Run Flat Tyre T180

[bothwell_buyer]

I started this thread march 2006, over 2 years ago when i was changing older Rav. I also had another thread on the same subject late 2005. A few replies sugested i was worried about something that might never happen!!!

Bought CRV 2.2 i CDTi ES, had it now for 14months-15k miles. Had 2 punctures caused by nails in both rear tyres. Repair cost inc. balance £10.00 each. Fuel consumption from day 1 is at 39.8mpg, best was 42.8 over 560 miles. CRV has A & B trips plus total mileage.

RAV 4.2 XTR, is still nicer to drive. can't wait for promised? diesel auto later this year. Big decision as to which i will part with.

Druand ihad a choice to make between rav and crv, and i know we tend to slag them off a bit on here, but i had a honda and i honestly believe they make the best engines in the world, and my experience of their after sales customer care, was better than Mr T..I saw a statement once that frankly i didnt

believe Honda say that since they developed the Vtec,engine they have never had to replace one, anywhere in the world ever and honda do not stock replacement engine parts as they have never needed them, that to me is an impressive statement, The only thing Honda need to do is improve the looks of some of their vehicles.

Haw big man - yer wrang. British Rail made the best engines but some ****** closed it doon - the steam engines ran for miles.

As fur Honda - no bad...but dae they really make ALL of their engines?

Toyota use Yamaha heads fur their performance engines in the past.

Back a little further and the WEber carburettor has been an icon for decades and still is.

I've kent fawk wi Honda cars waur the engine wis smokey.

See the truble wi you lot - tae much money.

[hertsnminds]

How about anyone buying a new Rav sells the wheels with run flats to the dealer then you can buy whatever set of wheels and tyres you like to go on the car. If each tyre is close to £250 and a 17in alloy is about £175, 18in £205 you should get close to £2,000 off the price of your Rav to get what you like at each corner.

This also has the benefit for existing owners of building up stocks of run flats at the dealers.

[bothwell_buyer]

How about anyone buying a new Rav sells the wheels with run flats to the dealer then you can buy whatever set of wheels and tyres you like to go on the car. If each tyre is close to £250 and a 17in alloy is about £175, 18in £205 you should get close to £2,000 off the price of your Rav to get what you like at each corner.

This also has the benefit for existing owners of building up stocks of run flats at the dealers.

Eehhh?

£200+ fur an alloy wheel? Whit sort o wheel are ye buying thats gold-plated? £500 fur a set of 5.

Aw naw - dinna tell me yer a herts fan!

Onyway, ahm getting flattened and depressed by the whinging gaein oan aboot run flats. As its ony flat at the bottom, if ye drive fast enuf the flat bit will rise tae the top, an problem solved. Aw sorry - forgot ye cannae get up tae speed wi a 5 door (witness my attempts wi a new 5 door dieselly which had a physicality problem about 5000rpm.)

Whit tae dae is spin roon tae yer local forklift dealer an order some o their runflats. Maist o the tyres are low profile an solid as a rock - guaranteed never tae get a punctyour.

Nothing like airing a problem, but then when yer tyred an at a low, ye need tae pump yersel up and blaw yer trumpet mair.

[druand]

Hi Bothy.

My Honda comes fae Hamilton, is that no quite close tae you? and ma son stays in Bothwell. Might set eyes on the "bothmobile" some of these days. Maybe better use the Rav when visiting!!!

[jock1]

Who is this strange chap who writes on here in a strange dialect (Welsh i think) Calls himself Botham or something? He He He ,Lights blue touch paper and retires.

[Parts-King]

Hi Bothy.

My Honda comes fae Hamilton, is that no quite close tae you? and ma son stays in Bothwell. Might set eyes on the "bothmobile" some of these days. Maybe better use the Rav when visiting!!!

Never mind setting eyes on it, get in and have a go.....I still have the scorch marks to prove it

Kingo

[bothwell_buyer]

Who is this strange chap who writes on here in a strange dialect (Welsh i think) Calls himself Botham or something? He He He ,Lights blue touch paper and retires.

Ah wis educated at oldershaw grammar school in yer pairt o the country so dinna blame me ya sassynach!

[bothwell_buyer]

Hi Bothy.

My Honda comes fae Hamilton, is that no quite close tae you? and ma son stays in Bothwell. Might set eyes on the "bothmobile" some of these days. Maybe better use the Rav when visiting!!!

