On my way to work I saw a (I'm pretty sure) R56S hardtop with the stock 17" crown rims on the side of the road with a flat left rear. Now, I can't say for sure he had run-flats ... maybe he did. It made me wonder however regardless of that specific instance, do they always work? So I thought I'd search but didn't find a thread covering just this. So thought I'd ask...

Anyone who had a flat on a car w/o a spare having run-flats, did the run-flats work for you and not leave you stranded?

Because I know runflats have advanced, and the 2nd Gen mini was designed with their use specifically in mind, I figured I'd post it in this forum and not another. Much Thanx for your thoughts!

 

I haven't had to use mine yet but my friend has used his twice. Both times the light in the car came on, he drove it to at normal highway speeds to the nearest gas station, filled it back up and drove it home. He said it worked just fine when flat and couldn't really feel much difference. He didn't drive it in the twisties flat, just straight highway/freeway.

 

I got a nail in my tire at this years AMVIV and was about 80 miles from anything. I was able to find a Discount Tire Direct that patched the tire for me (and didn't even charge!).

 

Run flats didn't go flat on two occassions when a conventional tire would have. This did not stop me from recently swithing to a good, not expensive, conventional performance tire. The particular run flats that were on my auto cost $300 each (tire cost, not mounted or balanced), due to extremely stiff side wall broke one of my wheels when wife hit pot hole at high speed, and provided EXTREMELY uncomfortable ride. Now, for about $80 each for replacement conventional tires, I have an auto that drives like a dream. Now I carry a doughnut spare. Big deal.

 

Technically, I am not using the "advanced" runflats, but my Dunlop 3000's performed admirably. I hit some road debris on the interstate and bent a rim. The runflat allowed me to maintain control easily (didn't know I had a flat) and exit the interstate. I was then able to pull off (unfortunately not in a good part of Montgomery, AL) and inspect the damage. Since I had the runflat I then drove to the nearest Sam's Club and waited for the MINI roadside truck to take the car to Atlanta. All in all, I was happy with the performance of the tires and amazed that the sidewall appeared not to be damaged even though the wheel was trashed.

 

Here's a story where the runflats enabled a driver get out of a bad situation: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=66176

Runflats have some disadvantages but I doubt they broke the wheel in this case. With non-runflats the wheel probably would have been even more destroyed.

 

Encouraging stories about situations where they were needed and performed admirably. I'm relieved. That pic included by AeroJammin is worth a 1000 words. rkw, lol! and I thought I wrote marathon posts sometimes... good read.

 

My wife is famous for getting nails in tires. Basically the rule is if a box of nails or screws falls off a truck somewhere in Texas, they all run for her car. So when we got her '06 MCS and I found out she wouldn't have a spare, I knew I had to do something. So I bought a matching set of wheels off ebay for a really great price. Put a cheep non-runflat on one. When she comes in with "Honey - Do you Love me? - the tire light's on again", I swap out to the spare, & drop the one with the nail/screw in it at the Discount tire next morning. Swap back tomorrow night.

Bottom line - I've lost count how many times Discount has fixed/replaced tires. Lori's never been stuck.

 

I used my runflats to their full advantage, on the freeway pooring rain, the little signal went off, i checked all the tires looked good, tire pressure gauge said otherwise, lost both my left side tires, thankfully diddnt have to change them in the pooring rain =) drove 30 miles to the nearest american tires free patches! and 3 big nails! A+++ for runflats!

 

I heard a pop and then the low tire pressure came on. For a while didn't notice anything different while searching for a safe place to stop...found a big chunk of metal imbedded in the tread in the passenger side rear. As I was driving towards home the metal departed the tire with a thunk and then the car got "squishy" but still rolled fine so long as I stayed below 50. Made it home and then to the dealer across town where they could replace it...it was under warranty but at the time I didn't realize I could take it anywhere.

Other than that fact the ride like an old covered wagon, weigh a ton, and cost a fortune, they're great. Mine are coming off this week...

 

Driving my mother's brand new '07 MCS home to CA from the MINI dealer in OH, about 50 miles outside of the dealership, the tire light came on. we pulled over, checked the tire, but it wasn't holding air. We found a gas station in the middle of nowhere and tried filling the tire, and that wasn't working. We found a tire place that said you could patch run-flats only once, and they could still be drivable. We patched the tire, and finished the drive home to CA in just under 3 days, with a stop at Indy Motor Speedway included. Needless to say, the run-flat saved us a lot of trouble and time. They've since been swapped off the car for cooler rims, but they did work! People say that the ride isn't so great, but I don't notice it to be any different from non run-flats.

