Run Flat Tyre Woes

[DanB7290]

So, I've got my first car that has run flats on it, a rather nice BMW 1 Series (much nicer than the Kia Ceed I had as a company car anyway!). It has run flats, and to me this was the only bad thing about the car. Of course sods law dictates that this be the first car I ever get a puncture in, picked up a nail driving into work.

Am I right in thinking that a run flat cannot be repaired like a normal tyre and must be replaced? I'm hoping I'm wrong as then it'll be a couple of quid to get it fixed and not £175 for a new tyre but time will tell.

[richs2891]

BMW will tell you its a new tyre. Some places will, some wont repair a run flat, so long as its in the normal repairable areas of a tyre - ie not the sidewall.
I had one repaired no issues

[DanB7290]

I see, it isn't on the sidewall but its pretty close, on the outer part of the tread, probably 10mm in from the sidewall. Fingers crossed it can be repaired but we will see.

[gtidriver]

My last set of rears on my E91 where magnets for sharp things
When i had both tyres replace i counted five plugs between them,i use the red screw in,snap off ones from Halfords.
Neither tyres lost air after being plugged.

[gazza285]

What exactly is the purpose of run flats? I've been driving a long time, and I've done a lot of miles in all sorts of vehicles, and I've had a lot of punctures. I've never lost control of the vehicle, I've always had to change the flat tyre for the spare, and I've always had the flat repaired. Where is the advantage of having a run flat?

[Garvin]

gazza285 said:

What exactly is the purpose of run flats? I've been driving a long time, and I've done a lot of miles in all sorts of vehicles, and I've had a lot of punctures. I've never lost control of the vehicle, I've always had to change the flat tyre for the spare, and I've always had the flat repaired. Where is the advantage of having a run flat?

No need for a spare wheel so more room in boot.
Less acquisition cost for you or could that be more profit for manufacturers!
No need to change wheels by side of motorway / busy main road / in the dark / in the cold & wet / in your nice clothes - just drive to tyre place not exceeding 50 mph and get it repaired/replaced.
Avoids the situation whereby you find out that the useless spanner monkey that last serviced your car / changed the tyre etc. used the windy gun on max to tighten your wheel bolts such that no manner of huffing, puffing or leaping on the small tyre iron will undo them at the side of the road.
No need to use that hateful crap that you inject into the tyre if you don't have a spare wheel, the stuff that never works anyway and renders the tyre non repairable.
No need to struggle to check tyre pressure of spare wheel buried in inaccessible place or, more commonly, never check spare wheel tyre pressure ever and find it flat when you go to use it.

Lots of advantages!

[TooMany2cvs]

gazza285 said:

I've always had to change the flat tyre for the spare

That's the bit that run-flats avoid.

[V8mate]

Garvin said:

gazza285 said:

What exactly is the purpose of run flats? I've been driving a long time, and I've done a lot of miles in all sorts of vehicles, and I've had a lot of punctures. I've never lost control of the vehicle, I've always had to change the flat tyre for the spare, and I've always had the flat repaired. Where is the advantage of having a run flat?

No need for a spare wheel so more room in boot.
Less acquisition cost for you or could that be more profit for manufacturers!
No need to change wheels by side of motorway / busy main road / in the dark / in the cold & wet / in your nice clothes - just drive to tyre place not exceeding 50 mph and get it repaired/replaced.
Avoids the situation whereby you find out that the useless spanner monkey that last serviced your car / changed the tyre etc. used the windy gun on max to tighten your wheel bolts such that no manner of huffing, puffing or leaping on the small tyre iron will undo them at the side of the road.
No need to use that hateful crap that you inject into the tyre if you don't have a spare wheel, the stuff that never works anyway and renders the tyre non repairable.
No need to struggle to check tyre pressure of spare wheel buried in inaccessible place or, more commonly, never check spare wheel tyre pressure ever and find it flat when you go to use it.

Lots of advantages!

You missed the main one! That removed spare wheel saves weight, which saves fuel, which helps the manufacturer get the car to hit CO2 targets.

[TooMany2cvs]

V8mate said:

You missed the main one! That removed spare wheel saves weight, which saves fuel, which helps the manufacturer get the car to hit CO2 targets.

Even that - whilst undoubtedly in their mind - isn't always the only one.

Look at the size of the boot floor on a 1-series.
Now look at the size of a rear wheel on an M135.

