[Wharf Rat]

Just curious to hear what owners have to say about the lack of a spare tire with the M2.

Personally, I don't think the 'mobility kit' is an adequate replacement for a spare tire.

Maybe that works in countries where cities are closer together, but in the western US that's not the case.

[akkando]

Originally Posted by Wharf Rat

Just curious to hear what owners have to say about the lack of a spare tire with the M2.

Personally, I don't think the 'mobility kit' is an adequate replacement for a spare tire.

Maybe that works in countries where cities are closer together, but in the western US that's not the case.

I mean the mobility kit sucks, call a tow truck. Make peace with it, keep a spare in the trunk, or get something else?

[RAM_F30_F87]

I haven't bought one, but ...
http://www.bimmerzone.com/product/BIM-SST-F87-KIT.html

[f87chas]

I bought a spare and keep it and a jack in trunk--problem solved.

[Fear-Mongrel]

I know where you're coming from, Wharf. There are too many stretches of road here where I don't want to get caught without a spare. For Phoenix metro driving it's not as necessary, but for stretches between Phoenix and Jerome, or between Maricopa & Tucson, no way I'd get caught waiting for a tow truck, especially during summer in 115F temps. And these aren't even really remote parts of the state. In a perfect world the car would come with one, but in a world where everyone offers roadside assistance I'm not surprised they chose the spare tire as an area to cut costs. We do plan to buy a spare + jack like others have done.

[Tralfaz]

Originally Posted by afwares

In a perfect world the car would come with one, but in a world where everyone offers roadside assistance I'm not surprised they chose the spare tire as an area to cut costs.

I really don't think that cost cutting was the reason they skipped putting a spare in the car. Even a toy spare back there seems like it would seriously cut down the room in the trunk so I imagine they just don't include it for that reason. I'll also lay odds that a majority of car owners these days would just rather call roadside service than change a tire themselves.

Heck, on non-M cars they put the run flat's on, even though a toy spare would be a FAR cheaper option.

As a motorcycle rider I've long ago had to stop worrying about a spare. Sure, it's a lot easier to plug and air up a motorcycle tire but in a pinch the same can be done with a car tire provided you have a jack to make it easier and small compressor.

[M3 Adjuster]

Originally Posted by afwares

I know where you're coming from, Wharf. There are too many stretches of road here where I don't want to get caught without a spare. For Phoenix metro driving it's not as necessary, but for stretches between Phoenix and Jerome, or between Maricopa & Tucson, no way I'd get caught waiting for a tow truck, especially during summer in 115F temps. And these aren't even really remote parts of the state. In a perfect world the car would come with one, but in a world where everyone offers roadside assistance I'm not surprised they chose the spare tire as an area to cut costs. We do plan to buy a spare + jack like others have done.

BMW AG designed out the spare tire well when they opted for the quad exhaust setup for M cars. It was more of a style thing than a cost cutting thing.

[Fear-Mongrel]

Originally Posted by Tralfaz

I really don't think that cost cutting was the reason they skipped putting a spare in the car. Even a toy spare back there seems like it would seriously cut down the room in the trunk so I imagine they just don't include it for that reason. I'll also lay odds that a majority of car owners these days would just rather call roadside service than change a tire themselves.

Heck, on non-M cars they put the run flat's on, even though a toy spare would be a FAR cheaper option.

As a motorcycle rider I've long ago had to stop worrying about a spare. Sure, it's a lot easier to plug and air up a motorcycle tire but in a pinch the same can be done with a car tire provided you have a jack to make it easier and small compressor.

Originally Posted by M3 Adjuster

BMW AG designed out the spare tire well when they opted for the quad exhaust setup for M cars. It was more of a style thing than a cost cutting thing.

Thanks for the replies, both. I definitely hadn't thought through the quad exhaust routing, and you're definitely right about run flats being more expensive anyway, so I stand corrected on this assumption.

[McPurrs]

Originally Posted by M3 Adjuster

BMW AG designed out the spare tire well when they opted for the quad exhaust setup for M cars. It was more of a style thing than a cost cutting thing.

My 135i did not have a spare... or a spot for one...

[M3 Adjuster]

Originally Posted by McPurrs

My 135i did not have a spare... or a spot for one...

But my 1M has dual exhaust. Same floor



FYI This began way back around E46 or E39.. I can't recall exactly which models but it's been awhile

[bobert]

Having experienced a couple blow-outs and two or three other flats in all my driving years, I am of the opinion that automakers getting rid of the spare tire is very irritating. No, it didn't keep me from getting the car - after all, I believe I read that roughly 1/3 of new cars no longer have spare tires, so BMW is hardly alone in this, but that doesn't mean I am ok with it. And, no, I don't want to have a big, smelly tire just sitting there in my finished trunk, taking up space and stinking up the joint (maybe not a bad idea if going on a long road trip). I would, however, give up some finished trunk capacity in order to facilitate keeping a spare tire well underneath.

I really prefer to have a spare if given the choice, as I would rather drive carefully home on a donut than have my car put on a tow truck simply due to lack of a spare, such as in case the tire cannot be temporarily re-inflated with the lame 'mobility kit'.

I'm sure all the reasons for this newfound lack of spare are valid to some extent, but the one I've read the most is that it's allegedly often done in the name of saving weight, as modern cars keep getting even more porky.