 

got a 2" long gash on the sidewall of a 16" runflat - drove it for about 50 miles before getting it replaced.

2nd time had a large puncture. drove 25 miles before getting it fixed.

each time they worked wonderfully.

 

id still take one of these over runflats...
http://www.joe-ks.com/archives_sep2006/Tweel.htm

 

I bet you she drive on the shoulder alot.

 

Hit a rock with the right front tire on a remote dirt road. Bent the rim and popped the bead on the tire. Drove it 100 miles (just 5 miles short of home) before the sidewall shredded to the point i decided to not continue. It definitely did it's job. Would have much preferred to have put on a donut spare for the trip. I took the other three runflats off and replaced all four with regular tires. The three I took off have probably 8-10 thousand miles left. If anybody wants them for free pick them up in Carbondale, Colorado.

 

Last week my wife swerved (she said someone was WAY over the line on her side) and felt a STRONG thumpthumpthump on the right rear tire. Stopped and checked it and all looked OK.

That night she drove to work; soon after the tire light came on. She continued to drive cautiously to work (nurse on the night shift) and got there fine. In the morning the bad tire looked VERY flat. Called AAA and got a flatbed tow to our local tire shop.

They took off the tire and it looked like a spike had punctured both the tire and the freakin' wheel. Had to order a new wheel from BMW.

So yes, the run flat let her continue to travel. But with their high cost, and only getting about 15K miles on a set of tires, we chose to replace them with non-runflats. Now I need to order an emergency kit. With that and AAA Plus, we should be golden. (Not a lot of room for a donut spare in the cabrio.)

 

There's a definite pattern here -- and thanx for all the contributions that'll be valuable for the archives -- that the run-flats did indeed work and save you... but in large part they're changed out for non run-flats regardless of that.

Some have said they'll carry a donut. What about others who didn't explicitly say? Are you using a can of sealant and air or relaying on AAA or nothing?

 

Picked up a nail the first month I owned it; pressure had dropped to 16lbs on that corner when I finally figured out which tire it was ... got me 15miles to the dealer, who fixed it for free --

 

i love my runflats... i used to drive 400 miles a weekend. have to say, since i've stopped driving that distance, when it comes time for new tires i'm going to attempt to get regular ones.. i'm kind of sick of the rough ride.

they've been lifesavers for me though.. i managed to get a hole in my sidewall and thanks to the runflats i was able to drive 60+ miles before i had to get them replaced.

 

I'm on my second set of run-flats. I got 25-30K and two flats on the first set. With both flats, I was able to continue on whatever I was doing, driving carefully of course, until I had an opportunity to get the flat taken care of. BTW the ride on this second set is much, much smoother than the first set.

 

The next obvious question then is what kind of tires are the second set?

 

Funny that I should stumble upon this, because I can offer some insight.

You see, my TPMS light came up red Wednesday, so I checked the pressures (they were all ~38 psi) and looked for anything that might have punctured a tire. Didn't see anything, so I reset the system.

Well, the warning came back today, so I knew I was in trouble. I've found a lovely screw jammed into my back right tire. The psi is down now, but I haven't noticed anything so far in regards to handling or even average gas mileage.

So in short, the runflats are preforming fine with a big screw in them - but the tire's not flat yet, so I can't say I've tested the "run flat" part.

I just scheduled service for tomorrow morning actually, so it hopefully won't get to that point.

 

same thing happened to me actually.

i was fixin' to leave on a 200 mile trip so i had my dad check my tire pressure for me... one of the tires was at zero... i don't know how long it was like that, but i know i drove a great deal on them after the light went off... nothing really bad happened.. so they did their job

 

I got a nail in the sidewall of my right rear tire. Drove 100 mi @ 55 mph to the dealer no problem.
My route was NJTP and GSP not the most hospitable of routes to have to pull over and change a tire. Run flats my ride rough to some but to me they really deliver peace of mind.

 

Me again - stopped by MINI of Towson this morning and the tire didn't even need to be replaced, even after close to 100 miles of driving with a screw in it. A quick patching, and I'm motoring again.

I won't complain about ride harshness any more.