[DanB7290]

swerni said:

All of the main chains will refuse to fix a run flat.
The issue isn't so much the puncture, but how long you've run it with no pressure.
Running with no air manages the integrity of the sidewall.

While some manufacturers say you can fix run flats, the don't except liability iif anything goes wrong, hence why the chains will refuse.

Find a local independent, if it's fixable, the will just put a plug in, takes seconds.

If you've run it flat for any distance, bin it and replace

This is what I'm thinking, and if it was repaired would this affect insurance if for example the tyre blew out and I ended up writing the car off as a result?

The warning lights came on on the road to work, about 500m away. I work in a dealership so took it straight into the workshop and checked it over, initially I didn't see anything as the nail was at the bottom of the tyre at the time, but the pressure was at 27psi when it should have been 32. So I pumped it up and went on my way, but the way back home was all 30 and 40 zones so never really got any speed up. 24 hours later I noticed the nail when parked up. I'm guessing on this basis it's going to be simpler to replace?

Also I'm debating whether to put a non run flat on? A downside is the other 3 tyres are all the Bridgestone run flats, so I'd have a mismatch on the left rear, plus I'd need to grab at least one of those inflation kit things to dump in the boot

[vikingaero]

My point is OPTIONS. At least give people who want to pay for a spare the choice.

RF/Gunk are fine for those with no lives. Harsh. Yes. You go to the station take the train to work, you go shopping at Tesco at the weekend and pop around to visit Aunt Maud. You are perfect RF/Gunk/No Spare material as you never leave civilisation.

I would NEVER buy a car without at least a spacesaver. What about the thread on here where the guy wants to get a tyre to his brother in Annecy and has a wedding in Italy to go onto.

[RYH64E]

Garvin said:

No need for a spare wheel so more room in boot.

I've never had a car with run flat tyres, and also haven't had a car supplied with a spare wheel for years, not even a space saver. I think the last car I had that came with a spare (space saver) was a 2009 Jaguar, and that never got used in the time I had the car.

[TooMany2cvs]

vikingaero said:

I would NEVER buy a car without at least a spacesaver. What about the thread on here where the guy wants to get a tyre to his brother in Annecy and has a wedding in Italy to go onto.

<shrug> What about it? If it really wasn't possible to locate a tyre in time, my Euro breakdown cover would provide a hire car or onward travel allowance to get the train.

But surely you wouldn't be contemplating doing a trip like that on a spacesaver, either? You can do the same distances/speeds (50mph/50 mile) on an RF to a spacesaver.

[V8RX7]

Garvin said:

need to use that hateful crap that you inject into the tyre, the stuff that never works anyway and renders the tyre non repairable.

As I run LPG in my cars and the tanks are in the spare wheel well I carry cans of Holts Tyreweld I have only needed to use it once when I had a large puncture on the motorway (it went with quite a bang)

I was shocked that the Tyreweld managed to plug it and inflate the tyre (only to around 10psi as much of it leaked out to start with) but it was enough for me to get to the nearest tyre place for which I'd have gladly paid £500 at the time.

My tyre was scrap but I inspected it and the tyreweld didn't leave much reside inside and any decent place could repair after using Tyreweld by cleaning the immediate area - the monkeys just use it as an excuse to sell you a new one.

[DonkeyApple]

gazza285 said:

What exactly is the purpose of run flats? I've been driving a long time, and I've done a lot of miles in all sorts of vehicles, and I've had a lot of punctures. I've never lost control of the vehicle, I've always had to change the flat tyre for the spare, and I've always had the flat repaired. Where is the advantage of having a run flat?

The sole purpose of the runflat is to leave you properly fking stranded and fked when you do have a puncture.

It was felt by the industry that people weren't really suffering any more when they got a puncture as you just swapped off the flat tyre and carried on or rapidly bought another for not much money and carried on. So they invested in a system that meant when you had a puncture you couldn't just swap it and carry on, briefed all tyre companies to not repair them. Also briefed them to insist on only selling in pairs and also to not keep any in stock.

The who invented runflats should be strapped to a fking wheel and driven round the M25 until nothing remains of the cretinous, committe .

