[ChrisK]

I wonder what you guys experience is of self sealing tyres or run flats as some call them.

My new car has 3,700 miles on the clock and while on a 370 mile road trip last week I noticed there was a screw in the middle of the tread width in one of my back tyres. The self sealing did its job because there was no pressure loss.

Took it into Kwikfit to repair today and they reckon its not repairable but who am I to argue. ?‍♂️

So on goes a brand new £317 tyre to deal with a common old nail / screw in a tyre. I know we don’t pay directly for tyres but could explain the high AP I paid for the car.

I was told in the Tiguan user forum that Kwikfit don’t like to repair them because as you can imagine its a messy job but this is madness in the first degree. ?

Any of your guys had anything similar with these types of tyres.

Topic

[Glos Guy]

I’m a huge fan of run flat tyres Chris. I had them on around half a dozen BMWs (3 and 5 Series) and they were brilliant. Whenever I had a puncture I could just carry on as normal and get the tyre changed at my convenience. Unfortunately, ‘enthusiasts’ and motoring journalists constantly harped on about them causing a harsh ride quality and extra road noise (neither of which I ever even remotely experienced) so they now don’t fit them as standard any more.

Self sealing tyres (as used on the Tiguan) are very different. Unless they’ve changed them to run flats, the ones we had on our last Tiguan were the self sealing ones where they supply a canister that allows a temporary fix until the tyre is changed. It’s not a good system and makes a right mess.

[kezo]

Our last private car (x3) had runflats and I found quite a harsh drive. As GG says self sealing tyres that use gunk can ruin a tyre over the slightes’t puncture, often requireing a new tyre!

[Masquerade]

Glos Guy wrote:

I’m a huge fan of run flat tyres Chris. I had them on around half a dozen BMWs (3 and 5 Series) and they were brilliant. Whenever I had a puncture I could just carry on as normal and get the tyre changed at my convenience. Unfortunately, ‘enthusiasts’ and motoring journalists constantly harped on about them causing a harsh ride quality and extra road noise (neither of which I ever even remotely experienced) so they now don’t fit them as standard any more. Self sealing tyres (as used on the Tiguan) are very different. Unless they’ve changed them to run flats, the ones we had on our last Tiguan were the self sealing ones where they supply a canister that allows a temporary fix until the tyre is changed. It’s not a good system and makes a right mess.

Not 100% accurate, yes they are self sealing on the Tiguan, but the canister you are talking about is the puncture repair kit. The self sealing Continentals the car comes with (mine still has the original ones from factory on the rear, coming upto 5 years) have a layer of ‘gunk’ which seeps into holes if the object has penetrated all the way through and if the object is removed and the hole small enough, the ‘gunk’ will seal that hole.

Self sealing tyres can be repaired, I read a manual from Continental on the repair process, but it takes much longer than a normal tyre because the ‘gunk’ lining has to be replaced, so all round cheaper and quicker to replace.

Humanity is only humanity when all are treated the same regardless of their skin tone, religious beliefs and geography!

[Glos Guy]

Masquerade wrote:

Glos Guy wrote:

I’m a huge fan of run flat tyres Chris. I had them on around half a dozen BMWs (3 and 5 Series) and they were brilliant. Whenever I had a puncture I could just carry on as normal and get the tyre changed at my convenience. Unfortunately, ‘enthusiasts’ and motoring journalists constantly harped on about them causing a harsh ride quality and extra road noise (neither of which I ever even remotely experienced) so they now don’t fit them as standard any more. Self sealing tyres (as used on the Tiguan) are very different. Unless they’ve changed them to run flats, the ones we had on our last Tiguan were the self sealing ones where they supply a canister that allows a temporary fix until the tyre is changed. It’s not a good system and makes a right mess.

Not 100% accurate, yes they are self sealing on the Tiguan, but the canister you are talking about is the puncture repair kit. The self sealing Continentals the car comes with (mine still has the original ones from factory on the rear, coming upto 5 years) have a layer of ‘gunk’ which seeps into holes if the object has penetrated all the way through and if the object is removed and the hole small enough, the ‘gunk’ will seal that hole. Self sealing tyres can be repaired, I read a manual from Continental on the repair process, but it takes much longer than a normal tyre because the ‘gunk’ lining has to be replaced, so all round cheaper and quicker to replace.

Thanks for explaining. That’s obviously a third type that I’d not heard of.

[kezo]

Glos Guy wrote:

Thanks for explaining. That’s obviously a third type that I’d not heard of.

Interesting and I wonder if self sealing are the better tyre?

https://www.autotrader.ca/editorial/20171024/run-flats-vs-self-sealing-tires/

[vinalspin]

L had ContiSeals on my Alhambra a few years back and got a screw in a rear at around 2,000 miles, I watched them as they took it off, inside on the back of the tread is something that looks like a strip if green “blu tac” thats a few mm thick, if you get a screw/nail etc up to 5mm diameter and remove it the sealing compound will expand to fill the hole.

I thought it was a permanent seal but according to their info once this has happened you have to get the tyre replaced as soon as possible thus rendering the tyre scrap even though it could still have loads of tread left, very bad for the environment and your wallet, I also found them to be low grip and would break traction with the slightest throttle and were down to wires under 10k.

[ChrisK]

HI guys

The tyres on my Tiguan are Pirelli Scorpion’s self sealing and reading all you views here it’s just accrued to me I haven’t got one of those gunk canisters or an inflator though I do carry my own inflator in my boot anyway. Just checked this and I do have one of these kits, I wonder what for??‍♂️

I was a bit taken back by the cost of this puncture but thinking about it having self seals did save calling out the RAC and all the comings and goings of using the RAC space savers wheels. I  know we dont directly pay for tyres but somewhere along the line we do.

I could of gone on for months without even knowing I had a screw in the tyre as I can only see a very small part of the circumference of the back wheel from the back but was contemplating carrying on with screw in all until the car was service and that would be sometime later next year. I was advised by some not to do that because it can damage the tyre beyond repair however that’s a bit academic now I know.

I did say to the tyre fitting manager that I could of got my grandson to remove the screw at home and just let the self seal fill the hole but I decide against this ideal because if the hole was too big for the self seal to work I would be stranded at home with no spare wheel. The tyre fitter did say not to remove the screw and just go to them but I guess he would say that.

I was a bit suspect of Kwikfit at first that they even changed the tyre as being a very small KF centre they just happened to have exactly that same tyre in stock, just the one. Sherlock would have been right on that suspect but then I remembered that last weekend after my road trip my grandson gave the car a good cleaning. He’s a bit of an enthusiast when comes to cars and cleaning right down to putting that black tyre wall stuff on the outer edges of the tyre to give them that black shiny look and of course the new tyre has no sign of that stuff on it. How can I be so suspicious. ??

Still we learn something everyday and what I’ve learned here is to stick to my golden rule of never driving through B&Q’s car park where the white van builder man loads up his screws and nails for his next job leaving half of them all over the car park? . The other thing I’ve learn is carry on with screw or nails in tyre until it goes flat or its torn to ribbons.

Just one last thing about the Pirelli’s is there not bad tyres, reasonable quite and stick to the road like poo on a blanket and some tell me there getting 40,000 miles out of them, that would be a first for me if I did but at the moment I’m only getting 3,000 miles. ?

[Author]

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