I was hoping to drive one but the presentation was ongoing and lunch became a higher priority.

 

I use 40PSi on mine seems to work great.

I think the maximum cold PSI for the runflats is 51 so 40 is well within the safety margin.

 

It says on the sidewall of my Dunlop runflats, "max pressure 35psig". Maybe yours are different?

 

Speed channel runs a British show called Fifth Gear, similar to Motorweek or Car&Driver show. They tested the runflats on a BMW, and the test was to let the air out of all 4 tires, and then race the car on a road course at full speed (just to see what would happen or go wrong). They couldn't believe it, the tires actually did very well, and the lap times were not that much off of there normal times (slower obviously, but not what you would expect). What was really surprising was that he was able to control the car very well for the situation, and the tires never came off or caused other issues.
I spoke with the local Goodyear shop and they said they are fine with servicing these tires, they have been doing so for the Corvette folks for a few years now.

 

Winter = Runflats

Trip = Runflats

Summer = perf tire

 

Hey kaelaria -

I'm with you! ..I like my runflats as well, and I plan on running on them at Pocono in July. In fact, I just bid (and won - yea!!) in an auction for 4 nearly-new Dunlop SP9000DSST's that I'll be picking up from the owner ina couple weeks.

- - m

 

I just replaced my runflats with performance tires, and the difference is amazing. Gone is the metal-on-metal noise when I hit a pot hole or bump in the pavement, and I kept plenty of air in them. I don't dread every single bump. I bought a $20 air pump at Pep Boys. Run flats suck!

 

fix-a-flat would have done no good in this case - it was a very large HOLE, not just a puncture that was seeping.

 

Yes I know it says 50/55, somewhere around there. But I figured - hey, I was doing 110 on it flat and didn't realize it for 10 minutes, 70 won't hurt

 

Well like I said, I bought a maint. package up front, knowing I was keeping the runflat, hoping I wouldn't have to use it.

1-3 does not apply to me. It costs me nothing, even if I ruined the wheel or needed a flatbed tow. They are in stock around here without issue.

 

I don't have such issues. If I still lived up in a sheethole like Detroit, I would agree. If you lived where the roads are like glass, you might have another opinion of them.

 

Yes AAA, or my roadside assistance for that matter would have saved the day also. I'm not pretending I would have been stranded or anything. However, it would have been at least a couple hours out of the day, on the side of the freeway and in this case, a tow to a local tire shop.

THAT is the inconvenience I'm talking about. Saving that is worth every penny. It's not a huge deal but it's certainly not fun or enjoyable, especially when you are no where near home.

 

joedude -

The idea is to avoid the potholes... not run over them. Funny, I thought that was the fun part!!

- - m

 

I wonder if they would say the same if the road course was a real highway or a freeway where they roads are imperfect. My garaged runflats are fine when the roads are smooth as glass but in the real world, here, that's just not possible.

My friend, who is a service writer in a tire shop, doesn't stock runflats. So even if the shop can do it they don't have them in stock.

 

I asked my sister why she switched tires on her MCS when runflats ought to be have been more reassuring. She said the runflats were very uncomfortable over potholes and when she drove the car cross country it was difficult to find a dealer that could replace her damaged one. So she switched to standard tires and thinks the car feels and handles better. She also drives a Triumph TR6 so her criticism about discomfort came as a surprise. To each his/her own.

 

runflat are joke .. the worse tires I ever have in my life. my MCS came with GoodYear RS-A I belive. on the uneven freeway pavement the car just slide left to right, right to left by itself ... they're suck.

 

Mmmmm... I am on my second set of runflats and about ready to buy a new set of tires. I've not been unhappy with the runflats... and I got a bad flat once and they performed as they're supposed to and I had no problem getting it replaced out here in the corn fields. How do I know what I'm missing short of buying something else?

 

The story I referenced on Fifth Gear wasn't really about ride quality etc for runflats, but about the safety factor regarding tire blowouts. They ran various tests at speed, then caused blowouts on front then rear of normal tires to see how difficult the cars were to control following the blowouts. In each case, they had major problems controlling the cars, and usually resulted in severe spinouts. The runflats allowed them to control the cars, without issue. The part about the race track and 4 flat tires was just to see if they could. Just thought it was interesting results.

 

My '03 MCS came with the sporty Dunlop 17" runflats. One year and 13,500 miles later they needed to be replaced, even with rotations. At the time even Tire racks price was hefty. I ended up buying some P Zero Neros.

One year later and another 14,000 miles, it looks like I'm gonna need replacements again. I don't get it. Do I really drive that heavily handed?

 

How often do you rotate? and.... Have you checked your aligment?

 

Yeah I will 2nd what C4 said... I think I could that kind of mileage out of tires made of Wrigley's DoubleMint gum . Do you commute to work on a race track?

Not a flame,
Tatt

 

I still have my original 17" Dunlop Dsst9000s on my 04 MCS with 22,000 miles. I would say I drive "spirited". I rotated front to rear at 20,000. The former rears, which are now the fronts, could last another 10,000. The former fronts now just trail along and will go as far. Am I happy? Yes and No, they're hard and heavy, but I'm getting decent miles with them. I had one small puncture that a normal tire would have acted the same, and had it repaired at "Discount Tire" no problems. I'm going to go with a performance non runflat tire on the next set, I just can't see spending $200+ per tire.

 

I hafta respectfully disagree here. For all the talk about ride harshness, this just hasn't been my experience (which, admittedly, is short lived). Heck, I'm even running the JCW suspension! The only thing about them is that the probably don't over enough grip. Hmmm. Maybe I need some fly paper or something

 

Res, what size are you running? I have the 17", and it does say "51 PSI" on it.

 

I think I can substantiate these findings. When I had my flat, I had no idea that there was no air in the tire. I was driving b/n 70 and 80 mph on I80 for 60 or 70 miles. Also, I was driving around town later that evening (still in denial about a flat), and the performance of the flat tire was as if it was fully inflated. Incredible, really. Yes, I thought that the warning light was just my first experience with German Phantom Electronics. How wrong I was!