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It allows you to limp to a safer spot without tearing up your wheel or getting stuck in a precarious position.
You can do this with a regular tire and it doesn't matter if the tire gets torn up because it needs replaced anyways. Also what happens when you get to a "safer spot". You have no spare or way to change your tire.
Run flats are only good for about 50 miles before they disintegrate. I can think of plenty of places or times of day where not having a spare and relying on a run flat will leave you stuck.
I used to have a personal policy that I would never buy a car unless it had a full sized spare. I think those silly donut spares are unsafe, I hate them. I may have to concede on that policy for my next sedan purchase though, even the ES has a donut now. Very sad.
I will not buy a car with run flat tires only and no spare. The last 2 times I had a flat it was from a rim pinch (pot holes during rain storms) and the tire was instantly flat. A run flat tire will not survive that. Then what? Sit on the side of a dark road in the rain, waiting for a tow truck, just for a flat tire? F that.
Well ****. I feel like a fool. Went to order one off eBay and decided to check the trunk one more time. The jack was under the tray that holds the tools. New tire cost me 100 bucks. Damn.
Oh man, that sucks. At least you're man enough to admit it.
Also, to KLF, my last flat happened in a large pothole with runflats, took out the sidewall, it made it a couple of miles to work but I changed it out because there is no way it would have made the 40 mile trip back. Donuts suck but short of just purchasing a full size spare and carrying it around in the trunk it seems to be the only option nowadays short of Jeep Wranglers and Pickup trucks.
I would love to see the Twheel concept applied for spare applications. You'd never have to worry about it being flat. It's almost a perfect Twheel use.
I've bought several cars that came with donuts, but a full size tire would fit in the well in the trunk, including my daughter's current '08 Corolla. I made it part of the deal conditions: they had to put a full size tire on a full rim in the trunk well (and dispose of the donut), or the deal was off.
Good tactic. I was on the verge of carrying a full size spare in a nylon bag in the trunk in my wife's old 325i as we ditched the runflats as soon as the oem tires were worn down. The ride was so much better and luckily nothing ever happened. She has good tire luck as opposed to me, I am always getting flats, so annoying but then again I drive a lot more than her.
I've bought several cars that came with donuts, but a full size tire would fit in the well in the trunk, including my daughter's current '08 Corolla. I made it part of the deal conditions: they had to put a full size tire on a full rim in the trunk well (and dispose of the donut), or the deal was off.
More people should adopt that tactic.
Of course, some dealers are stupid enough to argue themselves out of a sale on stuff like that.
I witnessed a dealer refuse a sale because my buddy wouldn't allow them to put their sticker and license plate frame on the car. Incredible.
(It was the sales manager, not the sales rep. Easy to spot who was on salary as opposed to commission.)
11-06-15, 09:24 AM
