Repair to a Runflat

C

cj10jeeper

Lifer
 Lichfield, England
No, not the usual Can I do it, but a bit of a shocker this afternoon...

I purchased a spare set of 108's and took then to my local tyre shop this afternoon to strip off the old tyres that they came with. OK so 2 had plenty of tread and could be fitted back later, but I'm planning on fitting 452's on, them so wanted them ditching.

Interesting point was that the fitter pulled off one and commented it had been repaired and you could see the patch on the tread. The inside of the tyre was full of large balls of rubber (I mean handsfull of the stuff) and he pointed out what had happened. The tyre had been punctured and then driven as a run flat. This had (over presumably just a few miles) caused a total breakdown of the inner tyre wall at the corner between wall and tread. I was amazed at it. Even after the repair it had continued to inmternally disintegrate into a ragged mess, while on the outside it looked perfect. Shame I could not get pictures as they were closing shop.

From now on if a run flat were to puncture and I had to drive it at all I'd dump it immediately. Don't fancy 150+ mph potential with that going on inside a tyre.
 
But, then again, I've read many posts on various enthusiast's forum's stating that as long as the puncture is not a big one and not near the sidewalls, repairs do very well. I guess this applies best to those who don't run at max speeds.
 
Flycaster said:
But, then again, I've read many posts on various enthusiast's forum's stating that as long as the puncture is not a big one and not near the sidewalls, repairs do very well. I guess this applies best to those who don't run at max speeds.
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This is the sort of view I would have gone with, but having seen the inside of this tyre I would never now repair one. Sure the inner patch held air and the wheel revolved, but frankly the damage to the wall carrying the car with no air is not externally visible and my life is worth way more than a £100 tyre.

Of course the caveat is that as these tyres were old and simply came with the rims I have no idea of their history. Hell, for all I know the guy could have driven 100 miles with no air, but highly unlikely....
 
A little worrying. It seems runflats really aren't worth their extra cost.
The more I visit tyre fitters though, the more rubbish they seem to spout from their mouths. Today I had a guy trying to tell me it costs people £3k to go from run flats to regular tyres. How he worked this out, I'll never know :| :rofl:
 
Herminator said:
A little worrying. It seems runflats really aren't worth their extra cost.
The more I visit tyre fitters though, the more rubbish they seem to spout from their mouths. Today I had a guy trying to tell me it costs people £3k to go from run flats to regular tyres. How he worked this out, I'll never know :| :rofl:
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Would you like some hot Nitrogen with that?
 
Herminator said:
A little worrying. It seems runflats really aren't worth their extra cost.
The more I visit tyre fitters though, the more rubbish they seem to spout from their mouths. Today I had a guy trying to tell me it costs people £3k to go from run flats to regular tyres. How he worked this out, I'll never know :| :rofl:
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You are right that the average Kwik kick fitter is not at the top of the food chain, but the guys I use have been known to me for a decade or more and specialise in fitting tyres to the prestige marques around B'ham. They list all the performance makes on their dealer client list inc the local BMW dealer as a backup for them. They even endorsed Falken 452's as a great tyre to fit on mine :thumbsup:
A place I actually trust for advice.
 
I wish I had a place like that but Darlington isn't exactly full of prestige cars :lol:

I've not been into a kwikfit place yet, maybe I'll try them the next time I need a good laugh.
 
cj10jeeper said:
...having seen the inside of this tyre I would never now repair one. Sure the inner patch held air and the wheel revolved, but frankly the damage to the wall carrying the car with no air is not externally visible and my life is worth way more than a £100 tyre...
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No way I would repair a run flat either, it's good advice from BMW. No wonder hardly any tyre places will do it.
 
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