Run Flat Tyre T180

[druand]

Looking at new Rav models(current car Rav4 2.0 D4D 2005 ) and checking through specifications find T180 comes with "run flat tyres" NO spare of any kind supplied or emergency repair kit. Handbook says you are

allowed to drive up to 100 miles at 50mph when flat or to nearest dealer.

Fine if you puncture during day in city. What about 10pm on a Saturday with 200-300 miles from home? Who will stock these tyres? and the BIG question HOW MUCH?

Tyres are non repairable?? not 100% sure about that.

Have read (Auto Express I think) an article about certain models of Porsche,Audi,Jaguar and BMW owners whose vehicles have been off the road for some weeks after damaging a tyre and are unable to find replacements.

Your thoughts and comments.

[cfc1]

I would much rather have a spare wheel.. what if you hit something big.. take a chunk out the sidewall and damage the rim.. no spare.. stranded. If you ask for a spare they will provide one at extra cost.

As for price.. Goodyear EMT (run flat tyres) for the new Mini retail at around £90 (195/55x16)... repairing them, i don't see a problem in doing that as long as any possible repairs are to the proper standards.

[src]

I would much rather have a spare wheel.. what if you hit something big.. take a chunk out the sidewall and damage the rim.. no spare.. stranded. If you ask for a spare they will provide one at extra cost.

Except if did ask to buy a spare wheel/tyre where are going to put it ?, The RAV4 T180 does not a rear door spare tire carrier, So you would have to put it in the boot and that would take up a huge amount of space regardless that the new RAV4 has a bigger boot. You could also buy a replacement rear door like the rest of the new RAV4 range with the rear cargo/door mounted spare wheel but a replacement cargo/rear door would probably cost loads.

[AMH]

Got caught last year in an Avensis company car - left factory in Wakefield to get back to Portsmouth at 4:30pm on a Friday - walked to car park - flat rear - no problem I thought - jacked car up - put on spare and prepared for drive home - except it was a space-saver - 50mph max and 100 miles max - umm - so how does that help ?

Luckily we found a local tyre shop and the original was repairable before they shut !

I have now vowed never to buy a car that relies on run-flats or space-savers - no practical use at all.

Sure others will be along to shoot me - but that's just my 2p worth :)

[Jeremy]

Got caught last year in an Avensis company car - left factory in Wakefield to get back to Portsmouth at 4:30pm on a Friday - walked to car park - flat rear - no problem I thought - jacked car up - put on spare and prepared for drive home - except it was a space-saver - 50mph max and 100 miles max - umm - so how does that help ?

Luckily we found a local tyre shop and the original was repairable before they shut !

I have now vowed never to buy a car that relies on run-flats or space-savers - no practical use at all.

Sure others will be along to shoot me - but that's just my 2p worth :)

I've also heard that they make for a harder ride. I've got a company 5-series without run-flat and my father-in-law has the same car with run-flat. Mine's got a much better ride quality, irons out small bumps and undulations.

[spwolfx]

sidewall has steel lines in it, which is why it would be hard to actually destroy the tire. No matter how big the hole in the tire, you can still go on.

as long as ride is comfortable enough, I would have no issues with run flats. Better test the car first...

[prince]

I think the T180 engine will eventually be offered across the range, so the run flat tyres won’t be anything to worry about.

The reason I think the 177bhp diesel will come to the other models is because the magazine reviews I have read so far regarding the new RAV and some views of members on the forum criticise the price of the T180 as being to high which I also agree, and as soon as Toyota realise it’s not realistic to pit the T180 against the BMW X3 Diesel or the new Land Rover Freelander, the wiser move would be to offer the engine across the range, making it better value in XT3, 4 & 5 variants.

[spwolfx]

problem is that mags are usually full of crap. For example, X3 sold terribly everywhere. Rav4 easily outsells it in Germany.

As to the Freelander, only market it outsells Rav4 is in UK.

Overall, Rav4 holds 30% of european SUV market.

