mcschan86

My tires are still the stock Continental run flats.

My rear left tire has been slowly leaking pressure over the previous few months. It dropped about 5 psi over 2 months, twice. I have been just pumping it back up when I get the low pressure caution message. There was no side wall burst but I found 2 nail punctures through. One of them is actually a bolt with a washer so the shallow bolt head protrudes above the tire surface when the washer stops it from going in more. I didn't pull either puncture out.

I have about 30000km on these tires and would like to switch to new tires soon; I heard that these stock tires don't last so I should be able to replace all to new anyway after this season.

Is it safe to continue running on these tires until I switch to winters soon? I'm not sure if runflats can actually go all flat so my plan is to just keep monitoring it until I have to pump it up again.

Just looking for advice. I run about 90km a day to and from work - 50% highway.

RichardCranium3

You can get the tire patched to hold over until your switch if you don't want to keep hassling with keeping inflated. 30k km is actually a pretty solid run for the stock Conti-RF's. My fronts lasted 8k miles, rears 25k miles.

Tirgoman

Runflats are considered non-repairable, no legitimate tire shop/dealer will repair them. I would not drive on them if they were on my car. Time to buy new tires, you got a good life from them.

alexasa

iTrader: (1)

only so they can milk you even harder. Runflats are perfectly acceptable to patch and a much better solution than OP running around with two punctures.

AhEmGee

Yes indeed. I've just literally has my P Zero Run Flat repaired and it's got a life time guarantee.
They are fine to repair unless on the shoulder- just like any car.

RichardCranium3

3rd on repairability of RFs. My MB dealer (twice) and three different Discount Tire's patched my RF's before I ditched them. Sorry Tirgoman, no soup for you.

Clint Westwood

Yep, I've had RF's patched. NO different than regular tires. NO issues whatsoever. The dealer may not patch them because they want to rape you, but almost any tire shop will.

RichardCranium3

100% this. The service department is out to make money too - never forget it. Consumables (tires, brakes, fluids, etc) are their regular income, and because the typical MB buyer/owner has an above average disposable income and highly unlikely to be a shade tree mechanic, they RAKE in the money.

Tirgoman

OP says he has a nail and bolt in the tire and lots of mileage ie not much tread left, see https://www.continental-tires.com/ca...ir/tire-repair and then decide whether it's repairable....I don't think so but maybe some of you are out for more risk than me, good luck.

sonorous

The issue with runflats and repairs has to do with not knowing how long they were driven on very low or no pressure. Runflats have a limited life at low/zero pressure driving. A shop might push back because they can't possibly know how the tires were used and don't want the liability. If an owner knows what conditions the tire was exposed to then it can be a safe decision. If the tire just dropped below the TPMS limit a few times and was only a few PSI under then promptly refilled, I personally see no safety concern with repairing the tire.

AMGiggity

This is why they're called stealerships. I took off my wheel to find out the plug for brake pad wear sensor was broken (probably by a stray rock). I had to secure it using tie wraps because it was rubbing against the wheel and I was afraid the cable harness would gets ripped out along with all other cables secured to it. Stealership refused to fix it under warranty because I had "altered" it!

Dalle1985

Why should you not be able to repair a RF? Unless you’ve driven 100 miles on a flat tire, it is perfectly safe to repair.

Anyway, with the mileage on them and the fact that you have two different punctures in the same tire, I would replace it. But at the least, get it repaired! It is not safe to drive around on a tire with a large bolt sticking out of it - it could cause some sort of sudden damage while driving at high speeds.

mcschan86

I appreciate everyone's input here, including Tirgoman's input even though I just repaired the tire for now.

Correction on my info, the 30000km I mentioned included some of the winter months, which I had dedicated winters on. So, these tires have around 20000km. Nonetheless, I want to try the AS3+ on my next set due to the positive comments on here. Or should I do PS4 since I have dedicated winters...?

Anyway, I had a tire shop pull the nails out and plug it up so I feel more safe on the road. Luckily both punctures are not near the side wall. I'd monitor the pressure change of course. So far, it has not changed over 3 days. I'd likely switch to my winters a bit early this year and then replace these summers by next season.

Mr. J

Yes. The only thing different from standard tires is that if you actually drove on the run flat while it was completed deflated then they are toast. Think of the run flat feature as single use. If you drive around on them when they are fully deflated the sidewalls will be compromised.

My tire shop has patched runflats for me twice. Some shops will refuse mostly when they are risk averse and can't trust that the customer is telling the truth about whether or not they drove around on a deflated tire.

Mr. J

Since you have dedicated Winter tires PSS4 are the way to go for a Summer set otherwise, AS3+ are a great tire. The people that poo-poo them are spouting dated opinions that have been largely irrelevant for the last 5 years or so.

mcschan86

What do you mean by people that poo poo them? Are you referring to the positive comments on the AS3+ being dated and might not be relevant today?

If I don't track my car, is the difference worthwhile for the price premium on the PS4? I do value better and more quiet ride from the stock RF but also don't want to compromise on the performance difference if it's that noticeable.

Dalle1985

Yes - sure! That is why Michelin still offers summer AND winter tires! Check out any tire review comparing them and you’ll understand the difference. All season tires are fine on a Ford Focus, but if you drive a car with this much power, you don’t just want adequate road performance. Yes, the PS4S is overkill for pure road use, but a set of PS4 or similar definitely isn’t! All season tires are just mediocre under any road conditions. If you need winter performance for some months of the year, the only way to go, is seasonal tires, end of story!

Mr. J

No, the AS3+ is a great tire. The people that dis them have never driven on them and they parrot the old line about AS tires being the worst of both worlds. In fact, the AS3+ were superior in every performance measure than the stock Conti performance tires that came with my C450. However, if I lived anywhere that actually gets sticking snow and consistent subfreezing temps for more than 8 weeks a year I'd run a Winter and Summer setup. We only get 1-2 weeks of snow here if we get any and average monthly temps only drop below freezing from late Jan thru early Feb so Winter tires are unnecessary in my region unless you head up to the mountains a lot. The AS3+ on the C450/C43 platform do just fine in light snow, slush, and patchy ice.