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.

[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.

[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

[DanB7290]

Been looking around for the best price replacement tyre, and getting a like for like on my car (Bridgestone Potenza S001 run flat) so far has been £170 fitted from Black Circles/Laws Tyres Aberdeen. If I supply the tyre myself work will fit it for £50, but so far I can't find anywhere that'll sell me the tyre for less than £120.

I am toying with the idea of putting 2 non run flats on the back, then eventually replacing the fronts with non run flats but as a previous poster has suggested, I probably shouldn't mix run flats with normal tyres. What's more though, the car has different sized tyres for front and rear; 225/40/18 on the front and 245/35/18 on the rear. I've never come across this conundrum before; all my previous cars have been normal tyres and all the same size.

[DanB7290]

Drawweight said:

Does it really cost £50 to fit a RF tyre? Is it any different to fitting a normal tyre.

And why are you paying anyway if you work there?

Our service department seems to have a disliking for the sales team, but it's 50% labour rate, innit? I seriously doubt it'll take an hour to fit a bloody tyre though.

[DanB7290]

sadsac said:

Definitely dont mix RF and non RF - potentially very dangerous impact on handling

Yeah that's the only thing stopping me from doing it, looks like if I want non RFs it's going to be when all 4 tyres need changing.

[DanB7290]

Jimboka said:

It would have been quicker to type ' can run flat tyres be repaired' into Google . You would have a more straightforward answer too..

I actually managed to get both yes and no answers on google. The main one that comes up says no but there's a fair few that say yes as well. Just wondered if anyone had done it/could recommend doing it.