Well, driving home today from work, I hit a big pot hole on the Northern State parkway(LI, NY). I thought I bent my rim, or something worse - wheel had vibrations and was noisy. a few minutes later on the LIE(in traffic maybe 30mph), I hear a loud release of air! PSSSSSSSS and my "low tire pressure" warning light came on.

But thanks to the Continental run flats, I kept driving (at reduced speeds).

Stopped in at local tire shop, they will have the tire tomorrow. Yes they are expensive, but I was happy I had them today.

 

Glad you made it out of there safely!

 

Thanks. As nice as they are. I spare would be nice. I got home, and the tire seems to be close to the end of it's "runflatness" . Thankfully I have another vehicle I can go to work with. If I had a another wheel at home, I could have just swapped it in the driveway.

I'll be on the lookout for a used wheel/tire - if not, then new.

 

I'm not looking forward to the day I use my 'run-flatness' either. Only stressful part is getting a replacement tire THAT day or else I'm stranded. :(. Hope it turns out ok :D

 

You can buy a compact spare tire and wheel and keep it in the boot or in your garage.
See Way at Waymotorworks.com.

For daily drives around where you live no need to carry the spare, but for longer trips you can cover the spare in a plastic bag and take it along.

If you have AAA you can ask the tow truck driver to change the tire.

 

That is nice to know that you can buy a Mini Spare from Way.

I don't have that much experience with driving the Mini. Or better said Run Flats verses Non-Run Flats. I pretty much baby my car and don't drive like a bat out of hell. And the commute to work, well, there are so many places where it is unsafe to change a tire which is a plus for the Run Flats.

Last flat was my other car on trip to Florida. In construction zone. Very unsafe and vehicles were flying and so were those orange barricades. The ones that look as big as trash cans and several bounced off the size of the car and almost took me out with them. No safe place to pull off, only half a lane and these construction sites go for miles before you can find a safe place.

I drive the S Coupe and not much room in the boot. Yes, I could fit a Mini Spare in there but if I had to use it than I would have to put the full size tire in there as well.

It is still nice to know I can drive to help if I get a flat. Especially seeing I cruse the inner city full of street people and violence. Beggars at traffic lights, Sleeping under bridges, Drugs, it is an education and another world amid the skyscrapers where I work. Parking is fine, Glass Buildings, Fine Dinning and Convention Centers but there is the bad side as well.

 

Just so you know, the MINI space saver wheel/tire will fit behind the


passenger seat of your car. I have a R58 JCW and I wouldn't leave


home without it.

 

For the record: my wife ran my MCS with original run flats & OEM wheels into a pot hole at 70mph. The wheel split nearly into two halves. No one I know has every seen an aluminum wheel split like this. It made me angry because if the split had been a little bit worse, the wheel would have broken, the car would have fallen to the ground, and my wife may have been injured.

 

I have hit pot holes but nothing like this, and I was not going 70 mph. Most of the ones are in town at 35 mph.

In some way I am glad to have the run flats. At least I can go some miles on them. Where I drive there is not safe places to be changing a tire, or it is very early and very dark. So that is a plus for run flats to me. But time will tell.

But I live in the South, little snow and no where near the pot holes from the north thinking home like Illinois.

I did hit a piece of metal in the road with the Toyota and it went flat in a minute on the freeway. (Florida). No safe place to pull off! Construction zone like 10 miles long. I did pull off and had to dodge those huge garbage pale like cones. They were bouncing off the car and I was almost killed. So a plus for run flats. The cop wanted me to drive to the exist, the tire was already coming apart. Not sure how well I can drive on a rim? Almost came to that........

 

its not uncommon for alum wheels to split or blow apart when they hit a really big pothole. I see this a lot sometimes a quarter of the rim is missing.

 

Part of the problem is how fast you hit the pothole and how deep it is.

see
http://couriernews.suntimes.com/news...l#.U1GIASiJLP0

When driving in bad weather or at night on unfamiliar roads it would be wise to slow down and give more distance to the car in front of you.

 

Damn, I didn't even know the Mini had no spare.... DUH...

So, these so-called 'run flat' tires.... made by? And are they as good performance-wise as any tires one would put on a Mini?

 

Realize 6 months old. But I would like too see a pic of what you have there behind the seat of an r58.

Thanks.

 

I have a love/hate relationship with the run flats. Living in a neighborhood where I had no other route option than to drive through a couple of blocks of construction where new homes were being built, I experienced what I can only call "the curse of the nails" where I could not go more than a couple of months without getting a nail in one of my tires. Thankful the runflats got me through to repairs, but really wished at that point that I could get them repaired/plugged, rather than spend $300 a pop on a tire replacement. But then again maybe I'm just still angry that it's somehow not the home builder's fault there were nails in the roadway, since according to them it must be some totally random coincidence that there just happen to be a lot of nails in the road of the exact type being used on those houses, just lurking there ready to insert themselves into my very expensive tires.

 

Just as a reminder, any time you break or dent a wheel (see image above) you should also get your suspension checked, if the event was strong enough to break a wheel, it is strong enough to break suspension parts as well, and check alignment.

It doesn't happen all the time but enough to warrant the caution.