Bob Ulrich

Editor

Bob Ulrich was named Modern Tire Dealer editor in August 2000. He joined the magazine in 1985 as assistant editor, and has been responsible for gathering statistical information for MTD's "Facts Issue" since 1993. He has won numerous awards for editorial and feature writing, including five gold medals from the International Automotive Media Association. Bob earned a B.A. in English literature from Ohio Northern University and has a law degree from the University of Akron.

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Like Rodney Dangerfield, tires get no respect

By: Bob Ulrich

If you had to pick a publication that didn't treat tires as a commodity other than Modern Tire Dealer, you might choose "BMW Magazine." The January 2011 issue about all things BMW disproved that theory.

I found it in my hotel room recently and glanced through it. I found all sorts of great photos of new and prototype vehicles. There were stories on BMW and the green movement. And did you know there is an app for the company's iDrive computer system, which allows owners of any BMW manufactured after April 2011 to search for radio stations on the Web and "send, receive and check Facebook and Twitter entries"?

There appeared to be no mention of tires, however. Not in the "President's Letter," features, departments, or any of the ads. Nada. That can't be true, I thought, so I looked at it more closely -- every word on every page. If I could have made out any of the tires in the pictures, I would have counted that. But the tires were either in motion at the time, or unreadable.

Wait, I thought. I think I see "Continental" on the sidewall of a tire. Continental run-flat tires are original equipment on some BMW models, along with Michelin, Bridgestone, Pirelli, Goodyear and Dunlop.

With a magnifying glass, however, it turned out to be "ConnectedDrive," which stood for the BMW Concept Vision ConnectedDrive vehicle. (Nice looking car, by the way.)

Sometimes specs were listed. And racing results. And the "all-new" 6 Series Convertible. Any mention of a tire? Even the word tire? No.

Here's what was said about the 1 BMW M Coupe: "The athletic curve of the fenders reveals a widened track, with 2.8 inches added to the front axle and 1.8 to the back. This makes for handling closer to that of a racecar: direct steering, razor-sharp cornering and powerful traction." Think the tires have anything to do with that powerful traction?

I finally did find the word "tire" listed in the 100-page magazine -- on page 93 in a first-person story about a road trip on motorcycles. The author referred to "tire tracks." Later in the story, he writes about seeing huts along the roads in Peru where you can get "a tire fixed." And that was it.

With BMW being such a strong supporter of run-flat tires as original equipment on its vehicles, I just imagined "BMW Magazine" would have treated them with more respect. Well, any respect.

Trivia question of the day: Can a non run-flat tire be safely mounted onto a factory BMW wheel that originally held run-flats?

Related Topics: Green, OE tires, Run-flat tires

comments

1. Plernpun | September 06, 2011 at 10:48AM
   So good

2. Patrick | September 06, 2011 at 11:38PM
   No. Thats my answer.
   
   As to mentioning tires I imagine that BMW is probably the last company that would want to talk tires given the general negativity on their vehicles with run-flats. Which must be pretty much everything they make.
   
   Shortage of replacement supply, weight and cost, together with a harsher ride have certainly lost them customers and goodwill so not something they would wish to discuss in the feel-good world of the magazine. Of course things may have changed in teh last year since I last looked up problems with run-flats.

3. Sean | September 09, 2011 at 01:32PM
   Of course it can. The wheel doesn't care what tire is mounted on it.

4. John | September 12, 2011 at 06:49AM
   Yes, it can.

5. Patrick | September 15, 2011 at 12:35AM
   I have checked back and the early Run flats did have a different bead but it is now true that ordinary tyres will fit the BMW wheels. In my research I see someone claims that the tuning specialist Alpina use normal tyres on their tweaked cars. Makes me wonder about this as re-treading the runflats surely would reduce the overall cost and make better value of the increased rubber in them. There does seem to be a general beef on the longevity of run-flats. BMW do not mentioning tires - I don't understand it : )