This story is from a friend of mine who I've done some maintenance work 4. He's not very car savy but a real MINI guy .... he's on #3 by my count and looking for another. For those who poo-poo runflats, his recent story is great reading:

I just completed a 6000 mile trip out west in the convertible. We drove 4000 miles on a flat tire- a tribute to run-flats. I was following a truck at 75 mph and a piece of wood fell off the truck and I hit it with my right front tire. The indicator came on so I pulled off and inspected. Everything seemed OK so I figured the indicator was wrong (that had happened to me once before and the tire was good). So, we kept driving out to Arizona, Las Vegas and back through Utah and Colorado with (what I found later) was a flat tire. The wheel was so badly damaged that no tire could hold air on that rim.

these are the sort of real life stories that make me believe runflats are THE answer for some folks. In the late 80s I lived in Wash DC and believed cell phones were a waste of time. Then a friend told me of his wife, heading home from work, blowing 2 tires in a questionable part of town, at 11 pm . . . I bought a cell phone for the spousal unit the next morning; she worked in the same part of town, late nites, occasionally.

& My wife could absolutely drive on a blown runflat for a week ..... I have NO doubt .... This story suggests I can take one more breath. Not two tho .... just one.

 

I have no doubt you can drive on a flat runflat tire. They just don't make very good tires for driving on when they aren't flat. I prefer to have a real tire.

 

That's exactly why I don't want runflats. Driving 4000 miles on a damaged tire is unsafe and insane. Just the fact the wheel got so damaged is proof enough of that for me. Your friend is really lucky he didn't find himself in a situation requiring lots of traction -- especially on the highway -- because he would have been put of luck, and possibly unable to tell his story.

 

I guess what is hard to believe that if the wheel was so damaged that it did not hold air I would think you would feel some vibration or something in the steering wheel. How that tire managed to stay on that rim for those amount of miles is beyond me. I think even the tire company would be suprised, maybe they can make a commercial out of it

 

I could not even drive 10 miles on my front tire that was flat because of the LSD due to grinding.

Driving 4000 miles on a completely flat tire is very extreme.