I have been dreading my first donut experience. Anybody had one yet? If so, did you opt to use the run flat or the donut? Could the run flat be repaired? If not, was it hard to find a replacement? Did you pay through the nose?

 

Fortunately, I have not got the nail. In the first place, mine dosen't come with the donut (well carpet trimmed tire well with 4 plastic divider to compartmentise my nonsense in the trunk), neither is there a jack or wrench.

I guess, when you don't have a choice, you will not have to be in this dilemma - drive on with the run-flat man!

 

Thanks for sharing. I guess it's good news that there is not a lot of experience out there with this misadventure. I got through the last set of tires wo a flat. Two sets will be some sort of record.

 

When the time comes to replace them, will you be using run-flats again?

 

Does anyone know the difference in weight between say, the 124-style 275/35/18 run-flat tyre and a regular tyre with the same measurements?



-paasan

 

And I was told by the SE that it might cost as much as US$580 to replace a piece!

 

I had runflats on my cooper S 215/45 17" pirellis

I've had 3 punctures fixed in 2 years of ownership, Puncture fixing is just the same as ordinary tyres....fine as long as its not the sidewall.

HOWEVER, on all occasions, there was not any significant loss of pressure, yes the TDC indicator lit up but I then used my compressor to keep the tyre up to pressure and went straight to get it fixed.

The BMW tyre tech said this was the ONLY way to avoid replaceing the tyre as any significant driving on a flat funflat will necessitate replacement as the sidewalls take a real hit.

That said, when it was time to replace all 4 tyres on the cooper S, I went for non-runflats and carried a couple of cans of tyre sealent and a compressor.......(not needed it yet but who knows?

reason for doing this.......price and handling....non runflats handle much better esp in the wet on the cooper S and 4 TOYO Proxes T1s cost ?270, 4 pirelli euphoria runflats cost ?980 .......bit of a no-brainer.

 

have had the misfortune of 2 flat tyre warnings soon after purchase

1st was due to a nail puncture - which resulted in the whole tyre being changed. I was quite impressed by the fact that I still could drive the car at over 80MPH for about 40 miles !!

2nd episode occured 2 days after the 1st incident - and was apparently caused by a sensor problem / software glitch

 

Good question. It may depend on the experiences of the owners in this group and their overall opinions. I have always been skeptical of why we need run flats in the first place. Had it been an option, I would not have selected it. If it truly has the $580 price penalty for place utility, I definitely will not replace with run flats.

 

Even the new Einser comes with run-flats, included in the price.. hehe. Ok security precaution - if the error reporting is working. However, these tyres will probably not become affordable until some larger volume manufacturer starts including them on their cars.

Check out my post under "Tyre pressure.. what are you running?" - we've now had 6 or 7 incorrect "Tyre puncture" warnings. Very annoying indeed. But I would assume this has nothing to do with the RSC/run-flats - there wouldn't be any difference in the RPA system between a car equipped with RSC tyres or regular tyres.


-paasan