Calvin's Weblog

The story of the $917 flat tire

Okay. Finally, a story worthy of the blog. This whole flat tire thing has really whipped me into rant mode. I'm fumin' and ready to write!
I guess I mentioned the other day that I drove over a screw in 70 Mile House this weekend, and the air slowly leaked out of my tire until I was driving with a flat. Since the tire was a "ride-flat" safety tire, there was really no way to even tell I had a flat until I went around a sharp corner and felt a slight drag. "Uh-oh... feels like I might have a flat!" We were litterally one km from our destination, so I drove the rest of the way, and subsequently discovered that yes, I did have a flat tire. However, upon further inspection, the screw wasn't the biggest problem - the sidewall had actually split, and therefore the tire was useless. While thankful that the safety tire had indeed done it's job and kept us safe from the perils of a blowout on the Fraser Canyon Highway, I was pretty miffed that it basically meant that I would unknowingly destroy a perfectly fine, patchable tire. If I had KNOWN I had a flat tire, I would have changed it, and had it patched.
Anyway, I knew it wouldn't be cheap - but I didn't expect the replacement to be $369. Ouch! Ha, but that's not the real ouch part.... my BMW dealership told me that it would be SIX WEEKS to order a new one! Four days after the flat, I was still driving on the tiny emergency spare tire - that was dangerous. I just wanted to get a new tire - how hard could that be? Well, apparently it's pretty hard. You see, BMW puts a new model of tire on every new model year. They're impossible to find after a year because the factories have all started making NEW models. So, "Fine" I say... "Find me something compatible! I'm not driving for six weeks on that donut, I need a real tire! Are you telling me that if anyone in Canada blew a tire in a 2003 BMW they'd have this same problem? I find that very hard to believe!"
Well, believe it or not, apparently it's true. Usually tires all wear out at the same time and all get replaced at the same time. Even if you get a flat, it's almost always patchable... nobody ever needs just 'one' tire, (so they say) so even if you're existing brand is no longer available, there's always another model that will fit on those rims. "Fine. Whatever..." I tell my repairman. "Get me another model that will fit on those rims then - get me something different, but the same. Whatever. Big deal. Fine me a tire that will go on my car. That's all I ask."
"Oh, it's not that easy" He expounded. "You see, you've already got 48K kilometers on these tires and so if we put a single new tire on, the tread wear will be different and that would cause a lot of problems all over... your braking, your mileage, your steering, all over!"
"Argh... fine, so can you please just find me some alternatives and let me know how much this is going to set me back?"
"Sure, no prob - I know Michellin makes one, and so does Pirelli. I'll just call a few suppliers and get back to you!"
He never did. Two days went by, and no call. I was still driving on that damned "do not exceed 80kmph" donut. So I went to the Pirelli store. Kewl - high performace tires! Oodles and oodles of models in stock! This'll be easy!

I thought I had it ALL figured out too. I confidently walked up to the desk and exclaimed "Hi, that's my beamer right out there. I blew a tire and need a replacement right away, but the wear on it's mate is about 50% so I hear it wouldn't be a good idea to ride a single new tire. I was thinking that if you could find me a couple of 'wider' tires that'll fit on my rims, I'll move them to the back, and keep two of my older tires on the front. What do you have that will fit my rims?"
"Well, it looks like you've got a 2003 330 Xi." I was impressed - all he could see out the window was my front headlights. He may have guessed the year and possibly even the model, but how did he know it was an "Xi"??? "So you'll have 17 inch rims on there. I can offer you several alternatives, but there is one problem... that's an Xi, right?"
"Yeah..."
"Well, that means it's an all-wheel drive."
"...um, yeah... that's right..."
"So you've got to replace ALL the wheels or you'll void your warranty. BMW's pretty picky about that - all the wheels are turning at the same time - if you put two different size tires on there, then it'll screw up the computer when two tires are rotating faster than the others."
"Okay, so let's back out of plan-B, can you just find me two tires that are the identical size as the ones I currently have?"
After a few phone calls, he comes back and says "I found one tire in Victoria, one in Calgary, and two in Toronto. If you only want two, I can have them in two days, but if you want four it'll be a week. I still think you'll void your waranty if you only put two on though, because as you said, you've got 50% tread wear on your tires. These new ones will not really be the same size, even though they're the same size... if you get a written letter from BMW that says they'll let you do it, then we'll install them, but we can't knowingly void your waranty."
Geez, Who knew it would be this difficult!!!
"Okay then, let's say I replace all four then. What have you got?"
"Oh, well we've got plenty in stock that we could do right now. I've got some models that are of much higher quality and a lot cheaper, too."
"By right now do you mean 'this week' or 'right now'?"
"I mean in 5 or 10 minutes."
"Great - so I guess if I'm getting four new tires, I may as well go with something cheaper and of higher quality!"
"Yeah, those Goodyears you've got on there really don't have a very high user rating. Check out these driver comparasins:" He pulls up a website (www.1010tires.com) and shows me that, sure enough, of all the tires that can be put on a 330Xi, the ones I have are the most expensive and have the lowest overall customer satisfaction rating.
"Geez, that's lame!"
"Yeah, I don't know why BMW ever chose that model - they usually always pick the best of the best. Here, let me suggest these Falkens. They won a consumer reports magazine rating of the best all around all-season tire." He whips out a Consumer Reports magazine and magically opens it to the right page with a single flick of the wrist...
"Plus, they're very modestly priced. Only $189 each. They're still low profile, but are about 20mm wider, and will still fit on your rims. This is the 17th best selling brand of tire in the shop."
I look around and visually count about 9 brands of tires on display around me. His comment confuses me, but instead of going off on that tangent, I just ask if there's anything cheaper that's still a good quality tire.
"Actually, if you look at this webpage again, you'll see that of the 12 tires you can put on there, the Falken is the 2nd cheapest (The other being $139 each) but look at the ratings - breaking, turning, noise, smothness, the Falken is top of class in everything - this other one is dead last. It's up to you..."

He was just too slick. I said "Okay. I've already got 600km on that emergency tire out there, I can't wait another 6 weeks let alone one week. I'll grab the Falkens." An hour later, I was out of there, and my Visa was $917 lighter.

Such is the story of the $917 flat tire.