Is the Q50 doomed to tire/wheel problems?

8996 Views 9 Replies 8 Participants Last post by jpra923, May 14, 2014

DavidNJ

Discussion Starter · Jul 15, 2013 (Edited)

A quick perusal of the BMW F10 (5-series) forums will show many (most) owners with 19" rims (standard on 535/550 M-Sport models) have had problems with blistering tires and bent rims. The tires are the same 245/40-19s on the Q50 sport. Even the same tire, the rather antique Bridgestone RE50A RFT with a wear rating of 140 (one-four-zero).

Owners with 18" rims (245/45-18 tires reported no problems. Owners who changed to non-runflat tires (usually Michelin Pilot Super Sports) reported no or few problems.

I note that Infiniti has a spare tire on the options list. One problem the BMW owners have is that once you drive on a flat runflat it has to be replaced. The cost of a RE050A RFT in 245/40-19 is around $400. For comparison a Michelin PSS is $275 and a Bridgestone S04 is $201.

Additionally, as a quick look at Tire Rack will show, all the tires available in that size are pretty old designs. The best/newest may be the all-season Bridgestone RE960AS Pole Position RFT. However, by the time that tire was introduced, the non-runflat version was already replaced with the RE970AS!

Are people here expecting problems, planning to replace the tires with non-runflats, or keeping their fingers crossed?

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gbert15

· #2 · Jul 15, 2013

There are some threads actually on here expressing concerns of switching out their run flat tires! Most of them because if ride comfort! On my end though i think ill ride it out for a while and eventually swap it out when the 19 Vossen CV7s come out! Hooefully sooner than later!

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cvipgo

· #3 · Jul 15, 2013

Well I have had 19" rims on my G37 convertible since 2009 and I have experienced no issues and heard of no issues from Infiniti convertible owners all over the country and Canada. (off course no run flats on the convertible)

I opened a thread to see if Run flat can be replaced on Q50?

http://www.infinitiq50.org/forum/wh...options-replacing-run-flat-regular-tires.html

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DavidNJ

Discussion Starter · #4 · Jul 16, 2013

cvipgo said:
Well I have had 19" rims on my G37 convertible since 2009 and I have experienced no issues and heard of no issues from Infiniti convertible owners all over the country and Canada. (off course no run flats on the convertible)

I opened a thread to see if Run flat can be replaced on Q50?

http://www.infinitiq50.org/forum/wh...options-replacing-run-flat-regular-tires.html

The BMW problems were with runflats. Apparently the stiffer sidewalls didn't handle the low profile well.

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sithbk

· #5 · May 6, 2014

Issue with 19" rim on q50s

Got my q50s 3 weeks ago and after a week my rear right rim had scratch on the edge of the rim and I thought I drove it too close to the curb but I did park any where new par the curb. A coupe of days ago I notice the same issue on the rear left rim. So this can't be me. No blemish shown on both tires, just the scratches on the rim.

I wonder if anyone had the same problem.

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Klamalama

· #6 · May 6, 2014

Swapped out the original run flats for real tires, on my BMW, and never looked back. Those Bridgestones were even worse than our Dunlops. I'm planning on doing the same on the Q50, next year. I just keep a small 12 volt compressor in the trunk. With a working TPMS, that's all I need.

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jpra923

· #7 · May 8, 2014

Just got a tire bulge in my run flats. I don't even recall hitting anything that would cause damage to the tire. There were some smaller pot holes I might have hit, but nothing that would jolt your car. Felt more like a speed bump. Would that be enough to break one of these tires? If so, man are these horrible!!!

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OhioQ

· #8 · May 14, 2014

Look on page 37 of your warranty booklet, you'll see there is a road hazard warranty in place. Good luck!

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andrew

· #9 · May 14, 2014

DavidNJ said:
Are people here expecting problems, planning to replace the tires with non-runflats, or keeping their fingers crossed?

They were not as bad as I expected after reading about them.
Two places they kind of bad for me are
1) Very Large pothole. It's just jarring when you hit one (at least with the Q50 sport). Like my teeth are going to rattle out. This is the one thing where it's like night and day compared to the G with rubber tires. Q50 falls way behind here.
2) Bumpy freeways going 70-80 can be a bit rough.

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jpra923

· #10 · May 14, 2014

DavidNJ said:
Are people here expecting problems, planning to replace the tires with non-runflats, or keeping their fingers crossed?

Here's a good article on why people dis-like run flats.

JD Power's Run Flat's Study

My experience was ok until the improper installation caused tire bulge. Otherwise I was fine with them. However, after reading the article i'm more concerned about the short life span of the tires. I tried to get them replaced with regular all-season performance tires, but the dealer is required to put on OEM tires only when paying for replacements out of their own pockets.

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