BMW i8 - long-term review

“We might have run into a little issue.” Can’t be anything too exotic, I think. I’ve ordered new tyres for the i8 and you’re a tyre fitter, so what’s the issue? Not that you can’t find the locking wheel nut key because, as I’ve belatedly realised, the i8 doesn’t have them. Must’ve had at some stage I assume, and it’s something I need to rectify soon given how desirable the 20in Turbine wheels are. A £1,380 option when new, and still fetching strong money on eBay. So no, that’s not it.

Is someone having difficulty getting in past the upswinging doors? Or tracking down the new tyres on the racks? Please tell me you haven’t managed to nerf it into the doorway driving it in here. No. Instead: “we haven’t got a jack low enough to fit under your car.”

It’s my OCD that’s taken me here. I couldn’t tolerate the imbalance of different tyres front and rear. A pair of Bridgestone S001s nearly down to the wear indicators on the front, a pair of newer run flat Michelin Pilot Sport 4Ss on the back. Leaving aside the curious decision to only opt for run flats at one end, the set-up had been bugging me.

The ride, especially in Sport mode, felt more brittle than I remembered and the front end more wooden. It could just be age and it’s not like i8s were the most supple, sophisticated sports cars around, but if you’re looking to make improvements tyres are the best place to start.

I didn’t bother looking around very hard for options. Originally fitted with those Bridgestones or Pirelli P Zeros, I’ve never found a car a set of Michelin Pilot Sport 4Ss didn’t improve. And there’s another benefit. Skinny tyres mean less cost. 215/40 at the front were £230 each and the rear 245/35s were £205 (more common size). If I’d had a 285 rear, it would have been more like £280 a corner, around £1,000 all in. So I’ve saved a bit - not as much as I expected to be honest, but it’s £870. Plus fitting. Which is where we came in.

I didn’t think the i8 was especially low slung, but this was the start of an issue you might have run into before. A little one, akin to not having a slimline trolley jack rather than ramming an i8 into a building. A lot of tyre fitters refuse to fit tyres they haven’t supplied themselves, citing warranty issues and liability concerns.

I head home, peed off that a job that should have taken an hour is now likely to soak up most of a day, and start ringing round. The big firms all say no. But that’s fine, I prefer using local independents anyway. I strike lucky with The Tyre Barn in Newbury. Not only do they say yes, but they can do it immediately.

But obviously I’ve got to get the tyres to them, and they don’t fit in the i8. So first I use the Countryman to shuttle the Michelins from one depot to the other, then I swap Mini for i8 and drive back. You didn’t particularly need to know this, but all this extra faff, the lost time, the battle with industrial estate traffic, the ringing around, the hassle, riled me. Nothing that good customer service couldn’t sort out.

There was a bit of puzzlement about why I was ditching a perfectly serviceable set of rear tyres, but that went as soon as they noticed the ZP (Zero Pressure) run flat stamp on the sidewalls. 40 minutes later the i8 was ready, wheels balanced, pressures done.

And immediately a different car. Calmer, more relaxed and noticeably quieter, but with better steering precision, more polish to the dynamics, better absorbency. I used to tolerate Sport mode, but rarely used it because the ride became crashy and jagged. Now it’s as smooth as it was in Normal mode. The sharpness of the run flat’s stiffer sidewalls used to cause vibrations that rattled cabin trim, now it doesn’t so the car feels younger, better built. 

Curious. But very welcome.