After many days of motoring through the Martian Lander test site (aka the streets of Niagara Falls, NY) Laurie and I got to see if the Goodyear runflats actually do work as advertised.

During a late night trip (2:30 am) to the hospital she hit a piece of rebar sticking out of a hole on one of the expressways. The rebar punctured both of the left side tires. After about 30 seconds or so the dash light came on letting us know there was no air in one of the tires.

She continued to motor into work (a patient was waiting). When we got out of Smileee there was the sound of air rushing to freedom. After Laurie was done with her patient we decided that there wasn’t much that could be done so she drove home with 2 flat tires.

The next morning I drove Smileee to the local Goodyear shop to collect on the road hazard warranty.

As far as a driving impression goes that car drove like most cars do when a tire is low. It pulled to the side with the flat but at no time did it feel dangerous. We drove it for around 30 miles and there was no damage or excess wear on the tires.

Jack

 

Glad to hear that the tires performed as advertised, but now that you've been presented with the opportunity to change...will you switch to a lighter coventional tire?....just wondering :smile:

Jim

 

(this should probably be moved to the wheel/tire forum...)

I just jettisoned my runflats today. After about 18,000 miles on the all-season Goodyears I've now moved to a non-runflat performance tire. Already the car feels much improved. Smoother ride, more responsive, and the car "feels" ever so slightly more zippy at launch (which may have something to do with shedding about 25 pounds of unsprung weight). Time will tell.

That said, I have to note that the runflats did their job during the time I had them. I had one "flat" which behaved just as Jack reported. That was eventually patched, and I drove another 13,000 miles on the patched tire. Also, when I pulled my tires off today, I noticed that one had a sheetrock screw embedded square in the middle of the tread. Who knows how long I'd driven with that...but I hadn't lost any air. Pretty impressive.

 

>>Glad to hear that the tires performed as advertised, but now that you've been presented with the opportunity to change...will you switch to a lighter coventional tire?....just wondering :smile:
>>
>>Jim

The tires were patched (covered under the road hazard) so they are back on Smileee. As for a different set I have a set of Yokohama aves 100s for summer motoring /track use.

I like feel of the lighter tires, but after recent events we would have been stuck if the Yoko's were on the car.

Jack

 

Hey, thanks for sharing!!!! It does feel kind of funny running around w/o a spare......

 

>>Hey, thanks for sharing!!!! It does feel kind of funny running around w/o a spare......

Not as strange as knowing your driving at 35mph on two flat tires and everything feels ok. (Keeps thinking to my self this is just not right, it's not natural, it's working but...)

Jack

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ly/b mcs all packages leather anthricite dob 11/23/2002

 

And how many of us think to carry TWO spare tires?

 

>>>>
>>And how many of us think to carry TWO spare tires?

Lesson: quit bitching about how terrible the run flats are.

I am now thoroughly convinced they need to stay on the car for everything except speed events: Kumhos V 700 on 15" Borbets, showing off: ECSTA's on 18" OZ's.....it is a good thing I don't drive it in the winter, I might have to get a bigger house!!!

 

>>>>[quote] >>Lesson: quit bitching about how terrible the run flats are.
>>

Agreed, for most motoring they are fine.

With pothole season in full swing here i was glad that the track tires weren't on the car.


Jack

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ly/b mcs all packages leather anthricite dob 11/23/2002