Quote:
Originally Posted by TEF
I've owned three BMWs with run flat tires, but I am not sure that it's the tires that bear all the blame. To keep up with fashion trends, the manufacturers must offer larger and larger wheel/tire combinations and that result in taller rims and shorter tire sidewalls. Considering its a run-flat's stiff sidewalls that support the vehicle in the event of a puncture, the engineering of these tires is quite difficult. The stiff sidewalls result in a very heavy tire carcass, that works against it (in the form of inertia) when hitting a pothole. Wheels are more often damaged too. Hence BMW dealers flogging wheel and tire insurance at the time of purchase.
While I personally hate runflat tires, conventional tires, no matter the manufacture, mounted on 19 and 20-inch wheels will fare no better with potholes. The laws of physics will still apply. Just go back to 17" wheels and these issues will largely go away.
|
Indeed. Common sense.
If you hit a pothole at speed with a low-profile tire, you are done for (usually). Runflat makes no difference.
Last pothole I hit was 15 years ago when I lived in DC, and it destroyed my Pilot Sport. Potholes seem not to exist in most of Western Europe, or I have become an exceptional driver.
