Love it.
TCCox, quick question. Handle wonderfully? Have you ever driven a road-course prep'd Camaro w/ 275/40ZRs at 80+ through a cork-screw on-ramp? I have, I built the car. They were BF Goodrich Comp TAs and they werent run-flats.
Runflats suck. period. They are compromised in every aspect because they have to try to carry a vehicles weight w/o air. Now everyones entitles to their opinion, this isnt a commie state, but try a real performance tire before you plunk down way too many hard earned Benjamins on Contis worst, again. I think you'll be surprised, very surprised. If you still think they're better, hey, thats all good too.

 

I rode Molly's RFs for the first 1.5yrs, then it was Non-RFs, I'm not looking back either. What her next New Shoes will be I don't know yet. But I can definitely say they will NOT be RFs!!

 

I accidentally got all season runflats with Quentin, I lasted 800 miles before I got some real tires. For the next 2 MINIs I went straight to the tire shop and got real tires for them.

The all seasons were absolutely horrible, no grip at all. I've driven MINIs with performance runflats, and they're not too bad performance wise, they just suck with respect to the ride.

 

I have owned both sets if these tires and had the generals on my Lincoln LS and on the Mini, cant even compare the Generals were awesome, the runflats sucked,, ( just saying)

 

I ran mine for about 14K miles. I just hate the feeling that I'm losing money by trading tires before they are worn out.

In my mind, I made a mistake. The RFs, in my opinion, are hard on the car. If I had it to do over again, I'd have bought the non-RFs before I picked up the car, and I'd have changed them as soon as I got home from the dealership. To my way of thinking, there is simply nothing that would justify having those tires on the car again. Its not so much that the RFs were bad, its just that the non-RFs are just so much better in every aspect.

 

Top Reasons People dislike Run-Flats:

1) Rough/Uncomfortable Ride.
2) 2 to 3 times more expensive.
3) Your Wheels Will be Bent if You Hit Too Many Potholes.
4) Makes the Car Noisy. Everything Rattles.
5) Most Tire Shops do not Carry our Size. Special Orders.
6) Poor Tread Life.
7) Extra Appointments to the Chiropractor are a Necessity.
8) Limited Choices.
9 We are Smart Enough to Know there is Better.
10) We do not live in BEDROCK.

 

Other than that though, they're just peachy!

 

It's only freakin' tires! The run-flat tire haters are a strangely vociferous bunch. I think they're a little weird.

Dave

 

I too was skeptical until I drove another MINI w/o RF tires. It really does make a world of a difference.

 

Isn't that like saying that the Mini is just another little car?

 

Yeah,

"Vociferous"? Believe it or not, we also own a Thesaurus!

If your Thesaurus defines Weird as: "listening and learning from others experiences". We are as Weird as they come.

You probably bought the CVT as well. Good luck!

 

Vociferous and acerbic?

Mind you I do not like run flats...



Kind regards,

Charlie

 

I like 'em.

 

For me the MINI is not a high performance car. It's more of a toy (in a good way.) It's a low cost and low stress way to enjoy driving. If I wanted a true performance car I would have kept my Z06 or bought a new 911. The runflats are consistent with the low stress idea. Not having to worry about being stranded is a good thing.

 

I replaced my OEM Continental RFs over the weekend with non-RFs. Too few miles to determine if the handling characteristics have suffered. I can actually hear the sound of the exhaust at highway speed rather than the drone of the tires! So far, I am impressed.

 

Safety=RFs
Performance=Non-Run Flats
Prove to me that this is wrong.

 

I suspect any new tires (sans clod busters) are generally going to be quieter than tires that have some wear.

Not sure you can classify them in such a generic fashion. For example, my RFs are less safe in a power sweeper due to the propensity for bump steer which can be downright frightening at times. Conversely, all-season RFs will out-perform any summer non-RF in ice and snow. You're probably going to be correct more often than not, but there are an almost infinite number of circumstances so there will always be many exceptions to the rule.

I've got the RFs. They're fine for general use but I'm not a big fan of them. Since I don't track or auto-x I can't justify swapping out perfectly good tires for non-RF replacements. I'll tolerate them just fine until they wear out, and then I'll swap them out for some nice non-RF performance tires (maybe mounted on some nice new wheels ).

 

Tires are the only thing on a car which touch the road, they're kind of important.

 

I'd be more worried about getting stranded WITH runflats than without. Why? Simple. Say you blow out a tire in the middle of BFE. You limp along to the nearest tire store - whoopee, you didn't have to break out your cellphone and wait for a free flatbed ride (either via Mini roadside, or in many peoples' case, AAA coverage) to get you to the tire shop. So now you're there, and your runflat MUST be replaced because you've driven on it without air. The shop VERY likely doesn't have one in stock, and refuses to patch it because you drove on it in a deflated state, and it's now unusable, and they don't want the liability of patching a bad tire. Lots of tire shops won't repair a runflat, period. So now what do you do? Stay at the Eazy-8 Motel for 2 nights while waiting for your runflat to ship in, then pay $350+ for it? Buy a pair of non-runflats that fit that they happen to have in stock? (you would have to buy a pair - you wouldn't mix a runflat with a non-runflat on the same axle). You're still out a bunch of cash, and if you want to keep your runflats, STILL need to buy another very expensive replacement when you get back home.

Meanwhile, if I have a flat, I flatbed it into the nearest tire store, and unless the tire has had a catastrophic failure, it gets patched and I'm on my merry way. If it is toast, I buy a replacement on the spot for 1/3 the cost of a new runflat and I'm on my merry way.

This EXACT scenario happened to a friend with his BMW a few years ago. He was so flabbergasted by the entire experience that he wrote to the president of BMW and traded the thing in shortly afterwards on an Audi and swears he'll never own another BMW after the bad experience.

 

Point Well Made, Kevin!

 

Tires makes more difference then any suspension mod, there for an important aspect.

I once saw a test/review where they bolt on all the suspension mod available to one car (coil overs, sway bar, camber) versus a car with standard suspension but Michelin Pilot Sport Cup tires.

The Michelin car went around a track 2 seconds faster on 1 minute lap.
Which is an eternity when it comes to lap times.

 

Yeah, but I drive on the street, not the track. My MINI, with run flats, is the best handling car I've had!

Dave

 

I understand

Did saw that you had an auto, so i've guessed it. Just explaining why some can be "****" about their tires.

 

I'd buy a single tire and mix them. All I need it to do is get me home and maybe long enough for my local tire shop to get a proper RFT in and install it. If they have something cheaper than the annual cost for AAA or a likely tow charge, I'm ahead of the game financially.

 

I currently have RF's, and don't like the way they feel when you hit a bump in the road, and even less when you hit a bump as you are actually going around a bend in the road ... the car "skips." Feels very uncontrolled.

On the other hand, in the last 20 years, I have had a flat tire maybe once. So I should put up with tires whose ride I do not like every single day to avoid that one time that I might have a flat tire and have to wait on the side of the road for a tow-truck?