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Run flat blow out fix

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tomscott
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Run flat blow out fix

Post by tomscott » Tue Feb 13, 2018 2:38 pm

Didnt quite explain correctly. People still treat them as usual tyres.

If you have a slow puncture on a runflat and you drive on it, it weakens the sidewall so if you keep pumping it up (as most people do as they think its a normal tyre) then as it runs down it runs on the sidewall. After driving on the runflat for the 50 miles the sidewall collapses and the tyre is as done as a normal flat no longer holds the weight.

Happened to a girl at work who had no idea and she ended up stranded im sure she had run it for an extended period. Given that you know how they work they can positive but many people dont and end up in the same position as you would with a normal tyre.

My first mini in 2007 was the first car I had with RF. I had them removed pretty quick as they made the car handle so badly it was all over the place they were only 16" so replacing them was cheap. Now unfortunately have them again but 10 years later but 19s 225 35s all round :headbang:

Thing that annoyed is the mini is brand new and have been treating it as such. I have avoided everything I could apart from one little pot hole that I admit I didnt see. Ditdnt think anything of it as it was really small. The car had another small issue with some stitching on the passenger seat so went in to be sorted and on the inspection they found a great bulge on the inside of the passenger side tyre sidewall. It obviously doesn't take much to ruin them, im pretty sure a normal tyre would have taken it as they have more give.

Where I work in Trafford park, its awful atm they are installing the new metro link and most of the main roads are closed. So all the little back streets are getting hammered and as its an industrial area there are loads of haulage trucks and heavy machinery. Some of the roads in the middle of Africa were better.

The car also feels like its on rails, corner hard and its like the tyre moves under the wheels. Strange sensation and completely ruins the car.

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cj10jeeper
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Run flat blow out fix

Post by cj10jeeper » Tue Feb 13, 2018 3:21 pm

Ok but your talking of an unusual circumstance of slow puncture and of course ignoring the usual pressure warnings from the TPS and similar and just reinflating. Of course people abuse tyres and pay the penalty, with runflats it’s that the wall deteriorates when run flat or very low, but of course so does a normal tyre which doesn’t last long at all

You’ll get no argument from me which I prefer, but I remain convinced that for most drivers the ability to drive home or garage beats wheel changing and spares or recovery and in most normal driving they are safer
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MACK
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Run flat blow out fix

Post by MACK » Wed Feb 14, 2018 8:26 pm

I guess the real question is are the benefits of RFT worth it against the likely frequency of a puncture that immobilises you. In 25 years and god knows how many miles but must be well in excess of 700,000 I've only had three immobilising tyre issues and one of them was a blowout on a runflat anyway. For me I'll take the benefits of the non runflats for the once in a bluemoon occurrence where I get an immobilising puncture and an inflation kit won't cut it. At the end of the day lots of manufacturers including the likes of Porsche's only give you an inflation kit these days anyway.
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Mr Tidy
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Run flat blow out fix

Post by Mr Tidy » Thu Feb 15, 2018 12:09 am

Interesting thread!

Mrs Tidy bought a new Mini One in 2003 and had the choice of run-flats or non-RFTs and a spacesaver - not knowing much about RFTs then we went for non-RFTs and the spacesaver. Luckily she never had a puncture anyway, but looking back I think RFTs might have been a better idea.

I bought a 320td (so non RFTs) in 2005 and only had 1 puncture in that on a sunny summer's day, so putting the spacesaver on wasn't an issue.

I replaced it in 2008 with a 123d on RFTs. I had 2 punctures in that and both times it was snowing, so being able to just drive home was really handy!

So that was 3 punctures in 124K miles. I just seem to be lucky. :(

Now I'm planning to put my Z4 on non RFTs, so in anticipation of that I bought a 17" spacesaver, jack and wheel-brace from a forum member (although I've also got an Aldi compressor and some Holts goo)!

At the end of the day if the sidewall gets ripped it doesn't really matter if it is an RFT or not, you're not going any further on it!
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