Living with run-flat tires

[BMWTurboDzl]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Many new higher end cars come with RFTs. Ride quality issues aside, how do people deal with these when they do get a puncture?

In theory, you should be able to drive 50 miles after the tire was punctured to allow you to get to a shop that can repair it. But that is very restricting. What if you're on a road trip? What if it's after hours or weekend and the shops are closed? Even if the shop is open, but the tire cannot be safely repaired, what is likelihood the shop can get their hands on a new same model RFT to sell to you the same day? Seems like the chances of you getting stuck for a while despite having RFTs are fairly high. Or am I overthinking this?

Is buying a spare wheel+tire and a jack and lug wrench to carry around with you (that takes up cargo space since most of these cars have not been designed to carry a spare) the right thing to do?

Any personal experience with RFTs that you want to share?


RFT can be plugged like any tire however many shops are getting away from it regardless of the type of tire. Speed/Load ratings are void on repaired tires. Shops want to avoid liability.

Many tire shops don't stock high performance tires in general so availability is somewhat constrained anyways. If your in BFE a local tire shop is no more likely to have a Michelin PS2 in any size. Now some people don't care what brand of tire they have or they want to be able to try different brands. These owners really don't like RFT.

As others have said. RFT replaces the need for a donut (they're single use btw, and should be replaced).

A full size spare isn't an option when you have staggered setup or 19"+ rims.

A can of slime is the only real alternative and some high end OEMS come equipped with it (M3).

 

[UNC017]

Originally Posted By: johnachak

As you get older you get wiser. If you have AAA and the time to wait, why get dirty and hurt your back? (Which by middle age is normally hurting on a good day). The flat change is already paid for. By middle age, the man card has been exchanged for a gold one. No need to prove anything anymore.


I don't know if its "wiser" or not, but yeah. You get lazier. And yes, the back just hurts ALL the time... still can't quite get used to that, but what are you gonna do?

Mopar LX/LC SRTs come with no spare (compressor and slime instead). I bought an aftermarket donut spare/spacer/jack kit just in case- it lets the donut clear the Brembo calipers which is the only barrier to SRTs having a donut is those calipers. Oh, and a flat on the rear means you should put the donut on the front and move a front tire to the rear so you don't get the LSD in too much of a tizzy. I also carry a DIY plug kit. I'm not afraid of a properly-done plug, even though shops won't do it anymore.

If I get a flat I can't slime/plug/compressor back to life, the first try will be Allstate Roadside Assistance... but if they say "5 hours" or something insane like that, then I'll try the donut.

 

[hattaresguy]

Originally Posted By: johnachak
Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
AFAIK only BMW uses them, Mercedes hasn't caught the stupid bug yet. Well maybe on a couple models, not sure about the 14's though.

On a high end car their is no excuse for not including a full size spare, proper jack, tool set, and gloves.

The problem is these days people are fairly stupid and unable to perform simple tasks so the manufactures save the money and throw on runflats. I was at the gym the other day watching a middle age guy call AAA to have a flat tire on his Dodge pickup changed...seriously anyone with a pickup who has to call AAA for a tire replacement needs to have their man card taken away.


As you get older you get wiser. If you have AAA and the time to wait, why get dirty and hurt your back? (Which by middle age is normally hurting on a good day). The flat change is already paid for. By middle age, the man card has been exchanged for a gold one. No need to prove anything anymore.


I have better things to do than sit around for 3 hours waiting for the guy to show up.

 

[hattaresguy]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
AFAIK only BMW uses them, Mercedes hasn't caught the stupid bug yet. Well maybe on a couple models, not sure about the 14's though.

MB is moving that direction, too. A lot of their cars have RFTs now.

Quote:

On a high end car their is no excuse for not including a full size spare, proper jack, tool set, and gloves.

I think the assumption is that a person driving a high end car will not want to get their hands dirty and he/she will just call for a tow truck anyway. A lot of these higher end cars have free road side assistance included during the warranty period.



That represents a segment of their buyers, but the reason you pay so much money for a car is for nice things like that. So if you want to you can swap the tires and be on your way with zero inconvenience. Than at your leisure get the flat tire fixed.

But yes you are correct all Mercedes regardless of age have free lifetime roadside for things like flats. The only downside is like all roadside their response time varies depending on what time of day it is, and how close the nearest MB dealer is to you. In the tri state area its fast, out west where the closest one might be 400 miles away...

