I know that this has been covered many times before but why not remind people of the huge benefits that changing from run flats can make. My 35iS came on 19" wheels and Bridgestone RFT's, to be honest the adaptive dampers seem to do a reasonable job of keeping the ride acceptable but the car suffered from harshness, jarring, non-analogue steering feel and rattles with the roof up - it just didnt feel that safe to push beyond quite modest limits. I had a set of 18" wheels from my 35i when I bought a set of 294's with Nexens fitted so had those refurbed (not entirely successfully but that was my own fault for trying to save a few bob with a local garage who did the work), bought some slightly used front PS's from our very own sales corner and two new rears from lovetyres, my local tyre shop fitted and balanced them for £5/wheel.
Early days but I covered a couple of hundred miles yesterday and can report a significant reduction in harshness (interestingly the roof creaks seem to have gone awol), driving over cats eyes no longer results in a crashing through the car, the ride has softened up slightly but not as much as when I changed to Nexens last time but they are more comfort orientated. So the ride is better but subtely so. The noise levels appear quite a bit lower with the roof up but best of all the car now steers properly, I mentioned non-analogue earlier, the RFT's seem to impose a choppy steering feel, almost as though the road is being taken in little bites instead of linearly (something that I first noticed when I drove a new 5-series back in 2004 with RFT's..). Now the steering feels like its attached to a pair of wheels and I can actually feel things happening; its not like driving a 911 but its MUCH better than before. The rears need a bit more bedding in before pushing them but the car feels much more secure.
I had to buy a compressor and some decent wheel gunk in case of a puncture, this cost £40, sold the RFT's on Ebay for £100 and with the cost of the new tyres the change all in was about £350 which given the improvement to the car is a true bargain. I suppose if I sold the 19" wheels with almost new RFT's I could even claim to have come out of the situation in credit but I'll keep them for refitting if I sell the car in future.
So if you are sitting on the fence, think the RFT's are OK my advice would be try a car with real tyres and you will change your mind or make the jump.
Keith
Early days but I covered a couple of hundred miles yesterday and can report a significant reduction in harshness (interestingly the roof creaks seem to have gone awol), driving over cats eyes no longer results in a crashing through the car, the ride has softened up slightly but not as much as when I changed to Nexens last time but they are more comfort orientated. So the ride is better but subtely so. The noise levels appear quite a bit lower with the roof up but best of all the car now steers properly, I mentioned non-analogue earlier, the RFT's seem to impose a choppy steering feel, almost as though the road is being taken in little bites instead of linearly (something that I first noticed when I drove a new 5-series back in 2004 with RFT's..). Now the steering feels like its attached to a pair of wheels and I can actually feel things happening; its not like driving a 911 but its MUCH better than before. The rears need a bit more bedding in before pushing them but the car feels much more secure.
I had to buy a compressor and some decent wheel gunk in case of a puncture, this cost £40, sold the RFT's on Ebay for £100 and with the cost of the new tyres the change all in was about £350 which given the improvement to the car is a true bargain. I suppose if I sold the 19" wheels with almost new RFT's I could even claim to have come out of the situation in credit but I'll keep them for refitting if I sell the car in future.
So if you are sitting on the fence, think the RFT's are OK my advice would be try a car with real tyres and you will change your mind or make the jump.
Keith
