When I picked up my MCS in November, I drove straight home 28 miles from the dealer, took off my S-lites and Dunlop runflats, and mounted the Flik Wasps with Toyo T1R's I had waiting. I turned 20K miles this weekend, been rotating the tires myself every 5K miles, normal driving with one daylong auto-X practice session with me and another driver. I knew the fronts were getting thin, but I was 150 miles from home yesterday when someone commented on how bald they were, the outside 2 inches or so were literally shiny. I was a bit worried going home but made it alright and then faced a bit of a dilemma. This week is going to be incredibly busy for me. I have a doctor's appointment one afternoon, closing on a mortgage the next, and I'm promoting a cyclocross/mountainbike race this coming weekend. I just don't have time to deal with tracking down a new set of tires, and even in this big city, any performance tires in MINI sizes will have to be ordered. I somewhat reluctantly dug the OEM wheels/tires out of their boxes. Not sure what I was saving them for, but I didn't relish having to do this twice. Anyway, 30 minutes later, I had them on the car and aired up. I drove around a bit last night, then woke up this morning to a deluge. Driving to work, I was glad I didn't have the baldies on there. Haven't gotten to thrash on them yet, but my first impressions of the runflats are that they're not nearly as harsh as everyone believes. Small volume, high pressure tires are hard no matter what, they Toyo's were hardly cushy. Rain grip is fine, and they're quieter than the Toyo's. Only real noticeable difference is due to weight. The Flik/Toyo combo was a whopping 7 lbs lighter per unit. That can be felt in acceleration and braking. Subtle yes, but I can feel it. This has bought me some time, but I will be back to performance tires in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, I have to admit the runflats aren't nearly as bad as I first thought. They will do fine for an interim solution.

 

If you want to sell your Runflats...I may be in the market for an extra spare or two (I have HORRIBLE luck with tires).

 

mtbscott- which tire size were you running on the Toyo's and at what psi?

 

215/45/17 with 35 psi.

 

I'm going to revive this thread. Now that I've driven on the Dunlop runflats for several weeks, I can say without trepidation that they SUCK! Ride is about the same as my Toyo T1R's were, but traction is way down. I've got a certain corner on the way to work that I could easily take at 45-50 mph before, now the tires are howling and sliding at 40. Those of you who insist the runflats contribute to "the go-kart handling" just haven't experienced the difference true performance tires make (and Toyo's aren't the top ones out there either.) Now that I've put a over a thousand miles on them, I guess I'll put some wear on the runflats before switching back to the aftermarket wheels. Think I may try the Goodyear DS's this time, they won the last Car and Driver tire shootout.

 

I have the GY F1GsD3's on my Mazdaspeed (which is for sale) and they're awesome tires, terriffic in the wet, great in the dry, actually quite reasonably quiet for performance tires. You won't regret the purchase.

 

I'll let you know my impression of the change from runflats when I try out my holies in a few weeks...

 

Good to know. I ordered my car with the run flats but will probably use them. When it is time to change I will definately look into some real sport tires as the runflats will cost an arm and a leg anyway to get replaced by the dealer.

I will push them a little harder to make the transition faster.