[Garvin]

V8mate said:

Garvin said:

gazza285 said:

What exactly is the purpose of run flats? I've been driving a long time, and I've done a lot of miles in all sorts of vehicles, and I've had a lot of punctures. I've never lost control of the vehicle, I've always had to change the flat tyre for the spare, and I've always had the flat repaired. Where is the advantage of having a run flat?

No need for a spare wheel so more room in boot.
Less acquisition cost for you or could that be more profit for manufacturers!
No need to change wheels by side of motorway / busy main road / in the dark / in the cold & wet / in your nice clothes - just drive to tyre place not exceeding 50 mph and get it repaired/replaced.
Avoids the situation whereby you find out that the useless spanner monkey that last serviced your car / changed the tyre etc. used the windy gun on max to tighten your wheel bolts such that no manner of huffing, puffing or leaping on the small tyre iron will undo them at the side of the road.
No need to use that hateful crap that you inject into the tyre if you don't have a spare wheel, the stuff that never works anyway and renders the tyre non repairable.
No need to struggle to check tyre pressure of spare wheel buried in inaccessible place or, more commonly, never check spare wheel tyre pressure ever and find it flat when you go to use it.

Lots of advantages!

You missed the main one! That removed spare wheel saves weight, which saves fuel, which helps the manufacturer get the car to hit CO2 targets.

I also didn't include the disadvantages:
Need to keep your dental insurance up to date to cater for the fillings that will be shaken loose by the resultant ride.
The fact that no RFT comes anywhere near the grip of a similar non-RFT.
That they are hideously expensive!

[Garvin]

V8mate said:

Garvin said:

gazza285 said:

What exactly is the purpose of run flats? I've been driving a long time, and I've done a lot of miles in all sorts of vehicles, and I've had a lot of punctures. I've never lost control of the vehicle, I've always had to change the flat tyre for the spare, and I've always had the flat repaired. Where is the advantage of having a run flat?

No need for a spare wheel so more room in boot.
Less acquisition cost for you or could that be more profit for manufacturers!
No need to change wheels by side of motorway / busy main road / in the dark / in the cold & wet / in your nice clothes - just drive to tyre place not exceeding 50 mph and get it repaired/replaced.
Avoids the situation whereby you find out that the useless spanner monkey that last serviced your car / changed the tyre etc. used the windy gun on max to tighten your wheel bolts such that no manner of huffing, puffing or leaping on the small tyre iron will undo them at the side of the road.
No need to use that hateful crap that you inject into the tyre if you don't have a spare wheel, the stuff that never works anyway and renders the tyre non repairable.
No need to struggle to check tyre pressure of spare wheel buried in inaccessible place or, more commonly, never check spare wheel tyre pressure ever and find it flat when you go to use it.

Lots of advantages!

You missed the main one! That removed spare wheel saves weight, which saves fuel, which helps the manufacturer get the car to hit CO2 targets.

I also didn't include the disadvantages:
Need to keep your dental insurance up to date to cater for the fillings that will be shaken loose by the resultant ride.
The fact that no RFT comes anywhere near the grip of a similar non-RFT.
That they are hideously expensive!

[TooMany2cvs]

Garvin said:

I also didn't include the disadvantages:
Need to keep your dental insurance up to date to cater for the fillings that will be shaken loose by the resultant ride.

Oh, sorry. I thought we were talking about BMWs with 50-and-lower profile sidewalls anyway...?

[vikingaero]

TooMany2cvs said:

vikingaero said:

I would NEVER buy a car without at least a spacesaver. What about the thread on here where the guy wants to get a tyre to his brother in Annecy and has a wedding in Italy to go onto.

<shrug> What about it? If it really wasn't possible to locate a tyre in time, my Euro breakdown cover would provide a hire car or onward travel allowance to get the train.

But surely you wouldn't be contemplating doing a trip like that on a spacesaver, either? You can do the same distances/speeds (50mph/50 mile) on an RF to a spacesaver.

50mph is possible on a holed RF or spacesaver. 50mph isn't possible on a shredded RF. My last puncture was a shredder 3 hours drive from Fort William. As I said, RF suit people who never leave towns.

[wemorgan]

I recently had a puncture with a run flat. The computer told me the pressure was low, but that I could continue on my journey at <50mph. This was convenient since I was on a busy single carriage A-road. I carried on for 15 miles to work. There I called a mobile tyre fitter where he replaced the tyre that afternoon. I can hardly imagine an easier outcome given the situation.