If yer son stays in Bothwell he either

1. sells drugs

2. is a footballer

3. his partner sells drugs

4. he's a drug company rep

5. he won the lottery

I had Silverwells House afore ma wife number wan died an jist when ah went totally mental! Noo a registered mental wi the bruises tae prove it!

The auld hotel hasnae been lived in since I left in 2002 - shame as I spent ma pension lump sum on daein the whole thing up. Then sum basssstidddd bought it frae me and sold it 4 months later fur a £330,000 profit - needless tae say it wis a drug dealer. That made me mair mental...an when ah got threatened by the local mafia, ma mentality went aff the rails.

So ye'll no see the RAV in Bothwell often - mainly nearby but. Aw ma time is noo spent trying tae help less fortunate people than me, hence the charity work. Thats soaked up a few grand o ma cash as weel but that ah dinna mind - its a good cause!!

Tae confuse fawk, a second bothmobile is slowly being engineered as we speak. A twin/clone. Wi an almost cloned number plate.

[druand]

Parts-King,

Re scorch marks, was taken out on test!!! run at last years British Off Road Championship (I was chief scrutineer for event) in a Landrover Defender lookalike fitted with engine from BMW M5 600bhp with auto box. Also been out in quite a few Bowlers.

My other Toyota photographs are in "next challenger to Rav" thread. It was Ralph Schumacers F1 car for which i was garage scrutineer at Silverstone 2006.

[bothwell_buyer]

Parts-King,

Re scorch marks, was taken out on test!!! run at last years British Off Road Championship (I was chief scrutineer for event) in a Landrover Defender lookalike fitted with engine from BMW M5 600bhp with auto box. Also been out in quite a few Bowlers.

My other Toyota photographs are in "next challenger to Rav" thread. It was Ralph Schumacers F1 car for which i was garage scrutineer at Silverstone 2006.

So ah'll no bother asking ye the logic o having a RAV dieselly motor. Cos there's none. Bet its got 5 doors as weel. :shutit:

[cliffords]

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.

[cliffords]

Hello to all T180 owners and unfortunate toyota run flat tyre owners!

All I can say is What a ridiculous idea the Toyota Run Flat tyres are if they take days to order in, can only be fitted in certain garages sometimes miles away from you, you cannot drive on them if you get a flat for fear of it costing an extra £100, they cost £230 at best to change, you could be stuck miles from anywhere with no spare, they will cause heavy depreciation of your car due to other people not wanting this feature, you could have to wait a few days before you are able drive you vehicle due to shortage of stockists! and the list goes on........

I intend to take this issue further as I have found hundreds of people unhappy about these tyres and feel Toyota have provided an extremely poor and unsafe product and sold it openly without people being informed of the downsides.

I WOULD WELCOME COMMENTS FROM PEOPLE WHO WISH TO SUPPORT ME AS THE MORE PEOPLE COMPLAIN THE STRONG THE CASE WILL BE.

Please contact me on toyotarunflat@yahoo.com

We recently purchased a Toyota Rav 4 T180 and have been delighted with it until my puncture on the first day of the school holidays! I drove home (10 miles) and rang various tyre companies to be told they wouldn't touch it with a barge pole as they needed specialist equipment. I rang the nearest Toyota garage who said it would be approx £150 and they needed to order the tyre in. The got it in for us the next day so i was over a day without the car, I then drove 5 miles to Toyota who said it would take under an hour to fit - 3 hours later and £230 later it was fixed! Driving on this tyre felt very unsafe and I did not feel fully in control of the car. It was nearly an extra £90 due to me driving on the run flat to get it to the garage (isn't that the whole purpose of them)! Luckily the inner rim was not too badly damaged. My main worry is that we bought this car becuase we have children and I do not want to be stuck on the side of the road. You could break down miles from home and a garage which happens to be able to change run flat tyres and even if they do they probably have none in stock. THIS IS DANGEROUS AND A SERIOUS SAFETY ISSUE. With the T180 having no spare what are you supposed to do? I cannot believe that this car has been able to be produced with this sort of technology which is marketed as a safety precaution when actually it is the complete opposite. I cannot express enough my dissatisfaction with Toyota and believe that all members who feel the same should join together to get Toyota to be forced to do something about it. Otherwise many other poeple will be fooled into buying a car which does not live up to its safety features and actually is potentially an extremely serious problem.

I look forward to hearing from anyone who feels the same. I feel so strongly about the safety issues attached to this and feel sure that many other drivers do to. Please contact me.

Thanks

Kind regards

Louise

[stevenorton]

Hello to all T180 owners and unfortunate toyota run flat tyre owners!