Their furthest response was to an overland expedition of G wagons in a very remote village in Russia. Brought out some gaskets and it took I think a week.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
But yes you are correct all Mercedes regardless of age have free lifetime roadside for things like flats.

Lifetime??? Are you sure?

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted By: johnachak
Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
AFAIK only BMW uses them, Mercedes hasn't caught the stupid bug yet. Well maybe on a couple models, not sure about the 14's though.

On a high end car their is no excuse for not including a full size spare, proper jack, tool set, and gloves.

The problem is these days people are fairly stupid and unable to perform simple tasks so the manufactures save the money and throw on runflats. I was at the gym the other day watching a middle age guy call AAA to have a flat tire on his Dodge pickup changed...seriously anyone with a pickup who has to call AAA for a tire replacement needs to have their man card taken away.


As you get older you get wiser. If you have AAA and the time to wait, why get dirty and hurt your back? (Which by middle age is normally hurting on a good day). The flat change is already paid for. By middle age, the man card has been exchanged for a gold one. No need to prove anything anymore.


That's true to a certain extent, but if the guy was at a gym, then it's nothing to change a tire.

I was just driving on the highway today and saw 4 cars pulled over with flat tires, with the rain we've been getting, lots of potholes have been opening up. Several of them were cars that had low profile tires.

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
But yes you are correct all Mercedes regardless of age have free lifetime roadside for things like flats.

Lifetime??? Are you sure?


I thought it was free roadside assistance as long as you've been to a dealer for service in the last 18 months.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

Originally Posted By: earlyre
Not to mention aren't most Run-Flats only 3 Season tires? meaning not for use below 32 Degrees?


No. They can be found as A/S. I have A/S High Performance RFT on my car right now.

I don't know if dedicated snows are available in a RFT.

 

[dparm]

Originally Posted By: BMWTurboDzl
Originally Posted By: earlyre
Not to mention aren't most Run-Flats only 3 Season tires? meaning not for use below 32 Degrees?


No. They can be found as A/S. I have A/S High Performance RFT on my car right now.

I don't know if dedicated snows are available in a RFT.



Yes, they are. At least one of the Blizzaks is.

 

[hattaresguy]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
But yes you are correct all Mercedes regardless of age have free lifetime roadside for things like flats.

Lifetime??? Are you sure?


18004Mercedes, it should be on your glove box door.

 

[hattaresguy]

Originally Posted By: Wolf359
Originally Posted By: johnachak
Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
AFAIK only BMW uses them, Mercedes hasn't caught the stupid bug yet. Well maybe on a couple models, not sure about the 14's though.

On a high end car their is no excuse for not including a full size spare, proper jack, tool set, and gloves.

The problem is these days people are fairly stupid and unable to perform simple tasks so the manufactures save the money and throw on runflats. I was at the gym the other day watching a middle age guy call AAA to have a flat tire on his Dodge pickup changed...seriously anyone with a pickup who has to call AAA for a tire replacement needs to have their man card taken away.


As you get older you get wiser. If you have AAA and the time to wait, why get dirty and hurt your back? (Which by middle age is normally hurting on a good day). The flat change is already paid for. By middle age, the man card has been exchanged for a gold one. No need to prove anything anymore.


That's true to a certain extent, but if the guy was at a gym, then it's nothing to change a tire.

I was just driving on the highway today and saw 4 cars pulled over with flat tires, with the rain we've been getting, lots of potholes have been opening up. Several of them were cars that had low profile tires.


Tell me about it, I was on the treadmill watching this whole thing out the window, guy looked like he had just been lifting...had a nice looking Dodge Ram with a tool box in the back...AAA did the tire...he probably was a stock broker and didn't want to get his hands dirty...

 

[HTSS_TR]

Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
But yes you are correct all Mercedes regardless of age have free lifetime roadside for things like flats.

Lifetime??? Are you sure?


18004Mercedes, it should be on your glove box door.

I think the original/first owner has lifetime roadside assistance, sub-sequence owners only have 4 years/50k miles like the bumper to bumper warranty.

 

[johnachak]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: johnachak
Ok, and what can roadside assistance do without a spare? Tow you? Your trip is shot at that point.

Depending on the type of roadside service/protection plan you have, you may have a rental car option available to you once you and your car get towed to the shop.


