Quote:
Originally Posted by motordavid
Why not 19s, for the winter wheel/tire pkg, instead of 20s? Cheaper wheels and tires in 19", comparatively/potentially better grip, etc.
As for RFTs vs non-RFTs, besides potentially higher cost/limited selection of RFTs, how many 'on the road flats' have you had in memory? Didn't think so...a non-RFT set, with either the goop and compressor, or a decent plug/patch kit and compressor should salve your worries.
And, if you get a nasty nail with the RFTs, is the next town in the Alps gonna have a replacement tire, or do you cancel vacay and drive it all the way back to London?
Not dissing RFTs; they are getting better and better, in terms of performance, but it is simply a ~50 safety net, and one still has to find a replacement, often taking a couple three days. Fwiw, we just did a 13,000 mile Road Trip around America, in a'02 VettVert with non-RFTs...never gave it much concern, and had the plug kit & comp with me.
My 50Cts...
GL, mD
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Haha, now you're confusing me again! I asked people about the run flat vs non run flat tyre malarkey a few weeks ago
here. Couldn't really get a consensus obviously.
I'll probably go for 19" alloys for the winter wheels. From what I've seen, 19 inch tyres only a little cheaper than 20 inch tyres, however, used 20" E70 alloys sell for a hell of a lot more than use 19" E70 alloys on eBay. Since the main use would be driving a lot of people in the car all the way to the Alps, the added comfort of 19" wheels would be useful too.
In terms of how many flat tyres I've had, I've only ever had one and that was a blowout of a non RFT whilst doing 90 on the motorway in our X3. The main reason for that blowout was that the tyres were pants, the person we'd bought them off had put a used set of tyres on that had loads of thread but were something close to 10 years old and the rubber was buggered.
We don't do many miles. In fact, because we're trading in our X3 now I've got all the mileage paperwork to hand and we've done ~18,000 miles in the 2 years and 5 months that we've had it so that's about 7500 miles a year. We'll likely do pretty much the same in the X5 but with winter tyres that'd obviously be split between wheel sets.
If we had space for a spare wheel then I wouldn't hesitate in getting non RFTs.
19" non RFT winter tyres look to start at ~£150 each and 19" RFT winter tyres look to start at ~£265 each. So going non RFT could save me £460 odd. I can confidently change a tyre in a couple of minutes but I've never used a plug/patch kit or goo type thing.