All I can say is What a ridiculous idea the Toyota Run Flat tyres are if they take days to order in, can only be fitted in certain garages sometimes miles away from you, you cannot drive on them if you get a flat for fear of it costing an extra £100, they cost £230 at best to change, you could be stuck miles from anywhere with no spare, they will cause heavy depreciation of your car due to other people not wanting this feature, you could have to wait a few days before you are able drive you vehicle due to shortage of stockists! and the list goes on........

I intend to take this issue further as I have found hundreds of people unhappy about these tyres and feel Toyota have provided an extremely poor and unsafe product and sold it openly without people being informed of the downsides.

I WOULD WELCOME COMMENTS FROM PEOPLE WHO WISH TO SUPPORT ME AS THE MORE PEOPLE COMPLAIN THE STRONG THE CASE WILL BE.

Please contact me on toyotarunflat@yahoo.com

We recently purchased a Toyota Rav 4 T180 and have been delighted with it until my puncture on the first day of the school holidays! I drove home (10 miles) and rang various tyre companies to be told they wouldn't touch it with a barge pole as they needed specialist equipment. I rang the nearest Toyota garage who said it would be approx £150 and they needed to order the tyre in. The got it in for us the next day so i was over a day without the car, I then drove 5 miles to Toyota who said it would take under an hour to fit - 3 hours later and £230 later it was fixed! Driving on this tyre felt very unsafe and I did not feel fully in control of the car. It was nearly an extra £90 due to me driving on the run flat to get it to the garage (isn't that the whole purpose of them)! Luckily the inner rim was not too badly damaged. My main worry is that we bought this car becuase we have children and I do not want to be stuck on the side of the road. You could break down miles from home and a garage which happens to be able to change run flat tyres and even if they do they probably have none in stock. THIS IS DANGEROUS AND A SERIOUS SAFETY ISSUE. With the T180 having no spare what are you supposed to do? I cannot believe that this car has been able to be produced with this sort of technology which is marketed as a safety precaution when actually it is the complete opposite. I cannot express enough my dissatisfaction with Toyota and believe that all members who feel the same should join together to get Toyota to be forced to do something about it. Otherwise many other poeple will be fooled into buying a car which does not live up to its safety features and actually is potentially an extremely serious problem.

I look forward to hearing from anyone who feels the same. I feel so strongly about the safety issues attached to this and feel sure that many other drivers do to. Please contact me.

Thanks

Kind regards

Louise

[stevenorton]

Hi, I have been having this conversation with my local Toyota dealer.

I have been quoted £250.00 per tyre replacement - this is their normal replacement charge and have been told that there is no-one else around me that can

change them.

Toyota Customer Services telephoned me yesterday following my complaint - basically their only comments were that more and more manufacturers are moving towards fitting these types of tyres as it provides business for their dealers but that there are independent tyre fitters who should be able to fit them cheaper than Toyota dealers, the only problem is, surprise, surprise they are having trouble finding any in my area that they could direct me to for an alternative quotation. I told them that I actually asked the salesman if the tyres were more expensive before I bought the car and was told that they were not and were easily available anywhere. They told me to take this up with my dealer. I have been told unofficially that Bridgestone will only supply the tyre fitted to the T180 from new to Toyota dealer-ships - if you look on the internet or enquire by phone no-one else can supply that particular tyre.

I have had my Rav 4 since new Dec 06 and have covered 22000 miles. It had noisy transmission from the word go until a bracket was changed about two months ago under warranty - apparently an accepted faulty design I have now been told. My wife broke down after 5000 miles apparently due to a faulty injector, the car later had to be returned for an updated fuel program. The front brake discs and pads had to be replaced under warranty at 10000 miles.

Originally we were only getting a maximum average of about 26 mp.g according to the computer over a range of driving, after the last service at 20000 this has now increased to about 28.5 although I am assured that nothing was done in the service that could have made any difference save the oil change. This mpg figure is nothing like the quoted figure in the brochure, previous replies to my querying this with my dealer have been : check your tyre pressures and that the 180 Hp is bound to use a lot more fuel than the 140Hp - I pointed out that there is very litlle difference according to the brochure. I can get the quoted figures by resetting the computer and driving on a flat road and not touching the accelerator or brake but thats not the point is it! I am getting to the point of taking the car in and getting the someone from the dealer-ship to drive the car and show me how to obtain the correct m.p.g. - waste of time as we all know - the dealer will blame Toyota and Toyota will suggest I contact the dealer. Finding the tyres were £250 each was the last straw for me and I actually went to my dealer two weeks ago to see how much they would give me if I handed the car back - £13500.00 - good eh only 50% depreciation in 18 months and 22000 miles. For as much as I would like to I cannot stomach a loss like that so I am stuck with the car. I agree totally with your comments about the tyres and will put my name to any protest to Toyota, the only problem is that the more publicity that is generated the more the re-sale value will be affected - personally I couldn't care about that and would like Toyota to be brought to book as I am not happy at all that the car matches the claims in the brochure and feel very disappointed.

