Today I get rid of my runflats

HEADRAT

HEADRAT

HEADRAT

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
21,499
Location
Cambridge, UK
Hi,

So had my 3.0 Z4 MOT'd yesterday and they mentioned that all 4 tyres were pretty much at the end of their life (which I pretty much new).

So I looked around the NET and there were plenty of recommedations for Falken FK452 so I've decided to go for them. The place I'm getting the tyres from did grumble a bit about putting non runflats back on the car!

I'm sure they are just doing this to cover their back but it does seem a little odd, I bet they wouldn't be so picky if I bought some brand new alloys from them with non runflats on :) At the end of the day the rims are no different and standard tyres fit, the Z4M Roadster doesn't use runflat tyres either!

Really looking forward to getting shot of the runflats as they are very hard and can tramline like crazy on certain roads, they are also very hard.

HEADRAT
 
Will there be a constant light on the dash then, or can that be turned off?

Why do the garage care if you don't run with runflats!
 
Let us know how you get on with the 452s. Just put a pair on the front of my 330i sport and that tramlines more than it used to, although after a 1000 miles it's now less pronounced.
 
I don't know why the 452's are suddenly becoming popular as they've never been properly tested in any decent tests and it all seems to stem from the fact someone once bought some for his 5 Series on the 5 Series forum in BMWLand thought 'THESE ARE GREAT LIKE INNIT' despite not being a tyre tester and now suddenly everyone is buying them becuase they are cheap.

I'll wait until there is a subjective test between them and the top brands before I'd consider fitting them. Some of the performance advantages from premium brand tyres never make themselves known until you one day need to stop quickly in an emergency situation. I'd rather not wait until then to find out that actually, 452's are not all that.
 
Got 4 on my 330i and they are superb, better than PS2's in both wet and dry and better than F1's in the dry.

Really suit the 3 series well. May not be the same story on the bigger 5.
 
I guess it depends on what you want. I accept that if I'm ever going to come close to the limits of my cars grip, it's going to be when its wet not dry. Therefore I want absolute best possible wet grip.
 
My understanding is that if you choose a car say 5 series or 3 series that doesnt have run flats, the whole suspension set up is different and is changed during manufacturing. I have heard this now on numerous occasions, not least most recently on Top Gear.

Could this be also true with the Z4 and by putting non run flats on you are altering the cars handling charateristics?
 
Tell us if you notice any tramlining, or wobbliness at low speeds - in the past the biggest complaint about Falkens was that they often made fairly decent rubber in narrow sizes and then the design just didn't work so well with wide tyres. But then, it's also problem the plagues a lot of low to mid budget tyre manufacturers.
 
I found the ride improved massively when I swapped the runflats on my old roadster, still a little tramlining but nothing like before.

I think runflats are a PITA to remove so a lot of places don't like changing them, especially if you are sourcing the tyres elsewhere.
 
[TW]Fox;10917974 said:
I guess it depends on what you want. I accept that if I'm ever going to come close to the limits of my cars grip, it's going to be when its wet not dry. Therefore I want absolute best possible wet grip.
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A good reason to keep the F1's then. Even more so with your low mileage. I do about 40k a year so that means with my driving 3 changes a year. So i just slow down in the rain! lol
 
[TW]Fox;10917290 said:
I don't know why the 452's are suddenly becoming popular as they've never been properly tested in any decent tests and it all seems to stem from the fact someone once bought some for his 5 Series on the 5 Series forum in BMWLand thought 'THESE ARE GREAT LIKE INNIT' despite not being a tyre tester and now suddenly everyone is buying them becuase they are cheap.

I'll wait until there is a subjective test between them and the top brands before I'd consider fitting them. Some of the performance advantages from premium brand tyres never make themselves known until you one day need to stop quickly in an emergency situation. I'd rather not wait until then to find out that actually, 452's are not all that.
Click to expand...
yada yada.

I always wonder why the magazines include/exclude certain brands in their tests, do they tyre makers have to pay a fee to have their tyre included in the test? I would be surprised if that wasn't the case. It would make sense to test every tyre they could get their mitts on to ensure a fair test.
 
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