Punctures?

Did you use the repair kit? I wouldn’t have a clue how to use it.

Not had a puncture in a car for many many years (until tomorrow anyway) and typically do about 20k a year across all the vehicles. The i3 does about 5k and been fine so far over the last two years. I had most punctures on my bike when I was commuting in London. All that filtering past traffic meant much time on the c**p that builds up between lanes which appeared to include many nails and screws that were attracted to the sticky tyres on a sports bike.

To answer the question I can’t see that there is anything about the construction or operation of the i3 that would make it prone to punctures. As far as the construction of the tyres is concerned who knows - but unfortunately there is no choice of manufacturers (except Winter tyres with very limited choice.
Certainly the state of the roads is way worse than any time I can recall and I imagine road sweeping has been reduced due to local authority budget cuts so more junk accumulated at the side of roads.
I chose 19 inch wheels for mine in the hope that the deeper sidewalk would absorb more punishment before tyre and wheel damage. Does your car have 19 or 20 inch wheels?

‘Sidewalk’ should read sidewalls!!

Not sure the i3 is more susceptible to punctures? That said it is an inconvenience as the tryres aren't run-flats and it can't be towed (flatbed recovery only), and due to the fact there's no spare tyre, just the compressor and liquid sealant in the frunk. To add fuel to the fire, the tyre is goosed if you use the sealant too!

If the puncture is in the centre of the tread, not the sidewall, it can be repaired with a rubber plug.

To be fair a lot of tyres with sidewall damage are (rightly) written off. All makes and models of car.

You'd have to think that the i3 is not especially prone to premature tyre replacement otherwise, with 200,000 made now, an aftermarket tyre supplier would have have thought it was worth making an alternative to the Ecopias.

Spooky ........that you should bring this up.....
I have had 3x punctures in the last 6 months after fitting a new set of bridgestone ecopia.
None have been repairable so it's been expensive.
Tyre fitter reckons it's because the tyres are new?
Before this I haven't had a puncture in 25 years.
No building work going on in the area......
Maybe the tyre fitters are sending the apprentice out with a bag of screws (ha ha )
Also as a side note had a puncture on my wife's car in that time as well - new tyre required which lasted a week before it too had another puncture (which wasn't repairable either).
I reckon I've been out over £1000.00 in tyres last 6 months

2020i3 said:

but unfortunately there is no choice of manufacturers (except Winter tyres with very limited choice.

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Yes there is, for 19” wheels Continental have their new Ecocontact 6 tyres available in both 155 and 175 sizes.

edit.....oh yes and Nankang tyres.....but we‘ll gloss over those unless desperate.

Hard, thin tyres, higher inflation pressures...perhaps sharp objects penetrate these tyres easier because there's no 'give' in the system like softer, wider, less inflated examples?
Yep I've been affected once after 1 year of i3 ownership. Only the second puncture ever!

Does anyone have experience of the Continental versus the OE Bridgestone? I see there is little or no price advantage.

2020i3 said:

Does anyone have experience of the Continental versus the OE Bridgestone? I see there is little or no price advantage.

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I have had experience of the Contis on other vehicles but not on our i3 as yet, but I will certainly be replacing the Bridgestones with Contis when the time comes, IMHO (and a regular review winner) a superior tyre.

I had an i3 for 4 years covering 28,000 miles and never had a puncture even though I take the 'racing' line through bends, roundabouts, chevrons etc. which increases the risk of picking up debris that doesn't naturally clear on the beaten track. It never really occurred to me what I would do in the case of getting a puncture thinking BMW would come to my rescue lol.

Jake53 said:

It never really occurred to me what I would do in the case of getting a puncture thinking BMW would come to my rescue lol.

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Me either, but within a week of the fourth year (extended warranty) ending we found a flat rear tyre one morning, didn't fancy getting the repair stuff out and faffing around so called BMW assist and they turned up 45 minutes later, plugged the tyre and we were ready to go again, replaced the tyre the next day at the local tyre dealer and everything was well with the world.

Sometimes things just work.

I’ve got conti on my wife i3. They have been fitted a month ago can’t say the difference as the old ones where pretty well worn. Will see how long these will last as ecopia last for 30k.

I just got a puncture in my vw ID.3 last night and can’t remember the last time I had a puncture before that. There’s no spare so I tried to use the puncture repair kit. There were no instructions with it but I had a phone signal and managed to find a video on YouTube. I had to remove the valve on the tyre, pour in a pint of what looked like pva glue, replace the valve and reinflate with an air compressor. The sealant literally seeped from the tyre as I reinflated it. It looked like Bishop the android’s blood in Aliens 2, all over the ground but we couldn’t find an object or even a hole It must have been in one of the grooves in the treads. The repair lasted about six kilometres and the tyre died again and I had to get towed home. I wonder if the tyres on electric cars are weaker than those on regular cars and whether the repair kits are really suitable for them.

I’ve done 45k miles on mine so far with the first puncture a couple of weeks ago after hitting a pothole. Fortunately the car was only about half a mile from home, so I had a mobile fitter out the next day to sort it, as the gunk wasn’t going to do anything.

With the 20” wheels and the state of local roads I’m actually surprised I’ve not had more.

I had a Nissan Micra 160SR years ago with low profile tyres that seemed to pop if they hit anything (3 tyres in 20k miles) but at least it had a spare.

In case it's of any use to anyone Tesco have Holt's Tyreweld on half-price for clubcard holders (£3.50 for 400ml (up to 16" wheels), £4 for 500ml (for 17" wheels)) just now. Advantage of HTW is that it wipes/washes out of the tyre so it may be repairable... Also theoretically doesn't need inflation either.

Tom-cat said:

I follow the i3 owners group on Facebook and note a common posting about this vehicle is punctures. A huge number of owners seem to suffer them. I tend to follow owners groups for whatever car I purchase. They can be a wealth of information. But. The i3 owners are the only group I have subscribed to, that have posted so very frequently about the frequency of punctures on their vehicles.
Has anyone here suffered this on their i3?
Until yesterday I just thought it was a matter of luck. Guess what? Yes, I suffered a puncture.
Not in itself unique. But it was only the second puncture in 45 years driving and motorcycling.
Could there be something about the construction or operation of this vehicle, or the nature of the tyres it uses that does make it prone to punctures?

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Front or rear puncture?

hunnymonster said:

In case it's of any use to anyone Tesco have Holt's Tyreweld on half-price for clubcard holders (£3.50 for 400ml (up to 16" wheels), £4 for 500ml (for 17" wheels)) just now. Advantage of HTW is that it wipes/washes out of the tyre so it may be repairable... Also theoretically doesn't need inflation either.

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All tyre solutions now should be water soluble, but even so tyre fitters still bitch and moan if you ask them to clean and repair the tyre.