That will certainly blow up your trip. Call in, wait for a tow, then wait for a rental to arrive. Yup, party's over. Then you have to return the rental, pay the $15+tax for the insurance, all for the lack of a spare, any spare, space saver, full size, whatever.

 

[Cujet]

My boss has a fleet of expensive cars. Many with RF tires.

A while back, one was punctured and needed replacement. Not only were they not in stock anywhere nearby, but we needed to purchase 2 very expensive tires, as the other had worn down enough to cause some pulling issues during acceleration. That was a $1000 flat tire!

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: johnachak
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: johnachak
Ok, and what can roadside assistance do without a spare? Tow you? Your trip is shot at that point.

Depending on the type of roadside service/protection plan you have, you may have a rental car option available to you once you and your car get towed to the shop.


That will certainly blow up your trip. Call in, wait for a tow, then wait for a rental to arrive. Yup, party's over. Then you have to return the rental, pay the $15+tax for the insurance, all for the lack of a spare, any spare, space saver, full size, whatever.

Hey, I'm not disagreeing with you. The primary reason I started this thread was that I'd much rather have a full time spare in the trunk.

If I were to get one of these, I'd buy proper winter tires for it, in which case they'd most likely not be RFT, and in that case I'd need to have a physical spare anyway. It's just an extra cost to buy the spare, jack, tools, and then it all takes up cargo space since there is no designated storage area for these. Just some things that one has to take into account when new car shopping.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
But yes you are correct all Mercedes regardless of age have free lifetime roadside for things like flats.

Lifetime??? Are you sure?


It's not necessarily as complete as it used to be. I found the following:


"If your vehicle: Then:

Is under any Mercedes-Benz warranty (New Vehicle Limited Warranty, Extended Limited Warranty, Certified Pre-owned Warranty) You are eligible for Mercedes-Benz Roadside Assistance*

Is out of warranty, and is regularly serviced at an authorized Mercedes-Benz dealership (a single transaction of at least $100 in the 18 months prior to the Roadside call) You are eligible for Mercedes-Benz Roadside Assistance*

Was purchased directly from an authorized Mercedes-Benz dealership prior to January 4, 2011 and you still own the vehicle You are eligible for Mercedes-Benz Roadside Assistance*

Is out of warranty
Not regularly serviced at an authorized Mercedes-Benz dealership
Not purchased directly from an authorized Mercedes-Benz dealership Please visit an authorized Mercedes-Benz dealership for service to qualify for Roadside Assistance. Or, you may purchase each individual service through the Mercedes-Benz Customer Assistance Center at the time of service

*As of January 1, 2011, Mercedes-Benz Roadside Assistance will offer the following complimentary services for eligible vehicles:

• Sign & Drive

- Replace a flat tire with a spare
- Jump start
- Small amount of fuel, should the vehicle run out
• Towing to the nearest authorized Mercedes-Benz dealership

Please note that in certain unique circumstances, additional charges may apply to Sign & Drive and towing."

 

[CapriRacer]

Allow me to make a small correction:


Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
......In theory, you should be able to drive 50 miles after the tire was punctured to allow you to get to a shop that can repair it.........


Actually, the idea behind RunFlat tires is to allow you to get somewhere where you can deal with the tire issue - as opposed to changing to the donut spare and doing the same thing.

But the process of driving on a RunFlat when it is flat gradually destroys the tire. In theory, that 50 miles should result in a tire that can not be repaired. The problem here is that an ordinary tire will show signs that it is damaged beyond repair, where the RunFlat disguises those signs (the damage is underneath the hard rubber insert.)

 

[Quattro Pete]

Capri, are you saying that after a puncture was suffered, an RFT really should be replaced and not repaired?

 

[JHZR2]

I suppose that's a function of use.

Sounds to me like the optimal thing to do on a car with an rft is to get it towed to the shop (assuming the damage is repairable). Like anything, it's time at temperature that can be the make or break. I'm sure rft tires get hot easily, so the question becomes how to properly assess damage.

I'm sure there is a happy medium,where if you find a flat in your driveway, it won't hold air, but you only drive five miles at 25 mph, you're ok. 50@50 obviously equals EOL. Where the ageing curves lie is an interesting question.

 

[Traction]

To me the only real plus of RFT's is in the case of a blow out on 1 or 2 tires caused by a big pointed object in a construction zone or anywhere, and no place to pull over. Regular tire, you are done. RFT, you can keep rolling with some control left.