jochet

BMW obviousely feels RF's are the future, whether this thinking is motivated by saving money or weight or just building a safer car I'll never know, but the industry seems to jumping on the band wagon.

I believe that tire price will drop once demand has risen and all major manufactures are producng RF tires, the advantages are a plus, after all who wants to get stuck. I believe Michelin and Pirrelli are both offering RF and their customers demand quality high preformance tires, which I also want, tires that will last at least 20,000 miles and give me a compfortable ride and handle well in both wet and dry .

My 545 had issues, the dunlop RF were horrible, when brand new the car drove and felt fine, but after only a few thousand miles the ride would deteriate and I began to hate the car, especially after having to change tires 4 times in 18 months and 25,000 miles. Maybe the car was off or maybe it was the dunlops but I hated the car. My 07 550 has been great so far even though I have only driven 6000 miles it appears that I won't have the same issues as before.

So what's it going to be Run Flats or no Run Flats that is the question??????????????????

EBMCS03

How would runflats save money? or weight? I'm gussing BMW chose them because of the safety it adds to buyers.

I see only 1 benefit for RFTs... safety and thats it. Costs more to replace... harsher ride... adds rolling weight to the wheels... worsen MPGs...

Veight

They save money and weight because BMW doesnt have to supply a full size spare with a 5th rim.

My wifes non run flat 03 325xi has a full size tire and premium rim combo in the trunk that perfectly matches whats on the axles.

Thats a lot of extra weight and costs them alot too.

pinguhk

You should be just like me and have no spare at the back to save wight and cost.
Just call Tow Matter out to tow and fix it cheeper that way. only $44us each time but for a spare in HK cost is
$380us too much for a spare

Matt BMW California

non runflats- better ride; lower cost; better performance...afterall, BMW did put that SOS button in there for a reason. Besides, not to start a new topic or anything but how many people have experienced a blowout? Ive been driving for 19 years and have not had one!

pinguhk

OK I will start the new topic of the How many blowout experienced do you have in your life so far?

vern

Go to the other post about blow outs.
cheers
vern

KAF

The safety aspect of RFT's is that catastrophic loss of pressure is much less likely. Also a slow puncture or other loss of air will have much less effect on the handling of the car.

IMHO yes they may well be the future, but they are not there yet.

First they need.
1. Better ride comfort, handling and stabilty.
2. Much longer life when deflated, 20-50 miles is clearly insufficient and likely to leave you stranded.
3. Better absorbtion of road impacts, rather than transmitting it all to the rims with consequent damage.

It might yet prove beyond current technology to meet all these demands, remember, we have been hear before.

Who else remembers Dunlops 'Denovo' run flat system back in the 1970/80's.
That was touted as the future for all car tyres, but it died a death.

Manufacturers acn fit RFT's as OEM all they like, but if they are unpopular with customers, the replacement market will sound thier death knell.

EBMCS03

I guess that might save them some money... runflats are about $100 more per tire than their counterpart. So the original rim + tire will need to be less than $400 in order to save money. But weight I think not. its worse to have added rolling weight than it is to have carrying weight.

my530i

My plan is changing to Yokohama for better road noise when current tires wear out. I don't like runflat. It's too noisy and harsh.
Also, Yokohama is about 8 lbs lighter compared to B.Potenza RFT.
By changing 4 tires, we shave off 32 lbs right there. This is one of Znod's favorite mod to reduce weight