Run-flat tyres

In recent years the leading tyre makers have been racing each other to advertise their latest achievement: tyres that are not afraid of punctures. These tyres are called run-flat tyres. Given a whole range of factors, though, this advertising looks more like a false start in a race - the market is not yet ready for a mass takeover by thick-profile tyres.

Serhii Maslov Section: About tyres 9 articles

“Puncture-proof” run-flat tyres

Not so long ago, tyres began appearing on the tyre market that, according to their makers, do away completely with the need for a car’s spare wheel. Is that really true?

In general, the idea of a tyre that is not afraid of punctures has occupied inventors’ imaginations ever since the pneumatic tyre itself was invented (a tyre whose shape is held by the pressure of the air pumped into it), as a concept. It is worth noting that such tyres were invented by Robert Thomson as far back as 1846.

Over the last few decades countless different concepts of a “puncture-proof” tyre have been tried, from a solid construction (which needs no air at all) to filling tyres with a special elastic sealant able to automatically “seal up” small punctures. In the end, though, every tyre maker arrived at the same conclusion: the best way to develop the idea is to reinforce the tyre’s sidewalls - the so-called self-supporting tyre.

It is precisely these tyres that lose comparatively little in performance and, in some cases, really are able to do away with the need for a spare wheel as such. That said, this is only relevant in certain situations for now, and running modern run-flat tyres still comes with a number of nuances that any motorist thinking about buying this novelty absolutely needs to understand.

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