There is nothing worse than having to pull over to the side of the road with a flat tyre on your car. It may be dark and Murphy's Law will dictate that it is raining. Where do you find the jack and how difficult is it going to be to loosen the wheel nuts? You only have to go through this nightmare once before your mind starts to think about getting runflat tyres on your vehicle. What are they and should they be in your future?
What Are the Benefits?
The runflat tyre was developed specifically to allow you to continue your journey until you can get to a place of relief. They're designed to help you avoid the aforementioned issues and allow you to get to a garage for assistance. They have another benefit, as well, in so far as they can reduce the dangers associated with having a blowout at high speed.
How Do They Work?
This type of tyre has a number of specially designed rubber inserts within reinforced sidewalls. This allows the tyre to maintain its shape when all the air is suddenly removed. Without these toughened sidewalls, the weight of the car would simply push down and the metal or aluminium wheel rim would quickly contact the road surface. This cannot happen with the runflat, which will continue to maintain its general shape.
A Temporary Measure
Always remember that you cannot drive for an indefinite distance on one of these tyres, simply because you think it's designed to do so. You need to be careful and slow down at all costs. You should start to look for a place of safety or a tyre depot as soon as possible, to enable you to get help.
Checking for Eligibility
Any motorist can consider fitting runflat tyres to their vehicle, so long as it has the ability to have a tyre pressure monitoring system installed, or already has one as standard equipment. This type of component will automatically alert the driver to the fact that they have a puncture, as they may not know it. This will ensure that they do not drive beyond safe limits, as they begin to look for a place to get the cover fixed.
When you consider runflat tyres, it's a good idea to have your tyre fitter or auto mechanic have a look at your vehicle's suspension configuration. Some alterations may need to be made, due to the different construction of the runflat tyre.
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