Tyre suggestion / runflats good or bad?

[trampo88]

Following on from an earlier post I gather run flats aren't standard on my E350 - however the thought of trying to repair a puncture on a smart motorway puts the collywobbles up me. At the mo it has some hitherto unknown to me budget makes which also make a lot of noise at low speed. Any suggestions on mid range run flat (or reasons not to) - usage wise about once every 2 months I have to do a 800 mile round trip over 3 days (mostly motorway), plus the usual local trips in between.

 

[Blobcat]

I wouldn’t get run flats, I’d also drive on any flat tyre to get to an area of safety on any road not just a motorway.
If that was to cream cracker the allow then so be it, you can always buy a new alloy…

I’d be looking at Goodyear Efficientgrip (I’ve those ones the read of my SLK and really rate them) or something similar

 

[trampo88]

I wouldn’t get run flats, I’d also drive on any flat tyre to get to an area of safety on any road not just a motorway.
If that was to cream cracker the allow then so be it, you can always buy a new alloy…

I’d be looking at Goodyear Efficientgrip (I’ve those ones the read of my SLK and really rate them) or something similar

any particular reason not to have run flats?

 

[Craiglxviii]

any particular reason not to have run flats?

The ride quality is horrid.

 

[Blobcat]

any particular reason not to have run flats?

As well as the above they put extra strain on your alloys and suspension components. This results in more broken alloys and springs as well as knackered bushes.
Although the spine jarring ride is enough reason on its own.

 

[malcolm E53 AMG]

As above runflats are very uncomfortable on any car with McPherson struts especially with 18/19in wheels - the W213 suspension (without McPherson struts) handles them very well even with 20in wheels

 

[bc100]

I had an S203 with 16" wheels and now have an S205 with 18" runflats and apart from the noise on some surfaces the ride is not dissimilar. Perhaps the airmatic helps though. I will need new tyres at the end of the year and am torn as to which way to go. The current tyres are Bridgestones so I'm inclined to try a different brand of runflats at the moment.

 

[JBell]

Runflats - Bad

Uniroyal RS5 - Good

 

[rf065]

Runflats are nowhere near as bad as they used to be, my C class on 19" runflats is less harsh than my SLC on 18" normal tyres.
Like you, the thought of a flat tyre on a so called smart m/way does not bear thinking about. Add to that, the car is almost 5 years old and all the suspension, ball joint and steering are the original items, not sure why anyone thinks runflats put extra strain on anything.

 

[Blobcat]

Runflats are nowhere near as bad as they used to be, my C class on 19" runflats is less harsh than my SLC on 18" normal tyres.
Like you, the thought of a flat tyre on a so called smart m/way does not bear thinking about.

I had one - off side rear in my Landy - valve decided it didn’t want to be part of the wheel anymore… rapid deflation followed by destroyed sidewall.

Limped from lane 3 to Lane 1 then to an area off the motorway running lanes - I was in between refuge points but got out of the traffic lanes and into a refuge by driving on the knackered tyre