They will wear the same as traditional tyres, and must still have a tread depth of more than 1.6mm in order to remain road legal. If the system alerts you, it’s important not to ignore this as there could be a chance that one (or more) of your tyres has experienced a puncture. If your vehicle has a Tyre Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) then it’s highly likely that it uses run flats.Īs the name suggests, a TPMS tracks the pressure in your tyres, and will alert you if there are any problems. You can simply continue on with your journey, and then arrange to have the tyre replaced as soon as possible. So, if you experience a flat tyre, you don’t need to pull over in a potentially dangerous location to change it. If your vehicle uses run flats, then there’s no need for you to carry a spare. They have a reinforced sidewall that is stronger than the sidewall on older tyres, which means they can hold the weight of the vehicle, passengers, and load in the event of a puncture.

Once punctured, you’re free to drive using them for a period of time, until you’re able to have the tyre replaced. Thanks to their safety advantages, most new cars now come with run flats fitted as standard.

They do exactly what you might imagine they do based on the name - they still run when they’re flat. Initially, you may consider that a huge disadvantage, but they have huge advantages over traditional tyres, so check out the below and weigh up the positives and negatives. Due to the way they’re constructed, run flat tyres can’t be repaired.

Can you patch a run flat tire