[jasonintoronto]

bridgestone announced 3g run flats last spring, but they're weren't available for sale in north america (japan got them).

i noticed this press release dated december and it's for a north american built car. hopefully this means the new tire tech will be available aftermarket soon. i'm willing to try these to replace the re050's instead of conventional non-RFT.

http://www.bridgestone-firestone.com...d=2009/091202a

[2kaccordocoupe]

interesting... good find.

[jasonintoronto]

autoblog did a test of them on a bmw:

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/07/06/r...npage_autoblog

We drove the conventional RE050A first. A high-performance tire fitted to such cars as the Nissan 370Z and Lexus IS-F, the standard rubber was comfortable on the smooth sections. The course/rough pavements didn't provide much of a challenge either as the compliant sidewalls absorbed the abuse without drama. We've put thousands of miles on these high-rated tires in the real world with few complaints.

Next, we tried a set of RE050A "2G" run-flats, the OEM application found on thousands of late-model BMW and MINI models. Owners appreciate the run-flat technology, but have raised issues with ride quality initiated by the stiff sidewalls and additional mass rotating on each wheel. While they were comfortable on the smooth sections, the compromises of the 2G run-flats were immediately evident when we entered the first sections of rough pavement. What had been damped by shock-absorbing sidewalls on the standard tires was now transferred into the cabin in the form of sharp, and rather uncomfortable, impacts. This test reinforced what many owners have expressed and what we have personally experienced.

The final run through the test course was done with the all-new RE050A "3G" run-flats. Eureka! Surprising even the skeptics among us, the third-generation tires were nearly imperceptible in ride quality from the standard tires (non run-flat) we had driven on merely minutes earlier. The ride was very comfortable. According to Bridgestone, test instruments reveal that the slight difference in ride quality was a near-imperceptible 5 percent change in harshness.

[Oulixes]

Originally Posted by jasonintoronto

bridgestone announced 3g run flats last spring, but they're weren't available for sale in north america (japan got them).

i noticed this press release dated december and it's for a north american built car. hopefully this means the new tire tech will be available aftermarket soon. i'm willing to try these to replace the re050's instead of conventional non-RFT.

http://www.bridgestone-firestone.com...d=2009/091202a

Did you get from the article how is the 3G Bridgestone labeled? I did not. The article in http://www.bridgestone-firestone.com...d=2009/091202a refers to Turanzas with a 55 aspect ratio, and the autoblog http://www.autoblog.com/2009/07/06/r...npage_autoblog talks about RE050A for both 2G RFT and 3G RFT. Say, if you look at a set of new RE050A Bridgestones dated (xx10), how can you tell if they are 2G or 3G?

[jasonintoronto]

they're not for sale yet so i'm not sure. but if you look at tire rack, they have items for:
Potenza RE050A I RFT
Potenza RE050A II RFT

so...it could be Potenza RE050A III RFT but we won't know until it comes out.

[Oulixes]

Originally Posted by jasonintoronto

they're not for sale yet so i'm not sure. but if you look at tire rack, they have items for:
Potenza RE050A I RFT
Potenza RE050A II RFT

so...it could be Potenza RE050A III RFT but we won't know until it comes out.

Thanks for the reply, what you say makes sense. I am in the market to replace tires on my 330xi, which now rides in summer on 17-inch all seasons ContiProContacts, and was curious if I could get into 3G tires.

[jasonintoronto]

i thought they were coming out last summer since they announced it in spring 09. but hopefully they come out this summer.

[Oulixes]

Originally Posted by jasonintoronto

i thought they were coming out last summer since they announced it in spring 09. but hopefully they come out this summer.

Still looking for them.

[cfabluenose]

Even if they are vastly improved, it still seems as if there is hardly any selection at all. Until the range of choices expands greatly, I would rather stick with non RFT's.

[Oulixes]

Originally Posted by cfabluenose

Even if they are vastly improved, it still seems as if there is hardly any selection at all. Until the range of choices expands greatly, I would rather stick with non RFT's.

You are likely right. The 3G runflats got good reviews and have been tested, but are not available, at least not yet.

[BRAISKI]

It would be nice if the 2011 BMWs will have this...

[Oulixes]

Originally Posted by BRAISKI

It would be nice if the 2011 BMWs will have this...

It is possible MY2011 will have them, but you likely know that there is no choice in tires. The cars come with whatever is available at assembly time, it may be Bridgestone, Michelin, or Continental. If you care where the tires are made, bear in mind that it may be any EU country, not necessarily Germany or Japan.

[Kid Eh]

Originally Posted by BRAISKI

It would be nice if the 2011 BMWs will have this...

Most people don't know or care about the tires. I was well aware of this when I ordered my car. I made sure to tell the salesman that the car had to have the Michelin runflats and not the Bridgestones when I picked it up. He scoured the lot and found a car with them and swapped them out for me. A little grease in the palms (a bottle of scotch in my case) doesn't hurt either.

[shipill]

any updates?