CCIE

Question, guys; Can someone give an idea the danger in such a blowout at more like 75mph? I don't track. May be boring to most of you, but I really never get over 70mph. I used to fly airplanes and enjoy adrenaline. After a couple of near death experiences I keep myself safe, especially being a dad twice over since as well. I have little intention of buying run flats when the stock tires are gone. I would have said no intention until reading this, but I do listen. I don't drive with run flats on my other cars. Why should I drive with run flats on a corvette I'm not tracking? My chance of a tire explosion from road hazard is near nil. But if it happened, at 70mph max, how uncontrollable?

PCMusicGuy

I am on my 4th set of run flats and will continue with them. They have plenty of performance for my kind of driving and it also gives me piece of mind to know the tire is strong. I was running a tire with a large nail in it for 500+ miles at typical interstate speeds, and that was after I noticed the nail was there. Who knows how long it was really there.

ls1121

Ozer, Great post I agree with you 100%. The only problem being that if someone says the sun is orange there will always be some people come back and say oh no it is a dark yellow.

X25

Thank you, and to everyone has who has contributed! We'll have different opinions for sure; I just wanted to bring more awareness to the safety aspect of run-flats.

Regarding the claimed performance deficiency of run-flats: I think we should not confuse much-heavier, less optimal first generation run-flats with the modern ones. It should be noted that even the ZR1 that made the record run for a stock car at Laguna Seca driven recently by Randy Pobst for Motortrend was running on Michelin Pilot Sport Cup tires which are runflat.

The PS2s and MPSC tires that come with ZR1 and Z07/F55 cars are, indeed world class performers. Michelin actually claims to have used the components of the run-flat tire to increase the sidewall stiffness, tread consistency, and the overall performance of run-flat MPSC tires that come with Corvettes.

From Tirerack:

Gary '09 C6

I really like my Michelin PS2 ZPs and I'm stickin' with 'em...(pun intended !)

LS WON

Same thing happened to me on factory RF so I used Dynaplug for about 6 months. Now I am on my second set of tires at 47,000 miles which are not Good Year and are not runflats.

Bill Dearborn

If you are running 155 and the tire blows it has to stay together until you get slowed down. The 55 mph limit is set because the tire is designed to give you a reasonable speed to travel for a distance 50 miles without damaging the tire. Running at zero pressure for any distance makes the tires very hot and the heat buildup is what destroys the tire. If you drive 80 for 50 miles the tire will probably be ruined due to excessive heat. If you drove 30 for 70 miles the tire might still be repairable. If you drive at 55 for 200 miles with stops to let it cool down the tire will get you where you need to go but won't be repairable.

On my car when I have had TPMS issues the car will seem to let me go any speed I want in a straight line but as soon as I start to turn the steering wheel it reacts by applying the front brakes to slow the car to 55 mph. That has surprised me and some drivers behind me when I pass them at 120+ exiting a wide increasing radius turn and my car suddenly slows to 55 mph in front of them. Makes things exciting.

Bill

Aviator

laconiajack

After considering the matter at great length I have come to the conclusion that non-run flat tires in this day and age are solely for losers.

ZR1 136

ls1121

I remember wayyyyyyyyy back in like 1973 running down route 4 in Paramus NJ in a 1964 Ford station wagon with a 289 auto (maybe a Galixie 500) going about 70 mph and blowing out the right front tire, it was all I could do to keep the car on the road and managed to get into Alexanders parking lot, very scary. Why do I mention this, who knows but since then I have had numerous tires let go on the highways of NJ. Done doughnuts on the highways many times and I am lucky that I haven't been hurt or hurt anyone else. So when we have these discussions and we will have them, if someone has a negative comment to make it would be nice to hear of some experience that goes along with the comments. I do not hear much of that what I hear is people quoting **** they read in magazines. Does that sound about right or am I asking too much?

LS WON

rcallen484

In the case of accidental death, it IS usually a very rare occurence. There is an entire legal cottage industry (and not a small one) dealing with tire blowout deaths and injuries.

4SUMERZ

Could you define losers?????

LSD 2005

twin-cam88

In 1981 I had a left front blowout at approx 80 mph in a Mazda RX-7. The tire virtually disintegrated and the car violently jerked to the left. I was in the right lane of the interstate highway prior to the blowout with no car in the left lane...which is where I ended up before I could even think OH S#!+...much less say it. Had that occured on a two-lane highway with oncoming traffic it would have been a hell of a mess. When I replace the tires on my vette, it will be with run flats.

hawkgfr

You've never had a blow-out in 35 years driving an 18 wheeler? Do you work in the yard?

hawkgfr

I went at least two weeks with a 1/4 x 1 inch threaded bolt...Never lost any air. I would hear it at low speeds (tick tick) and I thought it was a rock stuck in between tire treads...

twin-cam88

Now that's damn funny no matter who you are

CCIE

I read this and the first thing I do is shop run flats for my Cayenne TTS. It needs tires in a year or so. Pirelli makes one. We end up talking run flats because we have no spare tire, but if it's a safety issue, what's good for my vette is good for the cars my children ride in. It isn't that much more, but I have a feeling the Pirelli's will die in a third the time the Dunlops I'm wearing now. Seriously, if you're going to put run flats on a car you're not tracking for safety, logic is you should mount them on every wheel in your garage. Thing is these events really are exceptionally rare. Your event with your Mazda was over thirty years ago, on what year car? So how much better would a vehicle today handle something like this than a sports car from the 70's?