced the 3rd gen of run flats with less rigid sidewalls, so that might be worth a go in the future, but I don't like this generation one bit.

DROVE NEW CAR FROM SHOWROOM AND STEERING WAS IMMEDIATELY AWFUL. THOUGHT CAR WAS FAULTY BUT TOLD BY BMW THAT IT WAS NORMAL! THIS DID NOT BODE WELL. HARSH RIDE AND TRAMLINING OVER THE MOST MINOR ROAD IMPERFECTIONS. STEERING ALWAYS FEELS VERY NERVOUS AND TIRING TO DRIVE ON ALL BUT THE SMOOTHEST SURFACES.HAVE DRIVEN MANY CARS OVER 40 YEARS BUT THESE ARE THE WORST TYRES EVER. WHY DO BMW PERSIST IN FITTING THEM ?

Purchased Z4 summer 09 as long distance Touring car. Ride supposedly softened, relative to old model. Road noise is apparent, still feels harsh and tramlines over 'cats eyes', suspect Run-flats.
Last winter, under severe snow/ice conditions, whilst stationary on M20 back end broke away on camber and car slid onto centre reservation. Pushed back onto carriageway by van drivers and moved to next junction where Police towed car up exit ramp and to hotel where it was parked up.
Have received promo from BMW advising that the winter spec tires should now be fitted as the Potenza's are not recommended in temperatures below +7 deg.C.
Am looking for alternative or different car.

I have to new Z4 335 Sdrive (59 plate). Car came with these tires. I dont realy have any thing to compare the tires against so will just say how i felt about the tires. Tires felt very hard (but that could be becase these are Run Flats). They do give a good feed back but am disapointed as to the lack of grip. In dry conditions they are good, but even then, everytime i tried to throw the car into a bend (or a roundabout), the car was almost out of control. On the motorway, they are noisy but do give good grip ... up to certain speeds. On a track when pushed to higher speeds, back of the car was all over the place (and thats not a good thing at 140mph+)
Good points for me were they lasted me 22000 miles (although the are finished now). Cant realy think of any other good points ....
I am getting Goodyear F1 Asymmetric's put in next weekend so will probably have a better idea. Will post how the tires compare ...

Had these tires fitted on a lease car for past 3 years. Good dry grip, not so good in wet if pushed. Tires noisy, and car jumps about with traction control coming on on bumpy dry roads. Wear well and precise cornering. However be warned, these have NO grip in ice or snow. A little bit of snow on cold road and car started drifting left and right. You will be stranded if you need to go slowly up a hill! Tire traction so poor in winter I contacted Bridgestone who verbally admitted tires have no traction on snow or ice, but would not confirm in writing. My opinion, you can buy better tires for the money - Fit standard michelins, pirelli etc and use Ultraseal so you don't get a flat. IF RWD car fit winter tires in winter

horribly hard and loud on the road , they have pretty good dry grip but wet grip is very very poor for a tire of this class and price i will never buy again they are terrible

There seems to be some hugely divergent views on this tire. They were fitted by BMW to my 645 when new and I've found them to be very good. The rears needed replacing after a pretty respectable 18,000 miles but the fronts lasted for an extraordinarily good 28,800 miles and probably could have been good for a bit more but for a bulge that mysteriously appeared in one of them. Comfort excellent; road noise negligable and this despite the car being a rag-top; and grip perfectly fit for purpose as I never feel that I'm about to loose control - but then I don't drive like a maniac, merely very briskly! Gets 9/10 from me - would have been 10/10 but for price. Despite this I'd buy again - and have already done so. Incidentally, for a goood price on any tire and free fitting at home or work I'd highly recommend www.event-tires.co.uk. They offer a BRILLIANT service.

One word... GASH! I've had numerous cars and lots of tires from low/budget, mid range and high performance. On the BMW these are utter nonsense for a tire that can cost nigh on ?300 each.

The skip, crash and bounce all over the place, traction control light comes on when going over minor indentations in the road, the have as much grip as as an arthritic chimp, even worse in the wet.

Unfortunately, these come as standard on new BMs so I didn't actually pay for them directly. They'll be consigned to the heap soon for a proper set of tires, ie Eagle F1s or P-Zeros.

If you value you safety and your wallet, then AVOID these like an episode of the X-Factor!!!

i dont know if it is the tires or the car or a bit of both .. but i have not any problems with the other tires i had on some one sugessted these might last a bit longer, so i thought i would give them a try..BIGGEST mistake i ever made. The road noise is so bad i am going to spend another small fortune and change them before they need doing as, i cant stand the noise.. it is driving me mad...my advise spend a bit more and get something better..

Intro:

OK let's not mess about here. I have owned a wide variety of sporting cars over the years including original tuned up Mini Cooper's of various vintage, MKII,III,IV Golf Gti's, E36 BMW Coupe's (various engine sizes) etc etc... and The RE-050's that I had fitted to my Z4 (in the run flat version at least) are some of the worst tires I have ever used on a car. Fitted for the duration on a Z4 2.5i I have very little that is positive to say about them. In the dry grip was good and progressive on the limit but in all other respects I simply cannot recommend the RE-050 for every day use.

Ownership Experience:

In the wet they were lethal and broke away for too easily especially when towards the end of the life of the tire. Wear rate was high and uneven with the outer edges going before the inner area (tracking is fine). Ride quality and tram lining on ANYTHING other than a perfect road surface was appalling. Road noise was awful and construction quality questionable (I had two lumps of rubber disappear from the sidewall for no apparent reason) the list goes on. In my view the Run flat RE-050 simply does not cut it against the opposition.

Conclusion:

When BMW went with the run flat tire idea several years ago, the 050 was the OE spec tire. These days though other brands are now available in a run flat formation that are superior in almost every way. I suspect many BMW owners (myself included) have due to habit replaced their OE Bridgestone's with the same. Do yourself a favour even if your 050's are half worn and change your 050's to another brand (I have swapped to Conti's recently and cannot believe the improvement). Would I recommend these tires? Not a hope.

Worst tires I have ever used for wear. First set down to the fabric after 13,000 miles, second set require replacing after 32,000 miles. Cannot be repaired so you have to buy a new tire after each punture. Thought there was a problem with the suspension so had BMW check it out at ?130.00 and they found nothing wrong. You need deep pockets if using these tires.