Are run flat tyres a false economy...?

anotherbaldrick

harveybobbles wrote: »

I agree, but in another few months time these tyres could well be showing the belts on the edges, yet still showing decent tread in the middle. So it seens silly to be throwing a tyre away that still has life in the middle of the tread.

Hence why I asked about RFT's being false economy.

Having runflats on my Bummer I find one problem is that with the stiff walls the tyre do not give any visual indication of being in need of topping up with air. I check the Golf regularly and usually can visually spot if its a PSI or two under just by looking at it, but the runflats can go 5 or more under and still look the same. I now check them on a more regular basis.

neilmcl

anotherbaldrick wrote: »

I now check them on a more regular basis.

No bad thing

Austineer_2

I have changed many, many RFT's and have yet to see any that wore either evenly or economically.

I'd rather have standard tyres and a spare.

This is just priceless though: Had a lady in a few weeks ago (and I'm not knocking lady drivers, I am one after all!) who thought her 5-Series was handling oddly. She'd worn through one of the rear tyres, an RFT, until there was NO TYRE LEFT IN THE MIDDLE AT ALL - all the way through the casing. The only reason it had stayed rigid as long as it had was because it was an RFT. Is this a good thing? If it had been a standard tyre, would the resulting rapid deflation earlier in the tyre's life have caused an accident, or would it have opened her eyes to the fact that she needed them changed sooner? We've kept it in our "hall of shame" - tyres that have badly exposed cords and wire, very aged tyres, badly flat-spotted tyres, but this RFT is the absolute doozie