Both my cars came with run craps...I hate them. I went to Walmart and bought slime, tire plugs and a small compressor...thats it. When you put a good set of non run craps on your car you will never go back.

 

I got rid of my runflats after like 10k for goodyear f1s, but i gotta say i love the super stiff sidewalls of the runflats...they were kinda loud, like on the freeway, but i definitely don't like the sidewall deflection from the goodyears, cuz i'm all about performance.

 

I did have a compressor, but in my case there was just nothing to repair.

By the way, I did use a slim "WalMart" type compressors as it is needed for autocross events to change tire pressures before and after events. And none of such compressors lasted used regularly. So I ended up with a more solid compressor from Costco which I was able to return after it failed. So I have another model with built in battery and jump starter... Works so far.

P.S. Btw, I used some sort of a sealant on a bycycle... Sometimes it helps instantly and prevents a flat tire, but that's in case of a small hole. In case of a relatively big one it might help as well, but that is questionable. But thanks for the idea. I think I should apply this thing even to current runflats. Other than the case described above I had three nails in my cars in the past. These contractors on trucks really do not care of not loosing theirs stuff and seed nails around.

 

At the risk of sounding harsh (and I'm not intending to), I think you have a logical reaction to being the one in a few thousand drivers that will ever experience an actual blowout. MINI obviously feels the risks are low, as do BMW, Chevy (Corvette) and numerous others who don't offer spares.

If you have a nail, while crossing Mojave, Death Valley, or the Dead Sea, pull out your $15 air pump, and you will almost certainly be back on the road on a real tire, with real air in it, for the rest of the day. Air it up as many more times as you like to get where you need to be.

Yours could easily have been a story about how, "It didn't matter whether I had a spare because I had a real blowout and the tire messed up the suspension as it came apart, so I couldn't drive on it anyway". No, I'm not saying that is likely either, but my point is that you were in that very narrow range where only a spare could help, and not quite to the point where nothing would help.

In the event of such a blowout, my schedule would be off, I'll admit. I'd take the wheel off, hitch a ride to the nearest tire shop, have it mounted and bum a ride back from the tire guys. It would probably add an hour to the day.

accel, I'm not trying to sound anything less than cordial here, but I think your case is rare.

 

The sealant stuff doesn't work on bike tires because you are trying to seal a hole in a thin, stretched out membrane - the inner tube. The thickness of the tire means it stretches out very little and gives the sealant a better chance of working.

I've never used the sealant on a car. I've had several nails in the past year, and have managed all of them with my wal-mart compressor. Nail holes have always been slow leaks in my experience. I've used it morning after morning for weeks at a time and it has worked fine so far.

 

I understand. It is rare. This happened to me once and I'm not 20 yo so I drove a lot in my life. After that I was driving and watching the curb. And man, I never paid much attention before at how many such "lost" protectors and destroyed abandoned tires I saw there.

I actually had two major points in my post

1 st and most important - run flat is safer.
2nd less important - no spare is bad (there was no tire shop nearby, btw, and that was Sunday... so I think 1 hour was is waaay optimistic)

 

You are probably right about bike tires.

I'd still use the sealant in the car as at least it gives you more time to react or even prevents complete pressure loss with all the consequences.

And you are lucky. I keep the collection of nails I got - they are all big The tire kept the pressure while the nail is still in, but instantly loost shape once I removed the nail. Luckily, in all cases all my tire were due to be replaced soon anyway and unlike the last time happened locally . And I had a spare

P.S. I found it much more convenient and faster to just use air compressor at gas stations

 

I was thinking of switching to non-runflats but I decided not to because of safety reasons. Try putting on a spare tire or repairing your non-runflat at a bad spot, such as the side of a busy highway late at night. Some drunk or careless bastard might hit you. You are risking your life. With run-flats, at least you would have a better chance of driving to some place safe. Sure, run-flats ride a bit stiff, but I am ok with that. In fact, I kind of like the stiff feeling of the car!

 

You make good points, but there is NEVER a reason to risk life/limb to fix a tire - even a NRF tire can be driven a mile or two to get to a reasonbly safe spot. Changing a tire on the side of a busy freeway late at night is just nature weeding out the gene pool of people who don't have common sense.

- Mark

 

Probabbly the MiniFini Space Saver system:

http://minifini.com/ShopDetail.aspx?id=16
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysq8S7gVzbw

Nice but a bit expensive as you have to buy the base system for $374 and the Spare-Link add on for $275 and then an extra full size spare and tire.

Or you could just pop a space saver spare into the trunk for long trips:

http://new.minimania.com/web/Item/nmw7610/invDetail.cfm

t

 

The spare was stored under the boot, and that space is blocked off by the MCS's center mounted exhaust pipe.

 

They didn't move it just because of the exhaust. They ditched the spare because they put the battery back there, which also allowed a different exhaust.

...but I think he meant actually carrying it in your usable storage space in the trunk. Which begs the question of where you pack on this supposedly long trip (I guess the back seat? - not with my kids back there)

As for the MINIFini thing, don't forget that, after spending all that money on the link, mount, wheel, and tire, you have to move your license plate every time you take the thing on or off!

If you are that desperate for a spare, wear runflats. If you are still too worried about a catastrophic failure, put a tire in your backseat or get a larger car with a spare. Besides, how can we be certain that, while driving over road conditions that will result in a catastrophic failure of a single tire, the other tires are all going to be OK? Isn't that risky? We should all carry at least two spares, regardless of whether we have runflats.

Oh, wait, that would be stupid. Sorry.

Why not take the VW Thing aproach, and tie a space saver to your hood!

 

Well I don't want to argue with you but...You said the quality of your NON RF was not that good soo I will say this...I am a firm beliver in good rubber and always use the best I can..and I will tell you that the quality of the tire will make a big diffrence how the tire wears thru its life and how much noise it makes as well, grip also become a factor thru wear. When you buy a high end tire like a PS2 you cannot compare it to a cheap off the shelve tire.

As for a plug kit I have used it 2 times and they work great...The compressor, plug kit and some green slime is all I need.

 

That's when you should be packing an AR15! Oh wait, that's for zombies not werewolves...

 

Changing to Non-RF was the most dramatic mod I did to my MCS/JCW.