JSpira

I drove a 335i coup? with the 18" RF tires and my car is fitted with them as well.

As far as I am concerned, they are equiv. in handling and comfort to other low profile tires (in other words, they handled well).

This included track time with the 335i at Poconos raceway.

aybeesea

The argument raging about RFTs is only second to the argument about climate change.

It seems that the pros can't persuade the cons and vice versa.

ABC

wantonracing

I do admit the ride does feel a bit bumpy when going over a pothole or something of that nature, but isn't it like that with all vehicles??? I would imagine it would be like that going over a pothole with a range rover...

Rather be safe than sorry going over a nail...

Plus my ride still smooth ...it could be the leather comfort 12 way seats..... hmz...

oOpYcOo

jagman

Well said.



Exactly right, if you want to drive a car with limited feed back from the road , then don't use sports suspension and run flats.

the-oneil

RFT = trade off comfort & ride quality for safety

Many people prefer safety and other prefer Comfort/Ride - to each his own.

I am not complaining about runflats (Which I now have but will change once I run them out), I am complaining about BMW not giving the buyer the choice.

Many of us who don't venture out of main cities and live in countries with reasonable weather (No extremes) and are members of a Roadside Assistance organization would choose the Non RFT - Others in the northern hemesphere or simply drive their cars during unearthly hours or are simply very safety conscious they will opt for RFT.

BMW - Keep the RFT but for goodness sake let the customer choose if they want them.

jagman

I believe this video clip substantiates the argument FOR the RFT's...............You cannot argue with the evidence

Raighne

There are quite a few more funny ads like this. Here are all 3 in one clip.


RFT is great, great concept but the technology has drawbacks currently and on some setups (wheel/tyre size, roads, suspension design) the trade-off in ride comfort is unacceptable to many people.
Until the technology has greatly improved, many of us just want to be able to opt out of run-flats. The lack of choice is what gets people upset not run-flat tyres. Other manufacturers offer the choice; BMW do not and they will continue to lose some loyal customers because of that.

NewBMWFanatic

I've currently got an E90 with 16" Bridgestone RFT and while they are fantastic on smooth roads, giving wonderful handling and a really good ride too, on the terrible country roads around my area the car is pretty difficult to drive. You have to hold on tight as it constantly pulls left and right. The ride isn't too bad and it's certainly considerably better than the Passat Sport I had before on all road surfaces. I'm willing to bet that an E60 would serve up a better ride if you stick to something like the 17"s without going too low profile.

I wonder about the decision to change to standard non-RFTs though. The AutoExpress magazine here in the UK did a RFT test using a E90 320d and they concluded that swapping the standard Bridgestone ER300 RFT for the non-RFT version of the same tyre increased braking distances, in all conditions, by a fairly considerable margin. Now considering that according to the car mag stats, the E90 braking distances are shorter than pretty much all the competition, I'm willing to put up with the ride and drive issues on rough roads to keep myself and my family safe.

Hopefully, I'll be able to get myself into an E60 fairly soon (which has always been my aim since that day back in '03 when they first arrived) and then perhaps at least the ride over rough roads will improve a little. Has anyone else got any direct comparisons between the ride/drive between E60 and E90 on the RFT tyres? Do any of you guys who have traded the run flats feel you're braking distance has increased? And what about tyre life? My rear tyres are close to worn out at just 15K miles though I've only contributed to half that distance so may not be entirely to blame.

aybeesea

From what you say they're working on it with the "Fourth Generation RFTs".

But it's an uphill struggle. There are a lot of bandwagon jumpers to persuade.

As always it's down to personal choice.

There are those who like auburn leather and those who like Mystic Blue (until the next generation choices come along...)

ABC

Raighne

Assuming that those who aren't happy with RFTs have jumped on some kind of 'runflats are evil' bandwagon is a fairly arrogant comment (verging on offensive).

If you are happy with run-flats then good for you but that doesn't mean that those who do not have the same experience are trying to be cool in some way by dissing RFTs.

Given the heated and emotionally charged discussions on this particular topic on this forum (and others) this is more than people just choosing sides arbitrarily and battling it out.