MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
Wife's car picked up a puncture in a run flat tyre. Refusing to belive the local repair places when they said they can't be repaired, I came across this article, stating that they can be repaired.
ATS repaired it for £10.
http://www.car-tyres.org.uk/articles/run_flat_tyre_repairs.asp
Smurf
I had a tyre changed 6 months ago and also one this week from driving in dodgy conditions. Each tyre side wall was cracking -not worth repairing in my case.
Drove 80 miles on my run flat on Saturday supported by the sidewalls-worth repairing?
The side walls are under massive stress keeping your car rolling and each manufacture states different distances and a maximum speed.
I'd like run flats on my road bike! 8)
I ditched my run flats as soon as I could - hated them so much that I just binned the front tyres which still had some tread left. The rears were just over legal limit.
Got non run flats (Conti Sport Contact 3s) and the difference was immense - no more tramlining, crashy ride or terrible aquaplaning.
RFTs are sh1te.
Yee gawds. I must commit Seppuku
Wot Surf Mat said.
+1, Surf-Mat. RFTs are designed with sidewalls that won't disintegrate when the rim is squeezing them onto the road. That, unfortunately, compromises their performance when doing their day-job of dealing with torsional forces when turning corners.
And the rubber compounds are equally compromised in their day-job of actually gripping the road.
The upside of course, is not having to stop when you get a puncture.
As a bloke who is (barely) competent at changing a wheel, I choose not to compromise on tyre performance, but I guess I may make a different choice if I were a single mum or something...
Trouble is, with RFT shod cars, you get no spare wheel/tyre - mine doesn't even have a wheel wrench or jack!
So now I have a slow flat (huge screw in the rear tyre which I was about to replace anyway) and can't get two new tyres until Wednesday, I'm going to have to hope a quick pump up (I have a 12v tyre compressor and tyre weld) will get me the 8 miles to the tyre fitters!
Still worth it though. I have no idea how run flats were allowed - they almost ruin loads of otherwise very decent cars - BMWs, Audis and others.
Replace them for non RFTs and the cars are as they should have been.
And you're left with a spare wheel taking up space in the boot!
I had an Altea that came with a can of spray and a compressor. Straight on ebay for a full sized spare AND I kept a can of foam in the boot. **** trying to change a punctured wheel on the motorway etc.
My R32 had non Run flats, a compressor and tyre weld too (no space for a spare with the AWD stuff in the back) - I was lucky - a year and no punctures...
Just to clarify.. my wife's car wasn't driven with a flat tyre. I noticed it had lost a few PSI but the others hadn't.
I'll be replacing them for regular tyres in due course.
Space savers etc appear to be available from http://www.quarrybmwspares.co.uk/
See http://www.babybmw.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=15655&sid=f6dc43cf6b4fe6e155d2622881a64594&start=15 for more info
smurf
I've found that cars designed from the start to use run-flats, are comfier than ones where they've introduced them part-way through a model's lifespan.