9 replies to this topic

[Black.Ghost]

Well I have recently changed the wheels on my Rpver 25 and they were fitted with low profile tyres. After driving around for a while (including 300 motorway miles) I have to say I am really not impressed. The noises are horrible, you can feel all the bumps and actually I personally don't think they look that much better. 

 

The old wheels will be going back on once they have new tyres I think.

 

What are other people's thoughts on low profile tyres?

[HarrysMini]

Our MINI Cooper S has low profile (45 profile) run flat tyres. They are extremely noisy and bumpy, but it's not so much of a problem on Minis because it adds to the character but if I had something like a 5 series with low profiles it would get annoying.

[Domneon]

We had a 3 series as a company car and it was a horrid ride on run flats, made the ride feel like cheese

[Cooperman]

My wife has a BMW 325i with run-flats and as soon as they are worn a set of non run-flats will be going on and a suitable spare will be put in the boot.

On my own car the rears are 275/40 x 19, with 245/45 x 19 on the front. I think they are too wide and the profile is too low. On the previous model of this car which I owned a while ago it had 205/55 x 16 all round and they were superb, especially in the wet.

For normal road driving I don't understand this desire of manufacturers to fit ever wider and lower profile tyres. They look a bit silly as well.

[mab01uk]

I changed the 17" low profile runflats on my New MINI for normal tyres of the same profile and the ride is much smoother and more grip than the runflats with stiff sidewalls. I also fitted the spacesaver spare wheel kit under the boot floor but this does not fit the Cooper S due to twin exhaust and rear mounted battery.

 

We also have an 2006 E90 BMW 320D which has runflats but no compartment in the boot to put even a spacesaver spare without loosing boot space.......true of so many cars now. Our previous 2001 Mercedes C-Class had space for a full size spare wheel under the boot floor.

Edited by mab01uk, 28 November 2013 - 06:11 PM.

[Tamworthbay]

My wife has a BMW 325i with run-flats and as soon as they are worn a set of non run-flats will be going on and a suitable spare will be put in the boot.
On my own car the rears are 275/40 x 19, with 245/45 x 19 on the front. I think they are too wide and the profile is too low. On the previous model of this car which I owned a while ago it had 205/55 x 16 all round and they were superb, especially in the wet.
For normal road driving I don't understand this desire of manufacturers to fit ever wider and lower profile tyres. They look a bit silly as well.

Its a marketing/ fashion thing- big wheels and rubber band tyres = sporty. No matter that it ruins the ride and also (in my limited experience) means that if the tyres do let go its generally with far less warning than on a higher profile tyre.

[1984mini25]

 

My wife has a BMW 325i with run-flats and as soon as they are worn a set of non run-flats will be going on and a suitable spare will be put in the boot.
On my own car the rears are 275/40 x 19, with 245/45 x 19 on the front. I think they are too wide and the profile is too low. On the previous model of this car which I owned a while ago it had 205/55 x 16 all round and they were superb, especially in the wet.
For normal road driving I don't understand this desire of manufacturers to fit ever wider and lower profile tyres. They look a bit silly as well.

Its a marketing/ fashion thing- big wheels and rubber band tyres = sporty. No matter that it ruins the ride and also (in my limited experience) means that if the tyres do let go its generally with far less warning than on a higher profile tyre.

 

 

Also not only do large wheels and stupidly low profile tyres/run flats ruin the ride. But because there is no give in the tyre and the larger the wheel the less strength it has, the easier they are to damage by potholes and the like. As rather than any impact being absorbed by the tyre it transferred directly to the rim instead, normally resulting in one buckled wheel, cheap aftermarket/copy wheels being more likely to come off worse. Plus  from personal experience run flats are a ******* pita ass to remove, fit and inflate compared to normal non-run flats. But unfortunately 19" is pretty small compared to the 20's, 22's and 24's all with low profile tyres as found on the sportier range rovers, bmws and mercs now.

[HarrysMini]

Interesting thing happened today. While cruising down the A3 at 85mph in the outside lane we had an orange light come on to tell us that we had a puncture. 

Now, because of the run flats, the car didn't feel any different. We pulled over at the next lay-by and we saw that it was the N/S rear tyre that had punctured.

 

I'm guessing that had we been in the Golf, which has 16" 55 profile non run flat tyres, the experience would have been a lot different. 

 

Just something to think about, having a puncture in a car with low profile tyres seems to be much safer than in a car with higher profile tyres, as there's less difference in a fully inflated tyre and a fully deflated tyre, especially with run flats. 

 

While non-runflat low profile tyres definitely handle better than run flats, for a road car, it seems to make sense to have run flats as today's experience could have lead to a nasty accident. And in our MCS, there's no place to store a spare anyway.

[Cooperman]

In my 55 years of driving I've had loads of punctures and never had a problem with controlling the car or stopping safely, despite the tyre being written off sometimes.

The sooner I can get rid of run-flats on my wife's car the better I shall like it and so will she. They really do spoil the smooth ride.

I might try to get some smaller diameter wheels for my own car, maybe 18" instead of 19".

[jaydee]

I have low-profile 16" tyres on the bini and i hate them. Getting rid of the run flats was not enough, they're still harsh, harsher than my classic mini.

Road holding is great though.