I need some new tires and unfortunately it looks like the stock Conti runflats are on backorder for several months. I need to stick with runflats and want an all-season tire in 195/55R16 size... what are my options?

Tirerack lists several other tires in that size, but they are all "Grand Touring Summer" or "High Performance Summer" -- the Conti is the only one labeled an "All Season" tire.

Is there anything else available right now?

Help?!

 

I just replicated your findings at TR. They don't have what you're looking for in 205/50/16 or 205/55/16 either. Hard times for A/S RFT fans. Maybe now's the time to give serious thought to coming over to the dark side.

 

Hi Jim. Unfortunately, it's not an option. My car is leased and I need to turn it in with runflats. I am not going to buy a new set of non-runflats now and then also pay the penalty for not having runflats at lease-end. Plus, I'm not going to drive a car on regular tires without a spare tire. I am going to wait a week or two to see if anything changes (or maybe look for a set of take-offs), otherwise I'll just put a set of summer runflats and just avoid snow for the next few months.

 

Yeah, snow is SO over rated...

 

Avoiding snow in Boston would be a good trick.

No luck at Discount Tire Direct either. Some possibilities popped up when I googled "all season runflats in size 195/55/16", but I didn't take the time to check out any of them.

 

It's a bummer you are on the east coast because I want to turn in my Conti's with 750 miles for a set of Yoko Envigors. We could certainly deal nicely. However, you might want to look at the Envigors and just buy a small Slime kit and DynaPlugs for tire repair.

 

Thanks, but I can not put non-runflats on the car. If I have to pay the penalty to MINI for not having the right tires on the car, I might as well save the money and not buy any tires. I know I can get a few thousand more miles out of the ones I have if I nurse it. Buying non-runflats will basically be like taking money out of my wallet and lighting it on fire, since I will end up paying the same penalty at the end that I would pay for turning it in with bald original tires.

 

I understand! It's too bad they are so strict on something that they will probably just change out anyway.

 

Hey sarafil? I'm in Boston... Would it help you if indeed you would take my runflats in exchange for no Rfs? I might be convinced... Id have to think about it... Mine are the stock 16 RFs w 7K miles on them just about

 

I'm not in a huge rush, but probably should do something within the next month. I don't have any tires to exchange, but if you do buy non-runflats and want to sell your original runflats let me know.

 

I'm also in Boston and this situation has persisted for months. I had a near blow-out on an all-season run-flat on I-95 over Thanksgiving. The inner sidewall shredded, but I managed to nurse it about 5 miles to a tire retailer. They had nothing in stock (of course) but they agreed to install a pair of non run-flats and do a full-credit swap for the correct tires after the holiday.

Only problem: As you report, there are no 16" all season run-flats available in any brand, period. Sticking with the temporary solution wasn't going to work, so I reluctantly sucked it up and put on four expensive run-flat snows. Now my plan is to get a set of run-flat all-seasons mounted on a set of cheapish wheels come Spring and then swap back and forth for a few winters so that I can amortize the expensive snows a bit. Obviously all season run flats represent a double compromise, but with an S in Boston there isn't a great alternative. In the city, storage and swapping is a hassle. All-seasons aren't perfect but they are better than getting caught in a freakish April snowstorm with summer performance tires. Or riding these snows into May.

When I compare my Mini in terms of tire cost and hassle to my previous Mustang, I don't know whether to laugh or cry. Every shop carried the Mustang tire size, I had a donut so I didn't need the runflats or a can of goo, the tires lasted 2.5x as long, cost half as much, and rode better. My experience over Thanksgiving also called into question the bullish claims about run-flat safety. Best of all, when I owned the Mustang I didn't need to cross my fingers that the backorder would clear by March. The whole tire set-up on the Cooper S is an Epic Fail by BMW.