Hey guys, so I currently lease a 2015 Infiniti Q50 in Long Island. I’ve had 2 awful experiences with the run flats on my car. First, at 30k miles, yes 30k miles!!! the treads were so worn they had to be replaced. Then 2 weeks later I got a flat tire and they came nowhere close to getting me 50 miles going 50mph so I had to pull over to the side of the road and wait 3 hrs for a tow truck in the middle of January… not fun. So with that all happening I’ve sworn off getting another car with run flats.
Now when I leased my 2015 q50, the sport model (which I obviously didn’t get) had tires that weren’t run flat. Now it seems all 2018 Infiniti makes and models come with run flats?
My lease is ending soon so I’m in the market for a new car. Do infiniti dealers ever put on tires or offer plans with tires that aren’t run flats?
I also hear that most/all? BMW models come with run flats. Are there any other luxury car brands that use run flats? I’m trying to figure out my options
Buy a set of regular tires, and slap the run flats on at the end of the lease. Many people have done this, however you have to keep in mind the lack of spare tire.
BMW is almost 100% run flat. The mainstream BMWs are all run flat. Can’t speak for the others. Caddy was using run flats for awhile, but I think they went back to regular tires. My father in law had run flats on his 15 CTS, and got the dealer to swap them for free after the fact.
I wouldn’t let a set of tires sway you from a particular car if you otherwise like it. There are “loopholes” regarding the tires.
Oh snap… does a lease need to be returned with run-flat tires or does infiniti not care?
I put regular tires on my Q50 and it’s going back in a week or two.
I am on my 2nd Q50 with runflats and the best I thought is to use them for 20K odd and than replace them with a set of brand new regular All-Season performance tires (i changed to Kumho Escta) and sell that set with the 20k odd to someone who is about to return their lease and need something to replace the worn out tire.
If you time your purchase of the regular tire with memorial day / labor day sale or other such sale on discounttire.com you can have the new tires for around 375 for the set less 150 back for rebates (between discounttire and the manufacturer) bringing per tire cost to around $70 (14 to balance and install) after installation per tire. I did it on my last Q50 and will do it again this time round as well.
That cost for all four new tires is cheaper than buying a spare tire with the car and you still get money back selling your old RF.
RF are not that great but I can certainly live with them especially in the first 10k they are pretty good so taking them to 20k is not the worst thing ever. I have not had a flat in last 15 years where I had to change the tire on the road and even with run flats on don’t expect that you will make it to your destination without getting a fix as mentioned by the OP.
My other car is an BMW I3 and it has regular tires and no spare either, not even an option for it as there is an engine in the spare tire bay. They must have some statistics to prove that most cars don’t get flats which needs to be changed right away and it very well can happen if you are unlucky but the chances of it happening are not that high.
I have given my 2014 Q50 back with non-RF tires but only got banged for 1 tire that was apparently too worn. But I have heard some people getting railed for 4 non-RF tires and then some that have returned the car with non-RF tires and never heard back. So, I’m not sure. Maybe someone else can chime in and enlighten us?
In theory, if you had runflats at inception, and they are listed on the Monroney, you should return with runflats. Some may be lucky with regard to the person inspecting the car at term, but I wouldn’t bank on that being gospel.
This if the way to go, every time. No reason to drive with crappy OEM tires (that are only being used because the automaker and the tiremaker made a deal).
For the love of God and all that’s Holy - get the insurance for the run flats if you do end up with them!!! (Or get separate set as others have suggested. I didn’t on my first q50 hybrid lease several years back and had 3!! nails/screws that were all close to sidewall, so ~$1500 out of pocket.
One thing I can offer anyone in NY/NJ, if you purchase tires on Tirerack, they have a warehouse in Windsor, CT. If you order from there, it’s pretty quick to get to NY/NJ. If you want to save on shipping, I could pick the tires up and can meet somewhere as I work about 10-15 minutes away from the warehouse. I just did that for a friend, saved about $50 on shipping.
Google used tires near me … lots of tire shops that sell tires with 75% or more tred on them. Not spending $250 bucks a tire to return back to the dealer. 70 bucks for run flats 50 for regular tires. Can’t beat it
Agreed, that’s probably the better way to go, until you have to return the car. I would assume since it came with RFT’s, you’ll have to return them with it. Also, on Tirerack - you can pick up a decent tire for $100.