Steve

Hello to all T180 owners and unfortunate toyota run flat tyre owners!

All I can say is What a ridiculous idea the Toyota Run Flat tyres are if they take days to order in, can only be fitted in certain garages sometimes miles away from you, you cannot drive on them if you get a flat for fear of it costing an extra £100, they cost £230 at best to change, you could be stuck miles from anywhere with no spare, they will cause heavy depreciation of your car due to other people not wanting this feature, you could have to wait a few days before you are able drive you vehicle due to shortage of stockists! and the list goes on........

I intend to take this issue further as I have found hundreds of people unhappy about these tyres and feel Toyota have provided an extremely poor and unsafe product and sold it openly without people being informed of the downsides.

I WOULD WELCOME COMMENTS FROM PEOPLE WHO WISH TO SUPPORT ME AS THE MORE PEOPLE COMPLAIN THE STRONG THE CASE WILL BE.

Please contact me on toyotarunflat@yahoo.com

We recently purchased a Toyota Rav 4 T180 and have been delighted with it until my puncture on the first day of the school holidays! I drove home (10 miles) and rang various tyre companies to be told they wouldn't touch it with a barge pole as they needed specialist equipment. I rang the nearest Toyota garage who said it would be approx £150 and they needed to order the tyre in. The got it in for us the next day so i was over a day without the car, I then drove 5 miles to Toyota who said it would take under an hour to fit - 3 hours later and £230 later it was fixed! Driving on this tyre felt very unsafe and I did not feel fully in control of the car. It was nearly an extra £90 due to me driving on the run flat to get it to the garage (isn't that the whole purpose of them)! Luckily the inner rim was not too badly damaged. My main worry is that we bought this car becuase we have children and I do not want to be stuck on the side of the road. You could break down miles from home and a garage which happens to be able to change run flat tyres and even if they do they probably have none in stock. THIS IS DANGEROUS AND A SERIOUS SAFETY ISSUE. With the T180 having no spare what are you supposed to do? I cannot believe that this car has been able to be produced with this sort of technology which is marketed as a safety precaution when actually it is the complete opposite. I cannot express enough my dissatisfaction with Toyota and believe that all members who feel the same should join together to get Toyota to be forced to do something about it. Otherwise many other poeple will be fooled into buying a car which does not live up to its safety features and actually is potentially an extremely serious problem.

I look forward to hearing from anyone who feels the same. I feel so strongly about the safety issues attached to this and feel sure that many other drivers do to. Please contact me.

Thanks

Kind regards

Louise

[MarsKy]

Hello - You should be getting better than 26/ 28.5 mpg. I found the trip computer pretty accurate on my T180 measured against actual fuel used and mileage. My 6500 mile T180 averages 45mpg cruising at 50-60mph, and 40mpg at 70mph. Around town driving I'm getting 35mpg. Style of driving and loading are important in getting the optimum mpg, but you should be getting better. It can wear you out, but keep badgering Toyota, as your past problems indicates you may have the "Friday car" (10 years ago my Jeep Cherokee was one of those, and after 3 months I was offered another car by the dealer, which was a RAV4 STAX - I ran the STAX for 5 years, gave it to my dad who ran it for 5 years, and he has just gave it to my brother, and it's been 10 years fault free driving. My ideal car would be the STAX as new, but with 180bhp engine).

Regarding "more and more manufacturers are moving towards fitting these types of tyres", I don't know if Kirk from Bridgestone reads these messages, but I'd be intrigued to see what other makes and models use the unconventional Bridgestone support ring run-flats.

[hertsnminds]

I'd be intrigued to see what other makes and models use the unconventional Bridgestone support ring run-flats.

According to their website http://www.runflat-system.com/product_en/index.html the RAV is the only one and only on European spec cars.

[MarsKy]

I'd be intrigued to see what other makes and models use the unconventional Bridgestone support ring run-flats.

