[danimal]

I had to get a nail puncture in my right-rear runflat fixed on a Sunday. There was a Firestone shop just a few minutes from my place. I figured, being Firestone, they'd know how to work on a Bridgestone runflat, so I went. Here's what transpired:

1. They fixed the flat, remounted. I drove home. All felt fine but then I noticed they ##@*'d the $hit out of my wheel. Not talking about just scratches here. It was all chipped and dinged up around the edges.

2. Called Firestone. Manager said to bring it in so he could take a look. When he saw the damage and that it was only that one wheel, he agreed it had to be their fault and offered to get it fixed. He said he'd arrange for a substitute wheel so I still use my car while my wheel was being repainted.

3. Few days later, returned to Firestone to get the substitute wheel mounted. It looked like an E46 330i wheel, but it was the same size, so cool.

4. Returned a week or two later to get my repainted wheel mounted. I checked the wheel. The quality of the paint job was not exactly stellar, but my bigger concern was that the paint looked wrong somehow. The manager brought it out to my car so we could compare it. Sure enough, the paint was not right. It was glossy and approximately the right color, but it didn't have any of those tiny reflective flakes that make the other wheels appear metallic. Again, the manager agreed with me. I insisted he order me a new wheel from BMW this time, and he promised he would.

5. Two week later (i.e., today), I returned once again to get the brand new wheel installed. They managed to mount the tire without putting so much as a scratch on the new wheel. I wish they had done that in the first place, but I'm just relieved to have my car back to the way it was.

Incidentally, I wonder if this is yet another reason to dump my runflats when they wear out. The first Firestone store I called said they refused to work on runflats at all. It probably won't be long before this one does too (they must have lost at least $500 on this job). The manager did mention they are so much stiffer, it takes more skill to work on them, even if you have the right equipment. They had one of their most experienced techs mount mine this morning, which is probably why it came out okay, but I would not want to go through this hassle again.

-Dan