What T180 trully offers is higher performance version of Rav4, something that simply did not exist before, which is why Toyota lost customers to other brands.

Obviously, 136hp engine is much better value but that doesnt mean everyone will want better value. I already had customers wanting T180 and nothing else (sadly cant get them in our area).

[prince]

As sad as it sounds, in the UK the BMW Badge and the Freelander Image counts for far too much then it really should it’s why the past Freelander even with there reliability issues and the X3 which isn’t a good car overall and yet both still sells well here and in the case of the new Freelander I can foresee some waiting lists.

The Toyota Badge can’t as yet compete with that at this level , so the next best thing is to appeal to the value as well as quality conscious consumer which are essentially Toyota's traditional traits , putting the engine in other variants will bring in more sales at least for the UK.

[CATHODIC]

Looking at new Rav models(current car Rav4 2.0 D4D 2005 ) and checking through specifications find T180 comes with "run flat tyres" NO spare of any kind supplied or emergency repair kit. Handbook says you are

allowed to drive up to 100 miles at 50mph when flat or to nearest dealer.

Fine if you puncture during day in city. What about 10pm on a Saturday with 200-300 miles from home? Who will stock these tyres? and the BIG question HOW MUCH?

Tyres are non repairable?? not 100% sure about that.

Have read (Auto Express I think) an article about certain models of Porsche,Audi,Jaguar and BMW owners whose vehicles have been off the road for some weeks after damaging a tyre and are unable to find replacements.

Your thoughts and comments.

T180 "run flat tyres" PUNCTURE REPAIRS

QUOTES I GOT DURING w/e 19/1/08

RRG DENTON £100 INCLUDING VAT(I have Services at this garage)

RRG MANCHESTER £60 INCLUDING VAT

RRG BURY £47 INCLUDING VAT

However forget the above you'll probably

be told you need a new tyre

£250 Denton £200 BURY

[DavidRH]

Just arrived on the scene after my wife was incandecent with various Toyota dealers as she tries to get a new pair of front tyres. As we discovered today, the tyres are around £160 from the dealers and they then charge vastly varying amounts for labour, which is around 3 hours!!

Apparently the franchises have to buy the specialist tyre machine at @£18,000 and then wait for Goodyear to come and train them. The rumour is that according to Goodyear it's a 15 minute job.

As Toyota developed and is a leading example using Lean manufacturing techniques, I am stunned that they have a maintenance process that takes 3 hours to change a tyre.....

Toyota UK has been very unhelpful to the Mrs. Infact most of the people have said 'get another car' or thereabouts............

What an amazing mess for them.

As to what car next when the RAV4 is due a change.. Not one with RunFlat!

A number of dealers have told us they no longer deal with these tyres... Oh, great, just what they told us when we brought the car..Not.

Prices quoted for fitted range from:

£340 Telford

£265 Sale

£249 Denton

[Parts-King]

I have now vowed never to buy a car that relies on run-flats or space-savers - no practical use at all.

Hmmmm, not very many modern cars are going to be on your shopping list then :D:

It's the way modern cars are made, space is a premium I'm afraid, and space savers and run flats fit the bill. I'm not saying it's right, just the way it is........

Kingo

[vann]

I fell victim of run flat tyres farce - picked up a piece of metal in back side tyre early on Saturday morning - local Toyota garages could not help had to drive 45 miles to nearest dealer who had the machine they could only help this Monday morning.

Did watch machanic remove tyre and metal ring using specialist machine took him about 20 minutes. He showed me the damage ( tyre with 12 thousand miles ) meant a new tyre was necessary -cost of tyre £140 + VAT fitting charge £38.50 + VAT total bill just over £200. Tried other tyre companies no one could help !!!

Not a happy bunny - not only exorbitant charge, had to take half a day off work, 90 mile round trip, T180 not nice to drive with a rear flat tyre did not feel comfortable doing more than 40 mph had white vans and lorries up my backside on way to Toyota garage.

Think Mr T should do something about this farce having run flat tyres is not an advantage or benefit.

