Motoring Discussion > MINI MINI Cooper Diesel R56 - Any advice on runflat tyres please?
Thread Author: Pat Replies: 12
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New Wed 1 Jun 11 20:02 
 MINI MINI Cooper Diesel R56 - Any advice on runflat tyres please? - Pat
I need 2 new tyres for my wife's 08 Plate Cooper D, 205/45/17 runflats. Have been quoted £190 per tyre by MINI dealer and I'm pretty sure I can do better. Can anyone recommend a good value premium/quality tyre that will wear well and drive ok?

Thanks
Pat
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New Wed 1 Jun 11 20:12 
 MINI MINI Cooper Diesel R56 - Any advice on runflat tyres please? - Lygonos
camskill.co.uk/products.php?plid=m54b0s2430p0

Try any of those.
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New Wed 1 Jun 11 20:19 
 MINI MINI Cooper Diesel R56 - Any advice on runflat tyres please? - Pat
Great, thanks a lot! Looks like I should be able to get something decent for about £150 each fitted. Still not cheap, mind!
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New Wed 1 Jun 11 21:02 
 MINI MINI Cooper Diesel R56 - Any advice on runflat tyres please? - Pat
Silly question perhaps, but can I replace the runflats with ordinary tyres and buy a can of goo to cope with punctures? If so, would I need to do all 4 at the same time?
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New Wed 1 Jun 11 21:04 
 MINI MINI Cooper Diesel R56 - Any advice on runflat tyres please? - Lygonos
The suspension is probably tuned to run with stiffer tyres, so probably not a great idea.
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New Wed 1 Jun 11 22:19 
 MINI MINI Cooper Diesel R56 - Any advice on runflat tyres please? - Iffy
...Silly question perhaps, but can I replace the runflats with ordinary tyres and buy a can of goo to cope with punctures? If so, would I need to do all 4 at the same time?...

Lots of BMW owners binned their runflats because the earlier ones in particular did not wear well and gave a dreadful ride.

Although I read somewhere that it's not a good idea to fit runflats to a car not supplied with them as original equipment.

I don't see a problem with fitting two ordinary tyres to your MINI provided they are on the same axle.

But as you say, changing all four at once would be the better solution.

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New Wed 1 Jun 11 22:44 
 MINI MINI Cooper Diesel R56 - Any advice on runflat tyres please? - R.P.
Iffy,

My X1 is fitted with the optional run flat 18" wheels (not my choice). I approached them with a little bit of trepidation having shunned them in the past (with difficulty) - the ride is pretty good, not as compliant as the CRV, but you wouldn't know they were run-flats. The wear rate is promising, nudging 20k on the originals they still have a few thousand left on them....not bad for a "performance" 4x4 in reality, which is driven with er...spirit more often than not.
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New Wed 1 Jun 11 23:13 
 MINI MINI Cooper Diesel R56 - Any advice on runflat tyres please? - Iffy
...the ride is pretty good...the wear rate is promising...

As I mentioned, the problems - or customer complaints - were with early runflats, particularly on 3 series cars.

I'd heard BMW/the tyre companies had improved both ride and wear in later cars.

Yours is fairly new, so that seems to be right.

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New Thu 2 Jun 11 05:34 
 MINI MINI Cooper Diesel R56 - Any advice on runflat tyres please? - idle_chatterer
I found the 225x45R17 Bridgestone Touranza runflats on my 2009 330d to ride reasonably well. in terms of wear - the rears lasted about 22K miles but they were coping with 389lbft of torque so I thought this reasonable, I reckon the fronts would have managed around 30K miles.

I certainly didn't see any reason to change to non-runflats and I like the extra safety in the event of a puncture at speed. I think that the can of gunk approach is flawed in that the tyre is ruined by the gunk but it has none of the benefits of runflats.
Last edited by: idle_chatterer on Thu 2 Jun 11 at 05:35
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New Wed 1 Jun 11 21:59 
 MINI MINI Cooper Diesel R56 - Any advice on runflat tyres please? - Skoda
If you want Conti Contact Sport 3's (widely praised by the press, normally win any group tests), the run flats are £129 a corner on mytyres.co.uk. It's listed as a "Special May Offer" though but i'm sure you could beat them over the head if they withdraw the offer before you buy. It's still on the site just now.

Not sure if it applies to the RFT's but the non-RFT types of these have fairly soft sidewalls, so on the comfort / handling trade-off they're more aligned to comfort, which sounds like what you could be after.
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New Wed 1 Jun 11 22:16 
 MINI MINI Cooper Diesel R56 - Any advice on runflat tyres please? - Pat
Cheers for the responses.

Re the suspension - the ride is firm to say the least. And I know I'm tempting fate but we have run two cars for a long time and the last (proper, as in flat tyre at the side of the road) puncture we had was in 1990. (I remember it clearly, we were driving from Suffolk to Birmingham just after Iraq invaded Kuwait!) So will I ever actually make use of the runflat facility?

It certainly seems that the runflats are pricey compared to ordinary tyres but shopping around will save me a few quid.

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New Wed 1 Jun 11 23:27 
 MINI MINI Cooper Diesel R56 - Any advice on runflat tyres please? - rtj70
Until fairly recently I'd had once puncture on a car and that resulted in a flat overnight - it could have happened at any point from Brittany to Manchester though!

Then early last year had a nail in a tyre (non repairable). Then earlier this year had a screw in a rear tyre (non repairable). And then two weeks later a nail in the very same tyre but it was repairable. Then two weeks ago I had a flat on the front but that was due to a dodgy valve which was replaced.

All in all I think the Conti-seal tyres (over £200 each to replace!) on the new car will be handy. And glad I opted for the tyre pressure monitoring for £65 as opposed to the standard tyre pressure monitor using just the ABS sensors - it will give pressure readings.

Without a spare tyre though, might run flats not be a good idea. I wouldn't want to rely on a can of 'goo' to seal a tyre. The later run flats are improved or so they say.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Wed 1 Jun 11 at 23:27
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New Thu 2 Jun 11 18:56 
 MINI MINI Cooper Diesel R56 - Any advice on runflat tyres please? - Pat
Just a quick update. A few calls to local tyre places confirmed that the prices were 155-180 per tyre, and I've gone for a pair of Continentals at £155 all in, being fitted tomorrow. At least I've saved myself £70 on the dealer price fro a pair!

Thanks again for the advice and opinions.
Pat
Last edited by: Pat on Thu 2 Jun 11 at 18:56
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