Tyre Damage Poll

[I33t]

There have been a few reports of tyre damage on the i3. I guess it's not a surprise that a car with narrow tyres and minimal sidewalls is up for a bit of tyre damage.

My interest is to see if those with 20" wheels have more tyre damage incidents than those with 19's.

Please respond with:
1. Wheel size
2. km/miles travelled
3. Pothole frequency
4. Number of tyre road damage incidents.

Mine:

1. 19's
2. 5500km
3. Few potholes
4. Zero tyre damage to date

 

[jadnashuanh]

1. 19's
2. 5800km (note, split between stock staggered 19" and the square BMW winter setup)
3. Few potholes
4. Zero tire damage to date

 

[Sparky]

19"
4500 miles
No pot hole damage
One punctured tire (unrepairable)

 

[i3atl]

We had a survey on Facebook with 300+ replies - the result was 15% of 20" owners had flats, 14% of 19" owners did.

In other words, no significant difference.

It will take quite a while for this thread to get anywhere near that sample size....

For those of you who have joined that group - here's the link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/BMWi3/permalink/795007543906442/

 

[Boatguy]

19's
8,500mi
Few
0

 

[Anonymous]

19's
6000 miles
Few potholes
No tire damage to date

 

[MikeS]

19s
4000 miles
No pot holes
no tyre damage

 

[SSi3]

1. 19's
2. 3200km
3. potholes = yes / do I hit them = no
4. Zero tire damage to date (knock on wood!)

 

[epirali]

1. 19's
2. 2200 miles
3. don' t really hit potholes, ok quality sealed roads
4. No damage

 

[Stevei3]

1. 19" EP500 summer, 19" winter
2. 37940 miles
3. maybe three
4. no damage

 

[archieb]

1. 19"
2. 3900 miles
3. Few potholes
4. 1 tire non-repairable due to pothole at 300 miles (leaks air from sidewall)

 

[drb]

19"
10,300 miles
many pot holes (I live in Southern California) and have run across a few
one flat tire over the course of a year (a nail in the tire)

 

[jadnashuanh]

FWIW, it is more common to get a puncture on a rear tire because a nail or screw typically isn't laying on the roadway sharp point up. The front tire hits it, causing it to move around, and sometimes, it's upright when the rear tire then goes over it if you're unlucky. An interesting variation on this for the i3 would be to note whether the car was 'square' or staggered tire setup (i.e., tires all the same, or with wider ones in the rear which would have more opportunity to actually catch that silly nail or screw or glass or whatever - I guess it could also affect pothole, but the small difference may mean it bridges one the front might have gone into). All REx's come with the staggered setup, and it's standard on all but the Mega trim level in the USA. Winter tires are only available for the 19" and square setups.

 

[Sparky]

My flat was the front right. I've repaired (plugged) many tires on all my cars. The issue with the i3 tire is that it's so narrow, the repairable area is only a couple of inches wide. The other extreme is a 9-11" wide tire has several inches of repairable surface.

 

[davesw1]

only 890 miles
20" punctured rear, scrap metal sliced into it and stuck, would have been the same on any car, not I3 specific in my opinion

 

[WoodlandHills]

Under 200 miles on new tires, right rear slow leak not detected by TPMS.

 

[davesw1]

un-f**king believable, replaced a tyre monday as per above, wednesday morning, large bolt straight through the exact same new tyre!!! grrrr, praying its not too close to the edge to repair

 

[ram1980]

Hit a pothole two days ago that bent the wheel, dealer is saying it is not repairable and wants $900 for a replacement! I have driven many cars for 10 years in southern california and hit many potholes, never seen wheel damage because of it!

I have issued a complaint with BM corporate, clearly this extremely thin tire design is not suitable for CA roads. I am very disappointed with this car to be honest.

 

[bwilson4web]

Hit a pothole two days ago that bent the wheel, dealer is saying it is not repairable and wants $900 for a replacement! I have driven many cars for 10 years in southern california and hit many potholes, never seen wheel damage because of it!
. . .

Photos? Would love to see the pothole and the damage. What speed?

Bob Wilson

 

[i3an]

Here in San Francisco the city streets are in appalling shape and getting worse, especially after the recent wave of storms that has hollowed out innumerable new potholes. Yesterday I was in the narrow center lane of a 3-lane on a curve, bus to my left, van to my right, nowhere to go, pothole ahead, WHAM! Luckily no immediate damage this time, but I have gone through 2 unrepairable punctures in 2 ½ years, and when I checked before Christmas the 20" tires/tyres were horrifyingly expensive, and out of stock anyway... Add in the fact that they wear out extraordinarily fast—I guess this is the flip side of having instant torque—and I now realize that this has become a significant overhead in owning an i3. I do like the look of the 20"-ers, but then vanity extracts a price.