So has anyone gone from the OEM tires to non-runflats? What did you switch to and what differeneces have you noticed. When I [eventullay]take delivery of my R59, I plan to have the OEM tires [and maybe wheels] swithced to Continental Contact Summer tires. They made a huge difference over the runflats and were tested on the Dragon soon after purchase. I have the All-Season on my Crossfire and they gave it a whole new driving dynamic.

Are there other brands you like. I woudl image non-runflats are going to make the Roadster even better than it is. Thoughts?

-John

 

Depends on what you mean by making the Roadster better. If you are talking about a less harsh ride the answer is yes. If you mean better handling, I doubt it, because in theory the stiffer sidewalls on RFTs should handle better than non RFTs.

My Roadster came with Bridgestone Turanza ER 300-02 RFTs which are performance summer tires. I just put on Bridgestone Blizzak RFT performance winter tires. I went with the RFTs for winter because I don't want to have to worry with repairing a flat in winter weather. When my performance summers wear out, I will probably go with a non RFT and some sort of tire repair kit.

 

I just did the 17" RFT Blizzaks for exactly the same reason, don't want to be in the slush on the side of the highway waiting for the tow truck or fumbling with the can of fix-a-flat. Very happy so far, they seem to ride quieter and smoother that the stock runflat Contis that the car came with.

 

I actually found the OEM ContiSportContact 3 Run-flats to be very good. It rides pretty well and has quite a lot of grip (well, they are Max Performance Summer tires :P).

 

Many people in NAM have switched out their "run rocks" for all season or summer tires. Primarily for the sake of a smoother ride. Be sure to carry a can of "fix a flat" if you switch out. Also a small tire compressor or inflator would be recommended.

 

Once my run flats wear out you can be sure that I'll be strongly considering ditching them for tires from the "go flat" persuasion. :p

 

Hi John,

We didn't even drive the car off the lot with the original tires. We swapped them out with a set of Michelin Pilot Sports and the ride is great! We sold the originals on CL for $500 with 17 miles on them. For the winter we have a set of Blizzaks RFT on a second set of 17" rims we picked up used at an event for about $900. There is no comparison... The RFTs are like driving on solid plastic wheels (although the Blizzaks are amazing in the snow!). We now have a loaner JCW Coupe while Abby is in the shop to get a boo boo fixed and it has the "performance" RFTs. I know the JCW is a bit stiffer, but it bounces and is a bit jarring - nothing like Abby with her summer tires. It really is a big difference.

The tires are an integral part of the suspension that can make a really big difference. I personally think the RFTs are just horrible, and in some ways a bit more dangerous. If the car is bouncing on the road during braking due to a bad surface, it won't stop are control the car as well as a firmly planted car with tires that can absorb the high frequency and not transmit every pebble into the chassis.

Tires are huge - that is why we have two very different sets.

Just my 2¢

Franny

 

I agree with that. I was taking a curve fairly agressively with my RFTs and hit some washboard pavement. I thought I was going to end up in a ditch before I caught it.

 

^If the car is skipping over bumps, it usually means the shocks are overdamped. Tires play a very small part in shock absorption.

The JCW Coupe is stiffer mostly due to the fact that it has a solid roof, whereas our roadsters dont.

The new high performance Run-flats (i.e the ContiSportContact3) are miles better than those of the R53 days. They are not quite as good as non-run-flats, but they come pretty damn close.

 

Well I had the Continental Extreme Contact DW on my now-totalled R56 and they did great on the Dragon. I had the Michelin Pilots before the Conti's but I thought the handling was too squirrly. I put the Conti Extreme Contacts DWS [all seasons] on my Chrysler Crossfire SRT6 so I am curious to see how they do thiss winter especially since the Crossfire is rear drive. I have a feeling no matter what I have on there tire-wise, it is going to suck in the snow. The draw back to these is they are asymetric AND unidirectional so I can't rotate them on a Crossfire since I have 18"s in front and 19"s in back. My wife's Countryman is at about 30K and we are getting the death howl out of the runflats so I am probably going with the Conti all seasons for hers too.

But back to the Roadster. I will probably go the same route as FrannyB when I take take delivery of my Roadster. I'll switch them out with The Conti Extreme Contacts DW before I even drive it off the lot. Since the Roadster will never see snow and only get wet when I wash it. It will always have good, sticky summer tires. Now my wife just has to find a job so can actually order my Roadster.