Posted: 10/6/2011 10:40:43 PM EDT
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Does anyone have run flat tires on any of their vehicles?
Give your comments and options on them. Tire life? Maximum Speed? Cost? Thanks for the feedback. |
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Generally you are trading handling, comfort, and cost for limited mobility with 0 air. I've owned and driven RF's (even with no air) and like any tire, they get louder and ride a little rougher over time, but for me my Goodyear Runflats felt like crap after 1 year and 5K miles of ownership.
That being said, I will never own them unless some type of weird road condition exists, such as wife has to drive through 20 miles of desert highway between work and home, etc. |
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Run flats on military hummers seemed capable of sustained speeds of about 10 or 15 mph. There was a solid ring aoround the rim.
The unit to which I was attached had one limping along in Baghdad, slowing down the whole convoy, and sure enough, the slow speed allowed a solid hit by an EFP array. Another time, I was in a small convoy in which one hummer had a flat, and we changed it with thousands of pilgrims streaming by rather than try to half-ass limp to a base. Do some research as to the capabilities you can expect from them. There will be a serious reduction in performance. |
What are you wanting to run them on? There are two versions for the humvee. I believe one is magnesium and the other is hard rubber/plastic. They add about 50 pounds to a 165 pound wheel/tire. I have 6 setting on my driveway right now mounted with run flats. I run modified humvee wheels on my truck with out run flats. They are a two piece beadlock though. I use the humvee goodyear MT 37x12.50's. You can get the tires for $100.00 Ive never seen anyone that got hte run flats to balance for high speed use. You get whats call "the death wobble".
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Quoted:
You're getting a lot of different answers, but nothing useful as we don't know what you will use them on. I have a set on my C6 Corvette and a bit amused to read how they don't "perform" or "handle well"  Again, it all depends on what they are intended for. Correct. I don't have run flat tires. I have run flats in thetires. Two different animals. As I aksed ealier. What do you intend to use them on. You want run flat type wheels for a car? Or you want run flat inside truck wheels. |
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Quoted:
You're getting a lot of different answers, but nothing useful as we don't know what you will use them on. I have a set on my C6 Corvette and a bit amused to read how they don't "perform" or "handle well" Again, it all depends on what they are intended for. I had an "older" generation of runflats on a C5. There were minimal handling differences (I did switch out to non-runflats) but were noisier due to the harder rubber and stiffer sidewalls. They are also ungodly expensive. My stitch to non runflats included my cell phone and AAA card. One consideration not mentioned yet is how difficult it is to work on runflats (ie getting them on and off rims). Only specialized shops will touch runflats. I switched because I realized that if I limped into a small town on a flat runflat, no one would be able to work on it because they don't have the machinery to dismount them. Just another perspective. |
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Had them on an armored SUV I drove overseas. Have driven both run flats as well as a standard tire with a run flat insert (big rubber donut that goes around the inside of the rim). Their main purpose is to get you out of a pinch until you can get to a service station and have the problem fixed. They are expensive, heavy, give lousy gas mileage, don't balance well, and handle poorly. If you are in an area where your life is in danger they are great. For day to day driving, they would suck. If you had a lot of extra cash floating around it might be cool to have a set to throw on the car in case SHTF, but otherwise, I think it would be more cost effective to have a couple spares on standby to throw in the back of a truck or trailer. I keep a repair kit and means of inflating tires in my truck at all times - it will get me out of most problems when I travel.