According to their website http://www.runflat-system.com/product_en/index.html the RAV is the only one and only on European spec cars.

Yep - that's my point. I can't find any others.

We're Toyota's experiment to see if they can profit from their customer's misfortunes.

I've decided that once I get my first puncture, I'll take it on the chin and buy new alloys and tyres which can be repaired in an hour and for under a tenner.

I'm already looking to see if the space under the boot could be modified to take a spare or spacesaver.

[anchorman]

I'd have the lot off and a set of decent alloys and tyres on instead. A one off hit and not one penny more subscribed to the Toyota/Bridgestone cartel.

[Hoovie]

I've decided that once I get my first puncture, I'll take it on the chin and buy new alloys and tyres which can be repaired in an hour and for under a tenner.

I'm already looking to see if the space under the boot could be modified to take a spare or spacesaver.

Wonder what would be required to get the rear door spare wheen mounting back again? could be just a outer door skin?

[Bridgestone]

Hello All,

Yes I am still here, reading all that you say, it makes me sad to here of the problems your having with the Toyota agents, but there are lots of things about the system that are good, the main one being the stability of SUV vehicles in the event of Tyre pressure loss at high speed. it might never happen but the BSR will keep prevent the vehicle dropping onto the rim, the BSR also holds the Tyre to the rim to prevent the Tyre becoming detached (as you see shredded tyres at the roadside).

Please call me to find your local dealer who can replace your Tyres, and your all welcome to visit me here at Bridgestone and I will demo the fitting and removal of the system, and provide tea and coffee of course :)

Kirk

kirk.walker@bridgestone.eu

07989 359143

[duncerduncs]

Hello All,

Yes I am still here, reading all that you say, it makes me sad to here of the problems your having with the Toyota agents, but there are lots of things about the system that are good, the main one being the stability of SUV vehicles in the event of Tyre pressure loss at high speed. it might never happen but the BSR will keep prevent the vehicle dropping onto the rim, the BSR also holds the Tyre to the rim to prevent the Tyre becoming detached (as you see shredded tyres at the roadside).

Please call me to find your local dealer who can replace your Tyres, and your all welcome to visit me here at Bridgestone and I will demo the fitting and removal of the system, and provide tea and coffee of course :)

Kirk

kirk.walker@bridgestone.eu

07989 359143

Thanks for the kind offer Kirk, I have a feeling that our next Rav 4 meet might be to visit you!

Will all centres that are shown as 'Run Flat Services offered' on your dealer locator eventually be trained on the BSR system?

[Bridgestone]

Hi,

Yes we hope so, the Tyre fitting machines are not anything special to fit these tyres, they are normal Tyre fitting machines, the only part that is different is the seperate tool to insert the Support rings into the Tyres, then its all fitted together as one.

kirk.walker@bridgestone.eu

07989 359143

[sywy]

That is not what I've been told, by more than 1 dealer. They say that they have been 'forced' to but 2 special machines that cost tens of thousands of pounds!! I was told this by 2 or maybe 3 different dealers (I had to go thru 4 dealers to get a new tyre!!) . Also, why does it take 2+ hours to fit a tyre. My dealer had my car overnight, maybe 5 or 6 hours in working hours?

Also, I'd agree with cliffords that the car did not feel at all safe to drive, with a flat tyre. However, i have never driven with a flat tyre before, so do not know how it compares with a proper flat tyre. Actually, I remember that my local dealer advised me not to drive it, as it was unsafe!! This was after I had found out that they did not have a spare tyre in stock, and I told them I was trying another dealer ...

[anchorman]

Why does the US V6 engined variant with similar performance to our T180 have normal tyres?

[chatman]

Why does the US V6 engined variant with similar performance to our T180 have normal tyres?

Because the Americans would SUE the ***** off Toyota and throw up merry hell (think back the FORD problem on their tyres... not the same but the manufacture had to change them) We British just put up... but I think if the press actually knew more (which they are starting too) about these tyres (good in principle) but rubbish in real world motoring and usefulness (safety and use aside) when it comes down to actually using these in real world environments and the expense and inconvenience (who actually put these to test and thought about a user being with out a spare for upto a week as a good idea!!!!!!) when things do go wrong.... The fact is TOYOTA have not done their home work in realizing what implications you have to do to get them fixed... we see that things are being done now.. to correct the TOYOTA CARTEL on costs to replace... but what's the chance of actually being 50 miles or so from a dealer when the tyre may go, Oh and actually getting it fixed there and then....Hand on heart I say NONE.... So what use is it then.....