[Grayhair]

My M2'35i will be in Brunswick, Ga tomorrow. I am now in a quandary about no spare tire. I would hate to have a flat tire when traveling cross country or for that matter late at night or on a holiday weekend. Has anyone looked at one of those small temporary spare tires or any other alternative plan for a flat? I have ridden a motorcycle cross country and on lonely roads many times and didn't think about it.

[Grayhair]

Sorry meant M235i

[tccox]

Well, when i put non run flats on my 128 I bought and keep in the trunk the BMW tyre inflation kit. But really , you havoc BMW roadside assistance so why worry?

[Boneman]

There is a pump in the trunk. Lift the panel up and it is next to the battery.

[Grayhair]

You have to buy a plug kit or does that come with the pump?

[DanG]

There is goop in the trunk with the electric pump. It is better know as a M Mobility kit. It will take care of nail holes but not a large cut in the tire.

Had the same thing in my M3 which I had for nine years and never used it.

[five3three]

For the e90s some folks used to get 5 series spares as those fit those cars. I am sure soon enough people will figure out what spare can work on this car so you can be feeling more secure than simply a mobility kit if on a long trip.

Getbmwparts (Tischer BMW aka BMW of Silver Spring) used to sell this so it's possible they will have one for the 2 as well.

No matter how nice the summers are, it's silly that no spare is present and makes you second guess not doing run flats.

I had a large nail sidewall puncture once in a set of Continental summer non-runflats on my E90. The only thing I could do was stop every 30 seconds on the highway and on side streets to use the air compressor to overfill it with air and drive until it went flat again. I had to repeat this about 20 times until I got to my destination. Was an awesome day. I didn't have time to wait for roadside assistance so they could tow me away for a damn flat tire as I had to be somewhere.

[MikeG12]

they have this for 1 series and it should fit the 2 series--give them a call--I think I will go this way when I get mine
http://www.bimmerzone.com/BMW_Perfor...82E88-KIT.html

[five3three]

Originally Posted by MikeG12

they have this for 1 series and it should fit the 2 series--give them a call--I think I will go this way when I get mine
http://www.bimmerzone.com/BMW_Perfor...82E88-KIT.html

Something like that should come standard! Extra 20 to 30 pounds so what you can remove it if you don't want it.

[300f87]

There is an OEM option from BMW that is not officially available in the US:
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...=36&fg=95&hl=1
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/partxref....045&showeur=on

Expensive @ $480+shipping, but you can get a complete kit in the US from here:
http://www.ecstuning.com/Search/spare_tire/ES2535349/

With this in the trunk, weight distribution will be a little bit closer to 50/50 in an M235i.

[ska///235i]

I dont understand these tire kits that cost $500 for a donut

Go to tirerack, find a closeout rim/tire and get a scissor jack from harborfreight, 9mm socket/wrench, throw that in the trunk and call it a day....no need to look pretty for a oem donut that sits in the trunk and may never be used

[disco4me]

If just buying any tire/rim, doesn't the tire size have to be close to what the stock tire is?

[BEM-S4]

Originally Posted by disco4me

If just buying any tire/rim, doesn't the tire size have to be close to what the stock tire is?

I was thinking the same thing. ideal would be if you could get a preowned rim w/ same tire that's still got a little tread on it, if you want to go the keep a full size in trunk route.

[pruettfan]

AAA did a study that you are more likely to have just about any other failure before you will have a tire failure on the road. Most flats happen when the car has a nail and slow leak that is exposed when the car is parked for a while. The manufactures have used this as rational to get rid of heavy spare tires because most folks will never use them, they can save money and of course every pound counts towards MPG. I dumped my RFT long ago and just pay for AAA just in case, I did allow a rear tire to wear through the cord (didn't pay attention in inside wear) and used my AAA and then had a AC compressor failure so I feel that is worth my 100 bucks a year. Your car has roadside included for several years so you are good to go.

[SuitedUp]

AAA doesn't do studies in Chicago.

[Boneman]

I had failure yesterday . Ran over a rock, sudden loss of pressure. Pump worked great but the wheel was cracked so would not hold air. On a died note the bmw assistance worked great. Two truck there in twenty min for call. Will take five days to get a new wheel and tire. Looks like about 800.00$

[lichenlt]

Do you guys think it's risky to take M235i for a 3000 mile road trip in the summer?

[ciwhamc]

NO. I have put 140k on my bmw 540i and i have gotten 1 flat. It was a small tack. That would be fixed by the pump with slime.

[five3three]

Originally Posted by lichenlt

Do you guys think it's risky to take M235i for a 3000 mile road trip in the summer?

Yes. I have mostly been trouble free but when trouble strikes, you are screwed. I had slime and I had an air compressor last night and both were worthless. A spare tire would have saved me a lot of grief and money.

I hit a pothole that bent my wheel and put a gash in my tire and instantly paralyzed me. With a runflat, I could have at least kept going. With a spare, I could have replaced it and been on my way and dealt with a proper fix later.

So, what happened?

1. Broke down and after being on hold for 30 min with roadside assistance they told me I coudln't go anywhere too far but only to an open shop, which at 11 pm was impossible.

2. $25 for a cab to get out of there leaving the car on the side of the road.

3. $25 for a cab to get back this morning.

4. 30 minutes on hold again with roadside assistance.

5. 45 min for tow truck to arrive.

6. Called to file my tire claim (had roadhazard from online provider where I purhcased the PSS) they will mail it and it won't arrive until Monday.

7. Called a used tire shop and they sell me a crap tire mounted and balanced for $60 to get me mobile again (I wasn't in my home state). Mind you, I mounted on the bent wheel just to get my ass mobile again. $15 cab ride each way to the used tire shop.

8. Ordered a wheel from ebay (remanufactured @ $200).

9. Once the new PSS tire and my new wheel arrive on Monday, I will have to get my TPMS removed from the old wheel and put it in the new one and get the new tire mounted which may run about $50 total.

10. I will surely need a new alignment, which with be about $100 with a good coupon if I can find one, otherwise $160.

If I had a spare tire kit, most of the several hundred wasted at the start would have been saved as I could have gone home and had my tire arrive and my wheel arrive without any other wasted costs. Not to mention that I wasted a ton of time last night and this morning dealing with this crap.

This is all on my E90 with PSS on it. I am going to be buying a spare tire kit for my M235i and I don't care if it costs $500 bucks. My sanity and time are worth way more than the initial savings because that goes out the drain if/when you do have a problem.

[five3three]

Originally Posted by ciwhamc

NO. I have put 140k on my bmw 540i and i have gotten 1 flat. It was a small tack. That would be fixed by the pump with slime.

YES. You got lucky. I had a couple of those over the years too. And last night/this morning, I got f*d. My pathetic mobility kit with air compressor and tire slime were a joke and so was depending on roadside assistance. I just threw away the cost of the spare tire kit dealing with the break down aside from the new wheel I bought, even with my tire under warranty.