tires prone to puncture?

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sclark1

New member
Joined
Jun 17, 2015
Messages
1
Hello - within 6 months I have had 2 nail hole punctures and a shredded tire due to hitting a small piece of metal on the highway. Yes, 3 tire incidents all involving 3 different wheels! Wondering if anyone else is having similar tire problems or if it's just my very bad luck...

Thanks!
 
There have been many reports in various i3 forums, groups, etc., about what seems to be a higher rate of flat tires than normal. The 20" summer tires may be somewhat more flat-prone than the 19" all-season tires. Some who have had several flats have purchased tire warranties from tire dealers that sell the i3's Bridgestone tires, not from BMW dealers who want to sell expensive insurance that covers tires and wheels.

Using the included tire repair goop doesn't always work, is expensive to replace, and can cause problems with the tire inflation pressure sensors and even the tire itself, which can result in the tire being replaced rather than repaired. Calling BMW Assist usually results in one's i3 being towed to a BMW dealer even if the dealer is closed. Many BMW dealers will only replace, not repair a repairable tire, so the cost of dealing with a flat can be more expensive and time-consuming than necessary, especially because replacement tires aren't always available immediately.

I will be buying an inexpensive tire repair kit when I return to where my i3 is in storage. Many have had success sealing a tire on the roadside with one of these kits so that their i3's could be driven home or to a tire dealer instead of being towed to a BMW dealer. This could greatly increase the odds of having the flat repaired quickly and inexpensively rather than waiting for an expensive new tire to arrive.

Unfortunately, I think the problem is real and that you aren't just having bad luck. I have had low rolling resistance Bridgestone tires on our Honda Insight hybrid for 13 years and over 50,000 miles without a single flat, so I know that Bridgestone knows how to build low rolling resistance tires that don't puncture easily. It's difficult to come up with any explanation other than the i3's tires are to blame.
 
I don't think there's any inherent issue with the i3 tires. It's just random chance, a.k.a. bad luck. I've replaced one tire due to screw puncture in 13 months. Sadly that's about average for me across all my cars. Over the past five years, I've replaced/repaired a tire every 18 months or so. Last year was particularly bad since I had to replace one on the i3 and one on the e90 within weeks of each other. If I had to place blame it would be on the seemingly-never-ending construction boom that SF has been enduring for years now. Our streets would shame a developing nation. For me, the bright spot is that i3 tire cost half what I paid for the wide, run flat that my e90 requires. Just as readily available also. Though I do live less than half a mile from a Firestone/Bridgestone store.
 
I think it's a definite issue. I'm on my 5th flat tire in my 5 months of owning the car. A decent sized pothole seems to easily tear up the sidewall of the 20" tires. Drove my Mini over the exact same roads with same potholes for 3 years without a single issue. This is more than just "bad luck". Between the tires and the 12 volt battery issue that my i3 also experienced I sadly am coming to the conclusion that the i3 is not ready for prime time and I've merely been suckered into an expensive BMW beta testers program.
 
Scootir said:
I think it's a definite issue. I'm on my 5th flat tire in my 5 months of owning the car. A decent sized pothole seems to easily tear up the sidewall of the 20" tires. Drove my Mini over the exact same roads with same potholes for 3 years without a single issue. This is more than just "bad luck". Between the tires and the 12 volt battery issue that my i3 also experienced I sadly am coming to the conclusion that the i3 is not ready for prime time and I've merely been suckered into an expensive BMW beta testers program.

It's a bit late, but if you drive on roads with a lot of potholes, you need deeper sidewalls not shorter. You might still have had problems with the 19's but the 20's have a sidewall half an inch less than the 19's - less give.

I have the 19's and zero issues. I wonder what the mix is of tyre damage between the two sizes.

edit: Added a poll for tyre damage: http://www.mybmwi3.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3071
 
I do not believe the tires are any more prone to damage than those on any other car with similar sidewall profiles. In fact, being narrower in width than many may mean it's less likely to pick up a nail or screw! It could be an issue on a hole if it were sized just right - being narrower, it might go in where a wider one bridged it, but one cannot pick their potholes! This is somewhat offset by the larger diameter which may bridge the hole in that direction verses from the sides.

BMW and every other maker warns that bigger wheels (lower profile tires) are more prone to damage than those with a taller profile. Over the years, my worst incident was two flats the same day. I'd guess it was construction debris (screws) on the road that I did not see. I've not had any issues with my 19" tires/wheels on my i3 for my (limited - it is a city car for me) 3K miles.
 
I'd have to agree with you. I've had mine for 1 year and I have had 4 separate incidents. 3 punctures and the 4th just going flat.

That is more incidents than I have had in my previous 20 years of driving.

Something is obviously defective with these tires.
 
