New to GSF - Run-flats?

jawz786 · June 4, 2018

Gents/Ladies,

I have just joined the Lexus F ranks and have purchased a GSF moving on from my V8 M3 Convertable as I needed a car with more doors and space.

I have been reading the various posts about the spare wheel or lack thereof in the GSF in the UK.

My question was has anyone here fitted run flats to their GSFs and if so did it have a massive impact upon the handling/ride. The reason I ask is that I used my M3 and soon hopefully my GSF as my daily car (no garaging or weekending) and take a lot of long journeys so having no spare is a bit of a risk due to the places I end up in (remote north of Scotland) etc.

Any advice or assitance would be appreciated.

Thanks.

J

wendle · June 4, 2018

The LC is the first car i have had with run flat tyres and i admit to not making long out of the way journeys, but isn't the ideal of run flat tyres is that you can carry on driving on them even if you have a puncher, admittedly at a reduced speed, ok if you smash into the curb or large pot hole you could rip the side of the tyre which then of course you could not drive on it.

rayaans · June 4, 2018

11 minutes ago, jawz786 said:

Gents/Ladies,

I have just joined the Lexus F ranks and have purchased a GSF moving on from my V8 M3 Convertable as I needed a car with more doors and space.

I have been reading the various posts about the spare wheel or lack thereof in the GSF in the UK.

My question was has anyone here fitted run flats to their GSFs and if so did it have a massive impact upon the handling/ride. The reason I ask is that I used my M3 and soon hopefully my GSF as my daily car (no garaging or weekending) and take a lot of long journeys so having no spare is a bit of a risk due to the places I end up in (remote north of Scotland) etc.

Any advice or assitance would be appreciated.

Thanks.

J

Its a stupid idea to add run flats to any car to be honest. Makes a world of difference in both handling, heaviness of the steering and the ride comfort.

People tend to remove them off their cars, Ive never heard of anyone actively wanting to put them on.

In terms of the GS-F which handles and rides well, I wouldn't bother putting runflats on and making it crash about

Big Rat · June 4, 2018

I know I’ve been a bit like a dog with a bone with this spare wheel thing but I agree with @rayaans runflats are a big mistake. I’ve run Bm’s with them in the past and they are awful.

Doubtless the more modern versions are better, than the circa 08/09 fitted to the cars I had but still would not touch them with a barge pole.

I firmly believe there is NO substitute for either a full size or space saver spare, to hell with the weight or loss of luggage space.

🐀

Big Rat · June 4, 2018

22 minutes ago, jawz786 said:

Gents/Ladies,

I have just joined the Lexus F ranks and have purchased a GSF moving on from my V8 M3 Convertable as I needed a car with more doors and space.

I have been reading the various posts about the spare wheel or lack thereof in the GSF in the UK.

My question was has anyone here fitted run flats to their GSFs and if so did it have a massive impact upon the handling/ride. The reason I ask is that I used my M3 and soon hopefully my GSF as my daily car (no garaging or weekending) and take a lot of long journeys so having no spare is a bit of a risk due to the places I end up in (remote north of Scotland) etc.

Any advice or assitance would be appreciated.

Thanks.

J

@jawz786 Welcone to the club, a great car choice you won’t be disappointed, a normally asperated V8 the best....... but you already knew this........

🐀

Toothy · June 4, 2018

I'd take the pump/goo over run flats any day, which i suspect the GS-F is supplied with. I've got an '08 Mini, and couldn't wait to ditch the run flats and just carry an after market pump and sealant kit.

wendle · June 4, 2018

I understand that run flats would cause a less comfortable ride BUT my LC with run flats drives a lot smother that my RC-Fwhich did not have run flats even if i put the LC into sports mode so it must be down to the suspension

rich1068 · June 4, 2018

My last two BMWs (2011 E91 320d on 18s & 2013 F30 330d on 19s) both came with run flats. Never had any complaints about them other than replacement cost.

If the OP has no problem with them and the sizes are available then why not?

Big Rat · June 4, 2018

I still maintain that run flats are a compromise to far, I accept that the ability to continue to drive on them with a puncture for a given reduced speed speed is something.

Late Christmas Eve 2012 I was crossing the Humber bridge heading North for a Holiday midway a large bolt destroyed the rear N/S tyre of my M335i Bm, a run flat.

When I bought the car I bought a full space saver kit, we were on our way continued journey and holiday, wouldn’t have been able to that on 3 wheels........

🐀

mrfunex · June 4, 2018

Totally agree with @Big Rat and @rayaans. My wife had a 325i (E90?) with run flats before her RX450h. The ride was atrocious. Properly awful. We switched the tyres to normal ones and the car was utterly transformed. I think it spoke volumes that BMW didn’t fit run flats to their M cars of that generation. Do they now?

I would never fit run flats to a car, and I’d take them off anything I ever own in the future if at all possible! I’d take a slight inconvenience one day every 5 years compared to putting up with run flats for the rest of them.

