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Interesting thread. I've done quite a bit of research on run flat tyres (google it!) and have decided that I really don't want them at all. I spoke to my dealer about it and he tried to convince me otherwise however I had an answer for everything he said. Problem is that the run flats come as standard in Australia and they are loathe to replace them.
Saying that, I have arranged for the tyres to be swapped to regular ones as soon as it's delivered. I'll be getting five tyres and have ordered another wheel for the spare. If I get a flat I'll just call the NRMA for a tow as I don't anticipate carrying the spare around. If I go country, I'll defo be taking the spare.
The run flat issues are mainly around cost. In Australia they cost $550 each. Apparently they are designed to go either front or back AND left or right so once on, you can't swap them around. Also, if you get a flat on one side, it's recommended, read almost mandatory, to replace the one on the other side at the same time so they don't get out of alignment. One flat = $1100.
Also they can't be repaired. Well, some can but it's got to be a small hole not near the walls and has to be caught almost as soon as it happened. If you drive too far the tyre walls will be damaged and you're back to your $1100 v $20 repair.
The other big issue is that it's critical to have the pressure right all the time. If it goes down even slightly, they start wearing quite badly. I have heard many, many tales of people having to replace all tyres due to wear after nine months from new. I personally don't have the time to check the tyre pressure every week and that is what is required. In fact I'm not even likely to drive it every week so for me it would be more like having to check each tyre almost every time I drive the car. (I won't be using it to get to work)
BMW offer tyre insurance but it only covers the damaged tyre so if one gets a puncture, it will cover that but not the other perfectly fine tyre that you also have to replace. Also the insurance is around $800 a year which is not far off the cost of four regular tyres which will last a lot longer than a year.
Then there's the drive and noise. I've heard the run flats are getting better in this regard but they still aren't as good as regular tyres.
Jax Bondi are swapping four run flats for five regular tyres and I have to buy the extra wheel. For the peace of mind it will provide, I think it's a good deal.
In 16 years of driving my Golf (yes long time between new cars), I've only had two flats. Unfortunately they occurred at the same time at 140kmph (both tyres on passenger side as I ran over something puncture inducing) but were able to be fixed in a small country town and I was back on my way from Sydney to Jindabyne which is a 500 km journey. If this happened on runflats, I would have been able to continue to Canberra maybe but then would need to find someone that stocked them at midnight on a Friday night. Not a likely scenario meaning an unscheduled overnight in Canberra and then the $2200 cost of replacing all the tyres.
I'm not at all convinced by run flats but would be interested to know who has regular tyres and what brand and model they have on their car.
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