2009 BMW 750i: Stop Me If You've Heard This One

How on earth are you guys blowing out so many tires!

Tell me again why 45 series tires on a VERY heavy car are a good idea?

Seriously get some beefier tires because this is getting ridiculous that you don't learn a lesson from these mini blow outs.

I have 40 and 45 series runflat tires on my Jeep GC SRT8 and have 20k miles on crappy Colorado roads with no issues. Maybe swerving to miss the potholes would help.

"Maybe swerving to miss the potholes would help."

+1, that's what I do. Bending a wheel/blowing out a tire is the risk you take ordering low-profile meats and banging over potholes with them.

How can those not be defective tires?

I had runflats on my C6 and through 30k miles on two different brands I never encountered any issues like that.

Runflats are supposed to have THICKER sidewalls, thus the runflat ability, ie the thicker sidewall can easier support the weight of the car with no air.

The fact that these tires are bulging on the sides looks to be a consistent manufacturer defect.

Either buy meatier tires or look for another tire brand. Don't know how many tires are available in the size required for the 750i but this certainly rasies a big red flag in my book.

Wow! Just wow. At this rate, you will never need a tire rotation. Ever. Just replace the tires one by one every 3000 miles.

Wow, just wow! No wonder only gangsters & Edmunds can afford the 750i.

Is this how fragile all runflats are? If so, what is the advantage of having these over regular tires??

This tires are perfect for well maintained roads and Autobahn in Germany. A 45 sidewall is a not a good idea for US roads.

With the low speed limit in the US you´ll never really experience the low sidewall advantage on fast curves anyway...

This has to be a defective batch of tires.

Time to use your journalistic influence to put Goodyear to shame.

Looks like that bmw has been curbed a couple of times. Come on edmunds people learn how to drive.

Mikeolan... What are you talking about?! Those are crappy tires and are not manufactured by BMW. Puhlease

I'm gonna have to agree on what people are saying about defective tires. One? Maybe. But three? Come on! Make Goodyear pay for four new tires from another company.

I can't believe you've blown three tires. I agree there must have been a defective lot. Or you guys are taking the BMW on road none of the other LT cars have travelled. Weird

I'm sorry, I don't think I follow. It's now BMW's fault the guys at Edmunds are hitting potholes once a week?

Let's go IL editors - who's going to step up and get an explanation from Goodyear? Seems like a good opportunity to use some industry influence to get information/explanations the rest of us in the general public would never be able to get them to cough up.

@mikeolan -

i'm curious: do you actually believe the stuff you write, or are you just trying to get reactions out of other people here?

I vote defective tires as well. My Audi has 245/45 tires and I've never had a blowout. (Knock on wood.) I've hit a lot of potholes too.

Oh, Morrissey. When will you stop driving past that nail factory?

i bet if you didnt fly over potholes and railroad tracks your tires would last longer. everyone knows that no matter what car you drive and what tires are on it, you're going to blow out a tire if you hit a pothole going 55.

BMW chose the tires for this vehicle. Although the Goodyears should be better assembled, this is your typical German testing.

Tire damage from potholes when you have low profile tires is very common, but only on cars whose suspension was never design or engineered for those tires. BMW should have considered and air suspension for this big car like Mercedes has for the S-Class which also rides on the same size tires. This is also a very heavy car for such narrow sidewalls.

This is not the only 750 in the auto press being tested and reported on that has suffered multiple Goodyear "Excellence" tire failures.

This has nothing to do with the car (sorry BMW haters), it's the crappy tire on the car. Why don't you guys try a different brand tires? ditch these run-flat, you would've think they are tougher tires but doesn't look like it. I have 40 series PS2 on the front and 35 rear on a 5er, haven't had problem yet.

also like others have suggested, swerve to avoid hit potholes next time, BMW is made for that, don't try to tough it out as if you are driving SUVs

@hokiehigh: Right, and Ford wasn't responsible for the Firestone debacle either.

