[RM7]

1. Most new tires are far better than old tires of the 60s and 70s. If you get a nail or screw in them, they'll often self-seal with the sticky rubber inside, or at least do it enough that you can drive to a place to get a plug/replacement. If not, then use some sealant.

2. If you actually use the run-flat feature, as in run the tires with insufficient pressure, this ruins the sidewall and it must be replaced. But wait, there's more! You get to buy two or 4 new tires, to match the tread. Or you can possibly buy one and get it shaved down, but either way you are paying a lot more for tires than if you had a non-runflat setup.

3. They won't help you with catastrophic failures, so it's generally the stuff that could be sealed with sealant or plugs.

4. If you frequent deserted stretches with the next major city hundreds of miles away (everyone always seems to claim this) then a spare donut or maybe runflats are in order, but the % of people that really need this is going to be a small % in reality.

I've had a few punctures over the years, but nothing where a runflat would have helped or was necessary. Yes, you are hedging against some crazy one-off, but there's a lot of crazy-one-offs that could happen, such as the engine blowing up. IMO, the runflats are more about a higher price and amount of profit associated with it. It allows them to charge more because you think you are getting something for it, but in reality, what you are getting is never used.