I do not understand why these tires have to be of such low profile. Surely they could have made a tire of the same width and circumference with a higher sidewall: perhaps 17" or 18"? Low rolling resistance is not incompatible with higher sidewalls, nor is high pressure. IMHO having such silly looking wheels is purely a styling exercise as evidenced by the fact that every other EV maker on the planet chose reject them in favor of a normal tire. All of the other EV makers seem to be able to reach their range targets without going to such freakish lengths.
 
yep

had my first flat tire in many years in this car

luckily i was on stevens creek near the tire rack

a screw in the sidewall

they had me on my way in <1 hour


20150515_095124-XL.jpg




:lol:
 
WoodlandHills said:
I do not understand why these tires have to be of such low profile. Surely they could have made a tire of the same width and circumference with a higher sidewall: perhaps 17" or 18"? Low rolling resistance is not incompatible with higher sidewalls, nor is high pressure. IMHO having such silly looking wheels is purely a styling exercise as evidenced by the fact that every other EV maker on the planet chose reject them in favor of a normal tire. All of the other EV makers seem to be able to reach their range targets without going to such freakish lengths.

I'm sorry, but I don't think this is the case at all. Narrow sidewalls reduce rolling resistance. There is less energy absorbed in a narrow sidewall. Less flex = less energy consumed. You can get low rolling resistance tyres in higher sidewalls, but they will have a higher rolling resistance than the 19/20's on the i3.

BMW did not specify the wheel/tyre combinations on the i3 for styling purposes. They designed a light, forged wheel and teamed with Bridgestone to deliver the best rolling resistance outcome possible. Styling is the pattern of the wheel and there are several options, all LRR.

Have you noticed that per kWh, the i3 is currently the most efficient EV in production? Perhaps the LRR tyres have a hand in that too.
 
Rim and tire diameter are different from tire width...... Tire makers can change width independently from tire diameter and rim size.

As far as low profiles being absolutely necessary for low rolling resistance: I do not think that has been proven yet. Does the 19" i3 get a different KWH rating than the 20" one and by how much?

A tire with a taller sidewall can be made to have less flex by altering the construction as well as the air pressure. Is there any physical reason why a high pressure higher profile tire would have a higher rolling resistance than one with a lower sidewall and a lower pressure?

My point is that BMW could have gotten what they wanted with a narrow high pressure 18" rim and tire combination but chose to have Bridgestone develop the existing 19 and 20's for their own reasons.
 
Man, I wish more of the BMW engineers would read this forum, as these guys clearly know nothing about designing cars down there in Munich.

Hang on! :)
 
psquare said:
Man, I wish more of the BMW engineers would read this forum, as these guys clearly know nothing about designing cars down there in Munich.

Hang on! :)

I think that lots of us wish the BMW engineers read these forums: especially the app and software engineers....... The tech writers could also do with a visit to get a feel for what needs to be better documented or presented. The forums are filled with posts by new owners asking how to get their car to do this or that or with "discoveries" of poorly documented features.
 
It's also obvious that many of the new owners never opened the owner's manual, either in the car, the app, or the actual book, because many of their questions ARE answered in the manual. You can only do so much. A feature rich vehicle like an i3 means, the average person may be experiencing new technology...while it may perform the same functions as 'older' stuff, it often can do so much more, and you're missing out on a lot of things if you don't RTFM! Agreed, the manual does not cover everything some people want to know, but many of the questions ARE covered there.
 
I agree totally with RTFM, but it would be nice to have a manual that was continent if not country specific and not filled with pages of information about features that are not even offered in ones country. Perhaps if the tech writers used the delete button to remove the chaff it would be easier to find the grains of wheat.
And just why cannot BMW release country specific digital manuals? How expensive can it be? It is, after all just the elimination of extraneous content not the creation of new....... IIRC in the old days the Germans delivered their cars with country specific manuals, so why can't they now?
 
WoodlandHills said:
A tire with a taller sidewall can be made to have less flex by altering the construction as well as the air pressure. Is there any physical reason why a high pressure higher profile tire would have a higher rolling resistance than one with a lower sidewall and a lower pressure?

My point is that BMW could have gotten what they wanted with a narrow high pressure 18" rim and tire combination but chose to have Bridgestone develop the existing 19 and 20's for their own reasons.

All the while ignoring the ride and handling impact, high cost, of larger, heavier, harder, tyres.

You don't think BMW looked at the options at the design stage and used their engineering expertise to hone in on the optimal tyre and rim combinations, they just asked the marketing department to draw up some fancy wheel designs the day before they sent the car into production? Pfft. I think we're heading past scepticism here.

I don't know what method BMW uses, but search on wikipedia for 'Finite Element Analysis' to get an idea of the type of analysis that would have been used to deliver the optimal solution for the engineering parameters selected.
 
There is already a ride and handling impact from the rock-like rim protectors currently installed.

Perhaps the engineers over at Tesla, Audi, MB, Chevy, Toyota, etc should also read these posts as they seem to have completely missed the boat on Finite Element design. Why, not a single one of them are using these wonderful skinny rim protectors on their EVs! It is almost as if those other companies decided that the drawbacks are not worth the advantages. Either that or all the good engineers are at BMW and everyone else has a bunch of losers :roll:

Seriously, if these were really such great tires why are they not being used on other hybrid BMWs? All of the spy shots I have seen show normal dia. and profile tires and wheels on their upcoming PHEVs and hybrids.

IMHO, BMW found themselves with an EV that was going to have a lot of difficulty reaching a marketable range and they threw these silly wheels on the car in an attempt to wring every last bit of range from a smallish battery. BMW knew how the public would react to a $50k EV with only 60 to 70 mile real-world range and they did whatever it took to bump their numbers on the various gov't tests, including using unique high pressure large diameter tires.
 
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