BMW is responsible for:

1) Choosing this wheel/tire combo. Goodyear is a supplier to BMW.

2) Not engineering the suspension properly to cope with the mass and absorb the impact.

And you don't swerve to avoid potholes. It's easiest on a car if you take them on as easily as possible. Even FoMoCo has said they design their suspensions to take them on head on. Partially missing a pothole is worse.

I think the problem is two-fold:

1. Not enough rubber between road and wheel, necessitating higher tire pressures to hold up heavy car.

2. Edmunds drivers do not own the vehicle.

Edmunds problems aren't indicative of most owners experience.

Poor engineering on BMW's part? Right.. coming from the guy who is convinced that the challenger is wonder of engineering...

Don`t bother with mikeolan! Simple as that!

This has to be a bad batch of tires, right?

How much have you guys spent on tires for this car so far?! Though, I suppose if you can afford a 7-series, you can afford as many tire replacements as need be.

I know for a fact that runflat tires are more bubble-prone. They are just fail all-around, I really wish bmw goes back to normal tires and a spare, one of the few reasons not to buy one. They are such great cars otherwise.

I got about 5x to 10 times the bubble rate on bridgestone potenza re050 runflats. I also know folks with dunlop sp wintersport m3 runflats with a high bubble rate. They seem to be less forgiving than regular tires both for rides and in durability. Such a FAIL for such a great car company.

1. Switch tires. Promptly. I put up a link previously to really good tires for this car in the $180-200 range.

2. Complain like heck to BMW and/or Goodyear. I think these tires have a warranty for manufacturers defect, which this would definitely fall under due to the timeline and extent of the blowouts. Get your money refunded.

BMW had a problem on it's 3-series tires as well, and they were solved by using the same style of tire made from a different manufacturer. This is not a pure problem with the way the car is setup.

I wouldn't be running this car at the speeds it has been driven (at times) until this tire issue is resolved for good. I probably wouldn't even go on the highway at this point.

Every time I read "crashes over potholes" in a car review, part of my soul dies. That's like saying "sustains damage when colliding with other vehicles at speed."

Friend's BMW has had nearly a dozen tire failures within a year. Runflats suck.
I predict many more visits to the tire store if you continue w/ these tires.

Just so y'all know, damage to any of our vehicles is frowned upon and dealt with swiftly. In all honesty, I drive my personal vehicles MUCH more aggressively than I would ever consider for a car in our test lot. I think it's unfair to label us as uncaring or reckless in this regard, especially when you consider what is riding on the line -- our lives, jobs and reputations.

I now return you to our regularly scheduled rants.

I think the problem is two-fold:

1. Not enough rubber between road and wheel, necessitating higher tire pressures to hold up heavy car.

2. Edmunds drivers do not own the vehicle.

THE WINNER!!!!!!!!

Ok we can talk about something else now......the above just said it all.

having lived in the area around the edmunds office for quite a while, there is no way they are going to avoid potholes. the streets of LA are not particularly well paved at all it is impossible to not run over a pothole in some of the cities there. the road maintenance is terrible and just getting worse.

that said, my parents still live in LA and both have BMWs and hate the runflats since this has happneed to them and its very costly to replace. all so bmw doesnt have to provide a donut spare..

FWIW, my 550i has runflats and a temporary spare. I've no clue why. I've put few miles on it, but no problems with the tires. The moment they wear out, though, I'll do some burnouts then swap 'em for regular tires.

@themiddleroad,

"FWIW, my 550i has runflats and a temporary spare. I've no clue why."

The E60 5-Series was introduced in the 2004 MY before standard RFTs were fitted to the car, so a spare tire well with the temp spare was designed-in to the rear structure. The car is crash-tested with the temp spare and well, so even when standard RFTs were added for 2006 they couldn't remove it without a major redesign. The F10 2011 5-Series likely does not have the well anymore.