just this afternoon, my right rear tire lost pressure. good thing i was only a mile away from a freeway exit. the tire had some metal shards embedded; don't know where they came from. anyways, the Bridgestones were thrashed. a little scrape on the wheel too.

now, i am looking for some Run-Flat tires. i am not too fond of run-flats with their reputation for not being as "sticky" as a regular tire. but at the same time, i would rather give up a little "stick" for some piece of mind. the RX8 is the daily driver, so i don't drive "at the limit".

so after my long-winded statement, does anyone have any suggestions for run-flats? i was looking at the Eagle F1-GS EMT and the Dunlop SP 9000s...i had the 9000s on my miata and loved them. great in the wet. problem is that the run flat versions of the SP 9000s go up to only a 17in size.

any help would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

santino

 

I bought some Bridgestone Potenza RE050 runflats. The closest size available is 225/40ZR-18. The diameter is about a half inch less - no big deal. They actually ride better than the stock RE040's. I got them at America's Tire Co.

 

sorry to hear that santino

 

Mazda Bob,

how is the feel of the REO-50s? any experience in the wet? i was looking at the tire rack ratings, and it is supposed to be better than the REO-40s. same thing with the Eagle F1s. although the corvette people don't seem to think so. maybe it is all the torque they have.

Mike...thanks for the condolences. that little scrape makes me want to purchase the polished wheels. :D

thanks for the replies. maybe i should just get the spare tire kit. but i cannot live with all the space being taken up. i have the FD and miata for that!

santino

 

Haven't had any rain yet. These tires are used on some new BMW models, so they must be good. As I said, the ride is significantly better than the RE040's.

 

Thread is stale, but here goes...

I'm considering run flats as a replacement tire and curious to any longer term experiences and/or recommendations.

TIA

 

Can a 'run flat' tire be repaired after a tread puncture? As in, remove tire from wheel, patch the inside, remount the tire on wheel?

 

Yes.

Given that the tire goop destroys the tire repaired, this is one of the reasons I'm looking at run flats. I've seen other threads talking of keeping a plug kit in the car and DIY repair, but I'm not interested in going that route.

 

I still like my Bridgestone Potenza RE050 runflats. Good ride & handling. And yes, tread punctures can be repaired, just like a normal tire. I had a repair done on a Dunlop SP9000 Sport runflat on my VW Passat.

 

Is there any downside (besides cost, if any) to using runflats? /rx8cited

 

Here's a TireRack article on run flats. Note the importance of having a tire pressure monitoring system when using them.

Quoted from source above:
"Because self-supporting tires are so good at masking the traditional loss-of-air symptoms which accompany a flat tire, they require a tire pressure monitoring system to alert the driver that they have lost air pressure. Without such a system, the driver may not notice underinflation and may inadvertently cause additional tire damage by failing to inflate or repair the tire at the first opportunity."

 

Based on their wear ratings (I'm commuting 500 miles a week, and my RX-8 is my daily driver) I've been leaning towards the Pirelli PZero Nero M&S runflat. I have two things holding me back:

1. the price (and not wanting my wife to murder me in my sleep because of said price)
2. lack of actual use history on an RX-8 (all the reviews I've seen, while promising, were on very different cars).