[Galex999]

I hit a pothole during city driving. Not that hard but hard enough to feel it. One front tire shows slight bulge on the side wall, luckily no wheel damage. The tire has only 2,800 miles on it.

First question: Do I have to replace it right away? I mostly drive in city traffic for commute. Very rarely on highway speed, and no plan to do long distance trip with this car. The tire and car feels fine so far. I can monitor tire pressure regularly. Even if the tire fails, what harm will it do? I mean, it's a run flat tire which should provide adequate drivability even after losing all pressure, right?

Second question: If I must replace it right away, can I replace the damaged tire only? I understand it's always recommended to replace both front tires together for even tire diameter, but my car is only few months old with only 2,800 miles. I hope I can only replace one tire.

Man, I hate these run flat tires!

[tturedraider]

You can replace just that one tire and you should replace it sooner rather than later. There is a pretty fair likelihood you can get the tire manufacturer’s road hazard warranty to cover it.

[Portimao Blues]

I had sidewall bubbles on two of my run-flat tires as a result of hitting pot holes on two separate occasions. As tturedraider stated above, they should be replaced ASAP and you can just replace the effected tire (as I did both times). Unfortunately, on both instances, I had too many miles, so they were not covered by road hazard insurance.

[Bc2005]

I got a sidewall bulge on one of my Pirellis P7 runflats during a long road trip and could not find a tire store with the correct size and speed rating in stock. It was Saturday morning and the earliest they could get a tire from the warehouse was Monday afternoon. I drove home a total of about 1800 miles and had no issues with the faulty tire. I could feel something like a minor imbalance or thump at certain speeds, but it still rode and handled fine.

Go online to check the road hazard warranty for your specific brand of tire. It’s not the same for every brand BMW uses, so you might get lucky and have free replacement.

Replacing one tire is not an issue with your low miles, but make sure they get it exactly right. My xDrive 2021 M340i has H speed rating tires, and everything that was in stock for an immediate replacement were V rated Pirellis. Nobody at the dealer could give me a definite answer about whether there was really any issue with mixing speed ratings. I also didn’t want to end up with mismatched tires.

[Gaviatrix]

Originally Posted by Galex999

I hit a pothole during city driving. Not that hard but hard enough to feel it. One front tire shows slight bulge on the side wall, luckily no wheel damage. The tire has only 2,800 miles on it.

First question: Do I have to replace it right away? I mostly drive in city traffic for commute. Very rarely on highway speed, and no plan to do long distance trip with this car. The tire and car feels fine so far. I can monitor tire pressure regularly. Even if the tire fails, what harm will it do? I mean, it's a run flat tire which should provide adequate drivability even after losing all pressure, right?

Second question: If I must replace it right away, can I replace the damaged tire only? I understand it's always recommended to replace both front tires together for even tire diameter, but my car is only few months old with only 2,800 miles. I hope I can only replace one tire.

Man, I hate these run flat tires!

I would not be driving anywhere with a bulge in the sidewall of a FRONT tyre. If it blows then the consequences could be very severe. On my car I couldn't swap it to the rear, but if yours is a square set-up, then you could do that. With so few miles I'd have thought you'd be OK to put one new tyre on, and if it were me I'd be doing that as soon as possible. Again, I'd have it on the rear.

[SaltyPickle]

Had the same thing happen to me. Bought a new tire and had to replace the strut as well because it was bent from the pothole. So, a pothole cost me $2500.

https://g20.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1921178