Just my opinion!

rayaans · June 4, 2018

27 minutes ago, mrfunex said:

Totally agree with @Big Rat and @rayaans. My wife had a 325i (E90?) with run flats before her RX450h. The ride was atrocious. Properly awful. We switched the tyres to normal ones and the car was utterly transformed. I think it spoke volumes that BMW didn’t fit run flats to their M cars of that generation. Do they now?

I would never fit run flats to a car, and I’d take them off anything I ever own in the future if at all possible! I’d take a slight inconvenience one day every 5 years compared to putting up with run flats for the rest of them.

Just my opinion!

Dont think so. Even the M-lites come with Michelin Pilots now

I cant remember any M cars being on runflats at all

malcolmw · June 4, 2018

I have had run-flats on BMW X5s and they do give a harsh ride. However, the LC has them (as stated above) and they seem fine. I suspect that the electronic suspension is tuned to make it comfortable.

@wendle

Do you have the Bridgestones or the Michelin PSS tyres which were on the original demo cars?

wendle · June 4, 2018

i have Bridestones

noby76 · June 4, 2018

4 hours ago, jawz786 said:

Gents/Ladies,

I have just joined the Lexus F ranks and have purchased a GSF moving on from my V8 M3 Convertable as I needed a car with more doors and space.

I have been reading the various posts about the spare wheel or lack thereof in the GSF in the UK.

My question was has anyone here fitted run flats to their GSFs and if so did it have a massive impact upon the handling/ride. The reason I ask is that I used my M3 and soon hopefully my GSF as my daily car (no garaging or weekending) and take a lot of long journeys so having no spare is a bit of a risk due to the places I end up in (remote north of Scotland) etc.

Any advice or assitance would be appreciated.

Thanks.

J

why invest in runflats when your breakdown service will try and fix a puncture if not they will fit one of those multi fit donut wheels for a small fee.. as some already confirmed some punctures render run-flats useless anyway...

malcolmw · June 4, 2018

As far as I know, if you use a run-flat tyre to any extent at low/zero pressure it is a throwaway. I purchased the wheel/tyre insurance on my LC because it will be very expensive to replace a wheel or tyre after a puncture.

On the LC (and a lot of other coupes) it is pretty much impossible to have a spare as:

- front and rear wheels are different sizes

- there is no space in the boot for the usually very large wheels.

Linas.P · June 4, 2018

Same experience as many said above, had BMW328xi with run flats, ride was terrible. And it wasn't like just hard (which it was) like on very low profile tyres, but they tend to "skip the traction" and thus where very unpredictable in little bouncy corners - the feeling like if you severely over-inflate the tyres. The only time I had puncture on the car was on BMW328xi with these runflats and I do blame the hardness of the tyres for the puncture, I really do believe that standard and softer tyres would have survived. Not only that, the tyre have dismounted and thus I could not drive anyway.

Changing to normal tyres really transformed the car in both terms of ride and handling.

So my experience with run flats - more likely to be punctured because of harder walls, but as well quite often cannot be driven anyway after puncture. Many people I know had similar experience - I mean they just dismount after puncture when you hit kerb or pot hole. They are only good for something like nails - so why not have normal tyres and glue bottle then?

ColinBarber · June 4, 2018

6 hours ago, wendle said:

I understand that run flats would cause a less comfortable ride BUT my LC with run flats drives a lot smother that my RC-Fwhich did not have run flats even if i put the LC into sports mode so it must be down to the suspension

I guess the suspension was softened to compensate for the stiff tyres, so overall the ride is good. But what would your RC F have been like if you had put run flats on it.

wendle · June 4, 2018

2 minutes ago, ColinBarber said:

I guess the suspension was softened to compensate for the stiff tyres, so overall the ride is good. But what would your RC F have been like if you had put run flats on it.

A shopping trolly with a V8 strapped to the front of it.

NothernDan · June 16, 2018

Until you’ve driven the same car both with and without runflats you can have no comprehension of how bad the ride is with them fitted.

Same as many others in here. Had a 335i with runflats from stock, always thought the ride was very was firm but not horrendous as I knew no better. Replaced the wheels and had the chance to replace all tyres with standard (non runflat) performance versions and the ride was transformed. I could not believe how much better it was without the hideous runflats. Same size wheels and same size (profile) tyres.

Vowed never to have runflats on a car again, they are the devils work.

Swapped a set off my wife’s Cooper S too, exactly the same result.

Going out of your way to put them “on” a car is insane, it will end up being a very costly exercise which you will definitely regret.

jawz786 · June 19, 2018

HMMM. Thanks for the input. It was more about peace of mind due to the places i end up in often. I guess i will stick with the paste kits lol.

At the end of the day i know about the ride issues and i have been driving an m3 for 5 years with no runflats. Was just wondering if anyone had tried.