Even garage admitted this is becoming a serious issue.

Toyota have a monopoly and has us all over a barrel.

Intend to write and complain any suggestions as to who to address letter ??

T 180 brillient , provided you dont pick up a punture !!!!!

[parky68]

Just a thought.....how about taking out a tyre insurance policy that would cover the cost of replacement should the punture not be repairable?

Parky

[anchorman]

I can't imagine you'd find an insurance company daft enough to get involved!

[Parts-King]

Tyre insurance does exist, quite cheaply too!

Might be worth looking into Parky68, see what premium you can get

Kingo

[sywy]

Even if tyre insurance does exist, I'm sure they will be bumping up the premiums once they find out about our tryres!!

[chatman]

Even if tyre insurance does exist, I'm sure they will be bumping up the premiums once they find out about our tryres!!

Should that not be "Pumping Up Your Premiums" :lol: :lol:

[Parts-King]

Pump up the volume pump up the volume la la la............Nice tune

Kingo

[2.2 D4D]

Hyundai Santa fe. has full size spare alloy mounted under floor. + plus 7 seats + 2.2 auto diesel

+ 5 years waranty + 3 years rac. + £3500 cheaper than t180. not trying to stir sh*t

it also has 153 bhp :o

[allycomet]

Hyundai Santa fe. has full size spare alloy mounted under floor. + plus 7 seats + 2.2 auto diesel

+ 5 years waranty + 3 years rac. + £3500 cheaper than t180. not trying to stir sh*t

it also has 153 bhp :o

Pardon the Badge snobbery but it will always be a hyundai!

[marty32]

and as a hyundai it will be worth about 30 bob when u go to trade it in... not bein nasty but my mate had hyndai as a company car and by hos own admission it was awful

[2.2 D4D]

Exactly what my wife said to me when i suggested one . we needed bigger car so now have 2007 landcruiser lc4

auto diesel. 8 seats. + full size spare wheel. rav gave 2 years trouble free motoring and we miss it .

[DavidRH]

Mrs Incandescant (OH of DavidRH)

I wrote a letter to the Managing Director of Toyota:

Mr. Miguel Fonseca

Managing Director

Toyota UK

Great Burgh

Surrey

KT18 5UZ

Who couldn't be bothered to reply and passed me over to customer services who fobbed me off with a load of drivel and a pack of misinformation which took two weeks to get to me from the date I wrote.

I'm afraid they have us over a barrell and don't give a monkeys. The dealers faces drop as soon as you mention 'tyre' and 'T180' in the same sentence. They will never recoup the cost of the machines if they really are the price quoted.

I'm almost tempted to drive all the way to county durham to get them done. All the garages within a 60 mile vicinity have said, either no, or all day or minimum three hours and that the cost is all labour. The tyres are £151 to the dealer.

I can only suggest writing/bombarding MD with letters and point out they are a laughing stock online and have some very angry punters.

Honest John, Daily Telegraph my next stop if no-one comes back to me soon. Watchdog maybe, I've really got that cross with them and I'm usually fairly mellow.

Volvo/BMW X3/VW looking attractive at the mo.

The other solution would be, which I cannot get an answer from anyone on. Is can I change to ordinary run flat tyres. It would be cheaper to do that and buy a new set of alloys if needs must.

[Parts-King]

I wrote a letter to the Managing Director of Toyota:

I wouldnt have expected him to write back to you, I have never known an MD of a large company write back, the standard route is via their customer relations department. It is no excuse that they gave you duff information. I once wrote to a large sports stores MD, I had the most condecending snotty letter back from some customer relations bod, that I nearly jumped in the car to travel to WIGAN (clue in the question there) to punch his lights out..............calm down Kingo........Anyway, they are now on my banned list, never will I darken their doorstep again :D:

Back on thread. We cringe at the mention of T180 and Tyre in the same breath, they are not easy to fit, even with expensive equipment, there isnt an easy answer for us, we have to grin and bear it, the tyre fitting and TPMS re-setting can be a nightmare

Kingo