Adrian Posted December 28, 2014 Report Share Posted December 28, 2014 I have a 2011 530D SE with 17" Bridgestone Turanza run flat tyres (original fit I believe). The ride is jiggly, noisy and the car is deflected by small surface imperfections. Tramlines too. After the suppleness experienced from driving the E39 equivalent for 150k miles this ruins an otherwise great car. Are newer run flat tyres better or is it best to just change to normal tyres? Has anyone made similar changes on this model? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted December 28, 2014 Report Share Posted December 28, 2014 Hi Adrian Your description is typical for run-flats..... Best advice is to get off of them.... I bought a 318 BMW this year which has run-flats fitted and the only reason their still on the car is because they are new.... RFT tyres are horrible, hard, noisy, as said tramline, expensive, cannot be repaired in the event of a puncture, i'm struggling to find a good point? Normal tyres fit the OEM wheels just fine so don't let BMW fob you off on that one and indeed other BMW forum members who have fallen for the trap. I had to re-write the geometry settings for the 3 series on RFT tyres since they wore to the wire in some cases in 5k miles. And another point how come none of the M series use RFT tyres? Is it because the handling is pants. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sagitar Posted December 28, 2014 Report Share Posted December 28, 2014 Hi Adrian Your description is typical for run-flats..... Best advice is to get off of them.... I bought a 318 BMW this year which has run-flats fitted and the only reason their still on the car is because they are new.... RFT tyres are horrible, hard, noisy, as said tramline, expensive, cannot be repaired in the event of a puncture, i'm struggling to find a good point? Normal tyres fit the OEM wheels just fine so don't let BMW fob you off on that one and indeed other BMW forum members who have fallen for the trap. I had to re-write the geometry settings for the 3 series on RFT tyres since they wore to the wire in some cases in 5k miles. And another point how come none of the M series use RFT tyres? Is it because the handling is pants. They can be a real pain. I know someone who has had a couple of punctures and on each occasion it has meant a new tyre. The trouble is, there is nowhere to store a spare on this particular vehicle, so it seems that run-flats or the dreaded gunge are the only options. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted December 29, 2014 Report Share Posted December 29, 2014 Most new cars don't come with a spare tyre even those not on run-flats. All they have is a time of repair spray. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sagitar Posted December 29, 2014 Report Share Posted December 29, 2014 Most new cars don't come with a spare tyre even those not on run-flats. All they have is a time of repair spray. You are right. The vast majority of my experiences with Toyota have been good, but the spare wheel issue after I bought my last car from them really aggravated me and would be sufficient to stop me from buying another vehicle from them in future. The car came with just the gunge and I knew that, but assumed that I would be able to buy a skinny. The wheel sizes were exactly the same as my previous vehicle (which came with a skinny) and I knew the part number so all I needed to do was order the part - right? Wrong. The dealer refused to sell me a skinny because it was not specified for my vehicle. I won't bore you with all the details, but in the end I bought a skinny from a German company that seemed not to have the scruples that affected Toyota in this country. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted December 29, 2014 Report Share Posted December 29, 2014 A space saver spare is the way to go since the repair spray doesn't work as proved on Watchdog.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Funky Posted December 29, 2014 Report Share Posted December 29, 2014 BMW think RFT are so good. But no other manufactures joined then? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted December 30, 2014 Report Share Posted December 30, 2014 If you mean tyre manufacturers then yes all the big boys have. If you mean car manufacturer then again yes, Merc and even the Nissan GTR runs them.... The GTR rear RFT is a cool £600 each + VAT. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Funky Posted December 30, 2014 Report Share Posted December 30, 2014 Oh yes I remembered the GTR did coz I've read it on here. Didn't realise some Mercs have. Must be the big expensive ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted December 30, 2014 Report Share Posted December 30, 2014 Yep but their and optional extra few agree to on the Merc..... Wise move indeed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
parthiban Posted January 6, 2015 Report Share Posted January 6, 2015 Are RFTs still going to become mandatory at some point in the near future? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted January 6, 2015 Report Share Posted January 6, 2015 Yes.... In the US all new car models have to have RFT's fitted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
parthiban Posted January 6, 2015 Report Share Posted January 6, 2015 Yes.... In the US all new car models have to have RFT's fitted. Had no idea, when does that come into effect over here? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted January 6, 2015 Report Share Posted January 6, 2015 I'm not sure.... Thing is having no spare is a great cost cutting exercise for the manufacturers and a selling point. The likes of the police and highway management are keen to endorse RFT's for safety reasons so i think it will come soon.... Trust me i was gobsmacked when the Nissan GTR came out with OEM RFT's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
parthiban Posted January 6, 2015 Report Share Posted January 6, 2015 I find this idea quite interesting if it works - in fact I saw basically that exact product being sold at the Ideal Home Show many years ago but wrote it off as something that couldn't possibly work (can't remember if I posted it on here at the time) but if a manufacturer like Continental can offer it perhaps it wasn't as crazy as it sounded! http://www.continental-tyres.co.uk/www/tyres_uk_en/themes/extended_mobility/contiseal_en.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted January 6, 2015 Report Share Posted January 6, 2015 In truth that idea has been done to death. The Dunlop Denovo with internal canisters was first then internal gel but the cost to the public was huge so as an extra it failed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
parthiban Posted January 6, 2015 Report Share Posted January 6, 2015 In truth that idea has been done to death. The Dunlop Denovo with internal canisters was first then internal gel but the cost to the public was huge so as an extra it failed. The thing I saw at the show was just a bottle for £10 or £20, one bottle did 4 tyres if I remember correctly. Just squirt it in through the tyre valve and reinflate. If it's more expensive than that now, someone's taking a lot of profit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SMARTLY Posted January 6, 2015 Report Share Posted January 6, 2015 There are two or three of the bottle applications available and some that come including fitting for quite a bit more. Some have reported vibrations after installing it and that tyre places won't work on the tyres a the gunge all needs washing out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted January 6, 2015 Report Share Posted January 6, 2015 Vibration would be an issue..... Here is the Denovo concept> http://www.leylandprincess.co.uk/brodenovo.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Posted January 11, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2015 A few more questions: Is it essential to change the geometry on the move to non runflats? Is it expensive? Has anyone any experience of the outcome of using non runflats on F10 SE models? Adrian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted January 12, 2015 Report Share Posted January 12, 2015 The geometry would remain the same since BMW didn't change it for the RFT... I did. As for validating them for the F10 SE i can't see a problem other there is a transition initially as you get the feel for the more flexible tyre. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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