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I replaced my vette tires with another set of runflats, my wife drives the car once in a while on trips over 250 miles just for peace of mind. I replaced the goodyears with Michelin's much better ride and less noise. If it was a daily driver around town and short drives I would go with non runflats
OP: I like and use the Firestone Firehawk Wide Oval rft. I am on my 5th set, they have a nice water channel for driving in the rain. My 07 is a DD and I drive on the HWY, due to all the road work there are no shoulders to pull off. As always, each to their own.
run flats are terrible.. just terrible.. it was like driving a DIFFERENT car with the non RF tires i put on.. i couldn't believe it was that drastic and I have F55 mag ride...
Were you using the Goodyear's that came with the Vet, or some other brand. The Goodyear's are trash IMO.
I just put Michelin Pilot super sports run flats on today and I think they are great . They are not any noisier or ride any harder than the non run flats that I took off
Here is the story. It is a rainy night in a bad neighborhood and you run over a chunk of metal and you cut a tire. What happens next is your story. Think about it and buy what you want.
This scenerio is not how I roll....oh the drama!
Rainy night in a bad neighborhood, a couple of bad choices already.
Going on 52 yrs off driving, and have only had to change a tire on the road once.
Ride comfort every mile, worth the risk for me.
Also have been stranded one other time when a clutch went out. Granted not fun on the side of the road.
I run run flats on my Corvettes and always have. We take several trips a year and I want to be able to get somewhere. Some will say to get a plug kit and a compressor and go but try plugging a tire at 10:00 pm by the side of the road.
We chose run flats because the Vette is my wife's daily driver, although I drive it 2-3 days a week as well.
She drives to work when it is still dark, and occasionally she works until after dark. I didn't want her to have to pull off to the side of the road and try to pump up the tire, and seal it and all that.
If I drove it more often than she did, I might have gone with regular tires.
Run flats have been in use by auto makers since the early 1990's. The vehicles that have run flat tires as stock tire equipment, have the chassis and suspension tuned to work with this sidewall stiffness, and this type of tire.
The safety benefits of run flat tires are greater than any possible trade offs mentioned in ride, price, wear rate, fuel mileage, or what ever conclusion you may have.
There is a reason why, every model year, more and more vehicles come equipped with run flats, and it isn't because they are cheaper than a spare and a jack.
Read all the consumer reports on run flats, you will see that they have tremendously more susceptible to side wall blowouts and chosen as one of the most hated inventions by consumers and the service industry. Lets see, more comfortable ride, much better handling and stopping, longer life, always on shelf, and lot less money, for me non run flats are win win win. I personally rather carry a repair kit and take my chances with an unlikely event of a flat. Including my 79 and 89 vette and my 99 volvo which i had since new, the spare in the trunk was never used even once. My very recent new volvo has non run flats and no spare.
I replaced the GY RFT's on my 13 GS Convertible at 15,000 miles because they were worn out. Hated them. Bought Bridgestone Potenza RFT's and love them. Quieter and smoother riding. I have 8,000 miles on the Bridgestone's and they show very little wear. Piece of mind for the long road trips we make. We drive the Vette about 12,000 miles a year.
The last time a bought run flats, I bought Michelins which made a huge difference in handling and with much less road noise.
That was 2007. I now run non-run flats.
With the shelf life of tires, run flats are not purchased as much which could account for the tire dealers not stocking them.
You really can't have the idea the run flats you put on will be there forever if you don't use the car much. The rubber will deteriorate before you get their full use.
This reminds me of a story...The last weekend of May this year, about 80 Corvettes gathered in Bar Harbor, ME (we do this every year). There was a fellow Corvette C6 owner with a slow leak. One owner bought out this fantastic small jack and jacked up the car, another brought out his tire repair kit, finally another owner brought out his plastic lined wheel nut socket set as to not mar this owner's new wheels. It was friendship at it's best! A bunch of us were looking on cheering. It was a grand moment! I should have made a list and part numbers of those tools. They were just perfect and took very little room!
Chuck M
Last edited by hotmotorsports; 10-31-2015 at 08:29 AM.
Originally I had planned on going non-run flat when I replaced the original tires; a road trip prior to then changed my mine. My wife and I were on our back home down the ET highway in the middle of the summer when I got a flat. I was in the middle of the desert, nearest town was over 50 miles away, there was no phone reception and it was 115+ degrees out. I was able to drive to the next town & get my flat repaired. As we do a lot of road trips, my mind was changed and have run RF's ever since. The RF I'm currently running and plan on using again are the Michelin Pilots.
I bought my car from the dealer and it obviously had run flats on it. traction was decent, but I knew for a car like the vette a better tire will bring out it's features much more so I decided to sell the run flats and get some nitto invos. They are quieter and perform A LOT better. For me it's worth the risk. I also carry all the goodies, slime, air pump and a tire patch kit. I don't travel through "bad" neighborhoods so I'm not worried about that. Worst case scenario is I have to call a tow truck which my insurance covers anyway.
Now I'm sure since I wrote this post I will get a blow out today and happen to somehow be in the worst neighborhood in Philly lol.
It depends on the type of driving you do, then it also depends upon the supposed amount of risk you are willing to take if you believe you will get a tire sidewall blow out.
For me, I do a lot of road trips, and like the quiet ride of non runflats, so that is what I opted for.
I carry an air pump, a can of slime, a plug kit, a cell phone, OnStar, a pair of side cutter pliers, etc.
I've picked up a few nail/screws and the TMPS let me know I was losing air slowly. At the next rest stop, I pumped the tire up in pressure, then later that afternoon, I pulled out the screw, put in a plug at the hotel, and finished the 4500 mile road with no further incidents.
If I ever get a blow out (rare), then I'll worry about that at the time.
I always travel during daylight hours while on road trips, so no worries about those things happening at night in my situation.
I'm on my 3rd set of Firestone, non runflats and 75K miles.
BTW, the odds of getting a replacement Non runflat tire is much better than getting a replacement RF tire while travelling.
Good Luck in your decision.
I'm very happy with my Firestone Wide Oval non run flats. Just got back from a 3200 mile road trip, and the tires did great on dry road, and really good in a couple monsoons we drove through. They are also smooth, and quiet. You'll hear many different opinions, so good on your decision.
10-30-2015, 10:21 PM
I should have made a list and part numbers of those tools. They were just perfect and took very little room!
I'm very happy with my Firestone Wide Oval non run flats. Just got back from a 3200 mile road trip, and the tires did great on dry road, and really good in a couple monsoons we drove through. They are also smooth, and quiet. You'll hear many different opinions, so good on your decision.