[rkmjr]

When I got my 11' 335xi with rft's, I got a spare anyway as I replaced the rft's with Pilot Super Sports. I will probably purchase a spare for my M2 as well.

[BMWM5NYC]

I use a tire plug kit with a compact rolling floor jack in my M5. As long as I don't get a blowout/ side gash I am okay.
Been doing that since my E46 M3.

[Aronis]

Bought a jack kit and a spare the first week I had the car. I had to drive to Chicago and back, and was not going to chance that kind of drive without the spare. The same is true when I travel to Boston. Screws up the trunk space but getting a flat on a trip is a major pain in the ....

I have a blow-up spare in my RS6, and knock-on-wood I have never had a flat on a trip but I always put a summer tire in the trunk or winter tire (depending on season) when I travel long ways. I don't want to learn how to inflate the blow-up spare at 2 am on a dark road. That trunk has room for a deflated spare but a full size one will not fit in the well, due to some odd bolts taking up the space. I was tempted to cut them off more than once.

For local daily drives, I have no spare since I can call for a spare tire/jack drop off LOL.

Flats are pretty rare but with road debris it can be a risk.

I suppose a less space taking method could be at least to have a new tire (not on a wheel) in the trunk. When I was traveling with my parents (to my wedding) we got a flat in Canada in my dad's M5. M5 did not come with a spare, but e had a spare the he bought from the dealer that was supposed to fit the car in the trunk, but it did not fit on the car (I learned form that and thus took the time to mount the spare and drive the M2 with the spare in front and in back LOL). We were able to get a 'close enough' tire to replace on the rim and continue on but it was a major PITA. But that tire was not a correct size for the M5.

Mike

[ChrisK]

Originally Posted by McPurrs

My 135i did not have a spare... or a spot for one...

My 135i had run flats. Spare isn't needed in their eyes.

[Wharf Rat]

Thanks for all the responses.

Calling a tow truck is, of course, only possible where one has cell coverage. Lots of nice, twisty roads out west don't provide that luxury.

I really don't want to give up trunk space for a seldom, if ever used, spare tire. But, I also don't like that nagging thought of not having a spare.

May investigate a small floor jack & plug kit.

True, I don't worry about flat tires on my motorcycles... but changing a rear tire on a 900 lb touring bike on the side of the road isn't really feasible anyway.

[champignon]

Getting a flat in a rural area would really suck; most of the places I drive through have enough traffic that worst came to worst I think I could flag down another driver and not get stuck somewhere without cell coverage. I do occasionally go hiking off of long dirt roads in areas I would not want to risk getting a flat.

One potential "solution" that I have done a few times is to bring a mounted snow tire with me in the trunk. If you live somewhere that snow tires make sense, you can get a square set of snow tires that will usually be a bit smaller than your staggered set of summer tires. I have been assured by Tire Rack and others that one of these square sized snow tires can be used as a spare in a pinch. In those cases where I have brought a snow tire along, I also bring a jack kit.

Fortunately, I've never had to use the snow tire spare so far, but this is one potential, almost free, option if you do have mounted snow tires, your rural travel is during clement months, and you only feel the need for this sort of "protection" on an intermittent basis.

[akkando]

So you all may know this already but that stupid mobility kit BMW puts in M cars with that canister of goo doesn't have to be used with the canister. In my case I had a screw in the tire and I was able to use the little compressor to put air in the tire and the screw wasn't leaking that fast so then I was able to drive it a tire store.

[David1]

I have not used a spare in 15 years.

[pruettfan]

A few years ago AAA published an article about reasons for roadside failures and it showed flat tires on the road being very rare. In fact have had exactly 2 in hundreds of thousands of miles over 34 years of driving. One was road debris and took out the sidewall the other was totally my fault by not monitoring the inside edge of my rear tires on my E90 closely enough resulting in a failure. Because these failures are so rare car manufacturers have used that data and the push to save money, drop weight and make packaging easier as reasons to dump spares from many cars. These comfort kits are useless for all but the rarest of circumstances so I would not bet on them. Best thing to do is just call AAA or BMW roadside assistance through the SOS system, these days there aren't many areas that don't have coverage.

[Tralfaz]

Originally Posted by pruettfan

A few years ago AAA published an article about reasons for roadside failures and it showed flat tires on the road being very rare. In fact have had exactly 2 in hundreds of thousands of miles over 34 years of driving. One was road debris and took out the sidewall the other was totally my fault by not monitoring the inside edge of my rear tires on my E90 closely enough resulting in a failure.

I think I've only had 4 flats resulting from damage. Unfortunately 2 of them happened at the same time (not sure what happened but both tires on the right ended up with slashes on the side of the tread and up the sidewall a little). Luckily that happened about a block from home. I had a spare tire in that car, but obviously it wouldnt' have helped with 2 cut tires. The two others were on motorcycles. One was a large bolt stuck in my rear tire. The 2nd a nail in the rear tire that I had pulled out, but it nicked the inner tube causing a slow leak.

Hopefully I've reached my quota on flat tires....

[andrettifan]

Originally Posted by f87chas

I bought a spare and keep it and a jack in trunk--problem solved.

Me too. The Bimmerzone space saver spare fits and works fine. As above - problem solved.