Tyre Problems

[MiniGT5]

I hate the new mini's lack of spare tyre. OK so I have 4 run flats which are great as I can drive with a puncture or 3 until I get it repaired (which has happend to me in the past). But tuesday night I had more than a puncture

Initial symptoms were funflat indicator comming on to tell me I had a puncture and a strange clicking noise. so I stopped and the looked like this



Which is strange because when runflats go flat they still look inflated. On investigation I found this faulty patch in the tyre. Note the rest of the trye (i.e. the other 350 degrees of) tred still seemes OK. no way I was driving home on that...





What do you make of that then as there is tread infront of and behind the bald area / hole. is this a faulty tyre or just normal wear ??? I have never seen anything go like this before unless they are total bald of course.

Oh and the strange clicking... was the wires that have come out of the inside of the tyre rubbing on the shockabsorber



Anythoughts on why my tyre has gone like this... what I can do to stop it reoccuring ???

Anyway so with a tyre like this and no spare I was forced to wait for dad to drive to hayleys house pickup up a spare tyre from another set of wheels and drive an hour from eastboure to crawley just to get me home all in all my journey home on tuesday took 3.5 hours!

Now i'm looking to get a set of 17" runflats to put on a new set of wheels I got from Viki... any suggestions ???

I love the new minis runflat system... but not always. I just wish they alsom come with a spare too.

Neil

[Neil]

A garage maybe able to tell you, what the reason to it is. Possibly a bulge in the tyre that eventually wore through causing the puncture to occur.

[Yvonne]

Have you braked heavily at some point and flat-spotted the tyre?

Have a look here: http://www.cybersteering.com/tgmain/tgt/tmaint.html

[MiniGT5]

According to that link its either a flat sport or chunking... not sure what the difference is. never locked the wheels up though as it has ABS fitted.

Still looking for a good and cheap runflat tyre company in eastbourne but good and cheap dont seem to go together.

N.

[*Vikki*]

Now i'm looking to get a set of 17" runflats to put on a new set of wheels I got from Viki... any suggestions ???


I don't know much about run flats as I dont have them on my car any more. Have you tried blackcircles they seem cheap sometimes on tyres.

[Yvonne]

...but good and cheap dont seem to go together.

Do they ever?

Have you looked on the net? I'm sure I've seen a website or two where you order the tyres, and then either they come to you or you go to their appointed fitting agent in your area

[MGoopur]

Event tyres are cheap and come to you, might be worth giving them a try. Good Luck

[MiniGT5]

Got some at Eastbourne Tyre Co slightly more money that I would normally pay but worth the extra as you know they won't damage the rim when installing the tyres. runflats are a bugger to install as the side walls are so stiff and if you dont have the proper runflat machine you can chip the rim.

I will get some pics up of the new wheels and tyres fitted when I find my camera lead.

N.