I lump them into the same category as folks who think they need and armored vehicle as their daily driver. If it gets so bad that you actually need something like that, it is probably time to move somewhere safer. I get a chuckle every time I hear of a soccer mom who was given an armored car to drive by her paranoid husband. Anyone who has driven one for any length of time understands their impracticality for what we face in the US (aside from executive protection and unusual threats to one's life). Run flats definitely have their place, but they aren't a perfect solution nor are they a good substitute for day to day use. |
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Quoted: Had them on an armored SUV I drove overseas. Have driven both run flats as well as a standard tire with a run flat insert (big rubber donut that goes around the inside of the rim). Their main purpose is to get you out of a pinch until you can get to a service station and have the problem fixed. They are expensive, heavy, give lousy gas mileage, don't balance well, and handle poorly. If you are in an area where your life is in danger they are great. For day to day driving, they would suck. If you had a lot of extra cash floating around it might be cool to have a set to throw on the car in case SHTF, but otherwise, I think it would be more cost effective to have a couple spares on standby to throw in the back of a truck or trailer. I keep a repair kit and means of inflating tires in my truck at all times - it will get me out of most problems when I travel. I lump them into the same category as folks who think they need and armored vehicle as their daily driver. If it gets so bad that you actually need something like that, it is probably time to move somewhere safer. I get a chuckle every time I hear of a soccer mom who was given an armored car to drive by her paranoid husband. Anyone who has driven one for any length of time understands their impracticality for what we face in the US (aside from executive protection and unusual threats to one's life). Run flats definitely have their place, but they aren't a perfect solution nor are they a good substitute for day to day use. The point of the armored vehicle for Suzi McSoccermom is to get her to start giving blow jobs again. Not to keep her safe in a practical way. "ooh honey you love me so much!" Slurrrp. For my purposes. I have a small compressor, a tire patch kit, a bottle of green slime and a decent tire iron. If there's some sort of bug-out and lots debris on the road, I am going to be slowing down and avoiding the big stuff but otherwise crossing my fingers. Run flats would cost more than my entire car is worth at this point. So it's not a practical upgrade to my situation.
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I was shopping for a new Rav4. Many of the models had run flats. I refused to buy one. I need to run winter tires 5 months and year, and winters offer no run flat benefits. A winter flat, with no spare? Uh no thanks. If the care doesn't carry a spare, I do not want the car. Period
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Quoted: Dunno about life, but cost is very high, speed unaffected. All BMWs now come standard with run-flats and no spare. And their crap. Noisy. Poor handling. Short-life. Wear unevenly (cupping). Overpriced. Dumped them for standard tires and a repair kit on my bimmer. Auto runflats do not help if you have a catostrophic blowout or the sidewall deteriorates (i.e. bubbles...). They are only good for slow leaks/punctures. |
| My wife's Sienna has runflats. They suck. The ride is rough and 2 of them need to be replaced after 18,000 miles. On the AWD Sienna there is no place for a spare. I'm thing of dumping the runflats and going with regular tires and a ContiComfortKit or a Slime Spare Flat Tire Repair System. Has anyone ever used the Slime Spare Flat Tire Repair System? |
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Are they as good as regular tires, no. Also, if you do get a puncture many tires shops will not repair as they don't know how far you drove on them. As others have said, BMW has moved to them and I do have experience driving them on the autobahn at a sustained 130 MPH+ for about 600 miles and on the track where I pushed them to their limits. They are getting better and I feel that in a few years they will be about as good as standard tires but still at a higher cost. I am also replaced them on my BMW with standard tires and carried a small plug kit and air compressor.
With all of that said, they are convenient. After my car was delivered in the US on my way home from the dealership I had the tire pressure warning system go off and found out their was a nail in a tire. I drove home and then back to the dealership the next day at 50 MPH where they replaced the tire. It is nice to no have to stop. If they come on a car that I own I will drive on them but I won't buy a set until there is no difference. |
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Quoted:
Looking to put run flats on a BOV....this vehicle will be either an older suburban or an extended crew cab truck. Will be 4X4..... Looking to overcome cut hazards and flats from small arm fire......  You would (and your wallet) be better served by running regular tires, getting a good compressor, a good plug kit and a couple cheap steel wheels from the junk yard with a couple slightly used tires for spares. Keep the compressor and plug kit on board all the time, throw the extra spare tires in when you're expecting a high risk of flats. Run Flat Tires aren't cheap, they're heavy, can decease fuel mileage and they tend to wear faster than a normal tire (they run hotter than a reg tire increasing wear) especially when you're talking LT tires. Run Flats are only good to get you to the closest shop to get them repaired. |
| Wife has them on her BMW. (She works for them). Two cars in less than two years and both have had to have one tire replaced. Not sure if bad luck or bad design, but we have rarely had problems with the tires on all our other vehicles. I think the book says they are good for 50 miles running flat. (The X5 diesel was a nice little truck) |