Ditched Run Flats?

Scozzer

Scozzer

Scozzer

Associate
Joined
27 Apr 2004
Posts
744
Location
Staffordshire
Hi Guys,

TLDR; My tyre garage experience made me think what others were using in the spare tyre well in the boot when switched to non run flats.

I ditched the Run Flats on my e92 about 7 months ago now and haven't looked back since, the quality of ride is so much better. At the time I also had the wheels refurbed.

This last week I noticed a bit of a wobble and suspected the loss of a wheel weight and took it to a local tyre guy who has a pretty good rep around here. Well, to say he was not happy with the fact I'd swapped out the run flats is an understatement, initially telling me the car is now illegal because my insurance is void. After I pointed out I had written confirmation from my insurer advising switching to a non RFT was not an issue he did, unwillingly, retract his statement. During this time, his staff were fitting the wheels back to the car without balancing as he wanted nothing to do with it.
He went on to explain that the construction of RFT wheels is different with a lip being the rim that accommodates for a much wider, thicker RFT sidewalk which leave a large gap for standard walled tyres to "flop" around in, rendering a high chance of the tyre popping off the rim during cornering. Now I felt lucky to be alive after driving round in such a death trap for the last 7 months :D
The only evidence I found previously is that there is an extra lip inside the rim of an RSC enabled wheel to restrict movement of a deflated RSC tyre. for this reason, you can not fit run flats to a standard wheel although fitting non flats to an RSC enable wheel is fine.

Now to my point that cropped up after this: I did the usual general internet research for quite a while before making the swap and have a continental mobility kit in the boot and also RAC cover in the event of a destroyed tyre. What kits do you guys use mobility kit and a jack? just mobility kit? purchase space saver?

Thanks.
 
I just used mobility kit.

I have green flag cover with my bank account, but they told me, when I punctured two winter non-RFT's on my e91, that their policy was not to help when a RFT motor was running non-RFT's. How true that is, I don't know. But worth checking.
 
Yeah, I think breakdown cover is the biggest grey area here. What if you get a blowout on a run flat, you still have no spare wheel to change to, so why should this be any different? A puncture can (hopefully) be resolved by the mobility kit. I've heard forum stories of people both getting help and not getting help from the various companies.

I also forgot to mention I went to a tyre fitter around the corner who was much friendlier and fitted me up with a weight that had come off and the wobble has gone :D
 
I have genuine BMW mobility kits I bought off Ebay which I use in the girlfriends Mini in winter (It has 15" Alloys on non RFT winters) and on my F10.

There is a section in the cars user manual about how to use the mobility kit when not running RFT so I figure there can be no issues with breakdown cover if the kit doesn't work (Both cars are covered by BMW Emergency Service).

Whilst the move away from RFT's turned the Mini into a totally different and vastly superior car I cannot help but feel slightly disappointing at the lack of transformation on my F10. It's a bit better and takes the edge off potholes but that's pretty much the only difference I've noticed.
 
[TW]Fox;27333629 said:
Whilst the move away from RFT's turned the Mini into a totally different and vastly superior car I cannot help but feel slightly disappointing at the lack of transformation on my F10. It's a bit better and takes the edge off potholes but that's pretty much the only difference I've noticed.
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I have to agree - it made my old E92 a small bit softer, but nothing spectacular. In fairness, the ride on my E92 with Potenza runflats was absolutely fine, but the grip levels were poor. The real advantages were not having to pay £ridiculous for tyres, being able repair punctures and being able to buy much better and modern tyres, as opposed to the usual 7-8 year old PS2/Potenza runflat designs.

Strangely, my mum's E90 with Potenza runflats was hideously stiff with and F1A2's took the edge off, but again it was no magical transformation to a Rolls Royce type ride that the internet would have you believe.
 
[TW]Fox;27333629 said:
Whilst the move away from RFT's turned the Mini into a totally different and vastly superior car I cannot help but feel slightly disappointing at the lack of transformation on my F10. It's a bit better and takes the edge off potholes but that's pretty much the only difference I've noticed.
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Exactly what I found when I put them on the E61. I'm sure a lot of it is people justifying the change in their head.
 
It didn't turn my e92 into a roller but it did make it a lot more compliant on the rubbish roads round here but the main thing for me was that non rft's made it a lot less twitchy. It made the runflats seem like they either had grip or didn't, there was no feel letting you know how the tyres were actually getting on.

I have been tempted to "upgrade" the continental mobility kit to the official BMW one but am not sure its needed.
 
As it happens, you can also put a run flat tyre on a non flat wheel with absolutely no problem (other than the crazy stiff sidewall)
 
That tyre guys needs a slap and telling he is an idiot and should not spout forth utter crap in the aim to sound informed. As fox the move to normal tyres from run shats did not transform the car as I had been led to believe. It was a bit more pliant, but not night and day. In other words it was a little less crap.
 
I put none run flats on a e92 and it rode much better, best bit was smoothing out the teeth shaking vibrations over potholes

I had european breakdown cover from AXA which stated you needed to carry a spare if the car was designed to carry one otherwise just some tyre weld
 
snapdragon69 said:
There two types of runflat system.
The tyre fitter is definitely correct about the PAX system.
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How popular is the PAX system? I'm not sure but i think the RSC is the most prevalent and armed with the kind of knowledge the tyre guy was flinging around, I'm guessing he should have known that my car was RSC.
 
Skeeter said:
I find the 30%+ saving a corner and ability to fix a tyre rather than have to replace it justification enough :).
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I thought that the first time around although i have had two punctures repaired on RFTs. I bought the spare wheel kit for the E61 and to make any saving on tyres after that I needed to go through two sets of non runflats before being in profit.

The F11 has had one puncture on the runflats which was when half a stanley knife blade lodged into the tyre. The back end went a little squiggly, enough that I knew i had a puncture before the warning came on but not terrible and was perfectly driveable, If that had been on a non runflat I certainly would have damaged the wheel and would have been stranded waiting for the RAC on a dual carraigeway. I wont be going to non RFTs on this car.
 
She got a puncture on the Mini - right opposite a tyre depot. So she was able to pump it up with a foot pump and drive no more than a few yards to the tyre depot. The nail was exactly in the centre of the tread.

They refused to fix it. She drove down the road to another. Who also refused to fix it.

No choice but to drive all the way home on it. I put the winter wheels on a month early and chucked the punctured runflat in the garage but I suspect we'll get rid of them entirely.

They are pointless. Had she not had RFT's it would have cost her £10 for an easy repair.
 
Most places just do not want to touch them - backstreet types should plug them for you, but you're running an extra risk of them damaging the rims getting the things off with even less chance of recourse
 
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