Interesting article on risks involved in replacing of run flat tyres with standard ones .

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/news/au...lat_risks.html

Link to the test

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/carrevi..._tye_test.html
Recently tested 3 series BMW with run flats and wasnt impressed with the car or the tyres .

Michael

 

I bloody well HATE runflats.

BMW suck!

 

It's a conspiracy!! They cost too much.

I agree BMW does nothing for me. They could be Daewoos for all I care? Although the Daewoo is better value.

 

i kinda like the new bimmer twin-turbo 3 series....

 

Gotta agree they still make a damn fine set of engines - just a shame they put them in ugly cars and indulge in gimmicky crap like runflats and i-drive.

I'd buy the RS4 over the 3 series on looks alone.

 

I don't like run flats either so I when I spent 2 hours behind the wheel of a demonstrator 335i coupe on Saturday it wasn't just the performance and handling I was interested to assess. The bimmer was eqiupped with Bridgestone RE050 RFT's - rears are 255/35 x 18 and I think fronts are 235's from memory.
2 hours isn't a long time but I was able to take the car on some very demanding, tight and poorly surfaced National Park roads, as well as a short stint on the much smoother, open bends of the old Pacific Highway just North of Sydney.

Relative to the Toyo Trampio Gu:Wn's on my RX8 ( which are very significantly superior to the OEM Bridgestones in terms of both ride comfort and noise), the 335i was clearly superior in terms of its absorption of small, hard edged irregularities like concrete road expansion joints, cats eyes etc. On my RX8 these yield a "clang" through the chassis; on the bimmer its a more muted "thunk". Road noise is definitely evident on the run flats - enough to annoy former Lexus drivers I'm sure, but still less than my Toyo's on the RX8.

The bimmer's ride over smooth edged small bumps did seem more "knobbly" than the RX8, but not drastically so.

Turn in on the Bimmer was very good, but I think not quite as precise as the RX8. Whether that's a function of the run flats or suspension and weight differences between the RX8 and bimmer is impossible to say.

All in all I think the run flats were quite a bit better than I expected. Could I live with them: YES. Would I prefer conventional tyres: YES. However I'm sure over the next few years, further development of these tyres will significantly close the gap.

 

One point the BMW DEALERS FORGET TO MENTION is that if you do get a puncture in these run flats they cannot be fixed , so u are up for the cost of a brand new tyre .

Latest wheels magazine has some run flat tyre owners spitting chips at having to replace them at their expense average price $ 450 +++

Apparently these run flat tyres are more suseptibly to punctures

Michael