Complaint about BMW Assist

[CoolToolGuy]

I agree that BMW should provide spares.

But a tow truck driver should know before accepting the job that they will be called to respond to all sorts of calls where someone might consider it dangerous - your care doesn't always wait until the sun is shining and it is 72 degrees to blow out a tire, or decide to collide with the Trailways bus on a flat, level road with 25 ft. shoulders on each side.

I agree that they should not go out in dangerous conditions - but I think their threshold of what is dangeous should be a little higher than the average guy with a bad back.

All of which is one man's opinion.

Have Fun,
Rick

[Uber-Goober]

You make good points, but I will still say that if you don't have a spare, you don't have a choice but to wait...and at times it will not have good results.

I look at some of the signatures and I see $15k of options and by the time the car is paid off will have cost $20k. If you click on every option and spend thousands of dollars for useless stuff, how can you not even consider to spend a couple of hundred bucks on something that can get you out of a jam without having to depend on someone else? Or buy a Hummer with self inflating tires...

[CoolToolGuy]

I look at some of the signatures and I see $15k of options and by the time the car is paid off will have cost $20k. If you click on every option and spend thousands of dollars for useless stuff, how can you not even consider to spend a couple of hundred bucks on something that can get you out of a jam without having to depend on someone else? Or buy a Hummer with self inflating tires...

First, BMW doesn't offer a spare tire, as an option or otherwise. If you want one you have to go to the parts dept., Tire Rack, a junk yard, or LeatherZ and buy a wheel, tire, and TPMS. Then you have to find a place to store it, since the spare tire well is occupied by the battery.

And, while not knowing exactly how the Hummer system works (and proud of it), self inflating is not much good without sealing the hole.

Voila! Mobility kit, from BMW or someone else. Sealer and an air compressor!

And of course, you may encounter a failing HPFP, so you might as well carry one of them in the trunk, and don't forget a spare intercooler and radiator in case you cross paths with a particularly nasty rock or stray javelin in the road. . .

Have Fun,
Rick

[Uber-Goober]

Now you are being silly.

We are talking about a spare tire here, not buying a parts store...

I bought a car. Then I bought a spare wheel from bavauto.com for $100, one of their special price items. Jack, triangle and other tools from BMW that go in the Euro spec tool kit, for less then $100. I got a spare tire for free from a friend who also had an M5. All these fit in the boot which after all is there to carry things with plenty of room for other stuff. Have used this once, took 10 minutes to change, and I still made it to my apt on time...

Getting back to the topic at hand, if you choose to depend on an assist of some sort, and human factor comes into play, instead of being upset with the "help" realize that YOU chose this in the first place. So one can either learn from it and buy a spare, or remain a sheep.

[Griffon252]

I think Uber-Goober's position in this thread is valid. But, i think slack has to be given to those with medical issues not allowing them to do simple tasks like change a tire.

With the utmost respect to Swooz and whoever else might have been or will at the future be in this situation and mindset, I think a spare should be in your trunk even if BMW didn't provide it. But, it seems (and we all see this trend) that majority of new BMW buyers are the types who don't work on their own cars and don't want to be bothered with changing a tire. The majority are the "sheep" as Uber-Goober said.

A 5 series should be perfectly capable of holding clubs and a spare, no doubt about that.