Not a fun day for my wife or her Clarity

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Has anyone tried run flats on the Clarity yet? Since the Clarity uses rotational speed instead of actual tire pressure to sense a flat, I wonder if the run flats rotational speed will vary enough when “flat” to trigger the dashboard light.
 
Clarity uses indirect pressure monitoring by monitoring rotational speed & diameter as long as all 4 tires have the same diameter to start with...

My first BMW 20 years ago had this and worked well.

RFT will behave no differently than a conventional set - the RFT have additional sidewall layers to allow the weight of the car and wheels to ride on a zero pressure tire.
 
4sallypat said:
Clarity uses indirect pressure monitoring by monitoring rotational speed & diameter as long as all 4 tires have the same diameter to start with...
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Maybe I'm not understanding your response, but the use of rotational sensors instead of pressure sensors is the impetus of my question. I understand that the Clarity uses rotational speed based on the diameter of the tires to sense a flat tire. The question is if the diameter of the fun flat will change significantly enough when no longer supported by air pressure for the system to pick up a difference in rotational speed and warn the driver of a flat. Otherwise the driver could travel too far on a run flat with no supporting air pressure, which could be dangerous.
 
MichiganClarity said:
Maybe I'm not understanding your response, but the use of rotational sensors instead of pressure sensors is the impetus of my question. I understand that the Clarity uses rotational speed based on the diameter of the tires to sense a flat tire. The question is if the diameter of the fun flat will change significantly enough when no longer supported by air pressure for the system to pick up a difference in rotational speed and warn the driver of a flat. Otherwise the driver could travel too far on a run flat with no supporting air pressure, which could be dangerous.
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That's an excellent question to send to the Tire Rack. The techs there would have enough experience to answer it accurately. I'm 'guessing' the answer might be no, there's isn't enough difference in diameter with a "flat" run-flat to trigger the Clarity TPMS?
 
I'm betting that the difference would trigger the Clarity TPMS. If not, however, there are good TPMS aftermarket sensors (either inside tire or valve cap) that could be used. Pretty cheap addition if you are already springing for the RFTs.
 
I guess in this case, I am happy to drive in ignorance :). In all my years of driving, I have never noticed any difference in how my car drives after changing tires on them.
 
I just got back from the tire place (finding someplace other than the dealer I bought the car from who would take the Zurich road hazard coverage was a bear). Turns out, I had bolts in 3 of my tires (one wasn't leaking or making noise so I didn't know). They repaired the tires and I'm back to normal now. When I do replace them, it seems there are some good and economical LRR tires now. I'll probably replace them with Bridgestone Ecopia 422 Plus when the time comes.
 
KentuckyKen said:
Ken7, did the Honda dispatched Roadside Assistance guy say your only option was a tow since Claritys don’t come w spares? As in he doesn’t carry a spare to let you continue in your trip?
So if this happens after hours or weekends are you stuck until a Honda dealer is open?
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Okay, I never got around to posting my awful experience with Roadside Assistance. I'll also admit to being the one who remembers posting a rather snarky reply when someone in this forum complained about the lack of a spare. I commented that I have driven 30+ years and had maybe 2 flats in all those years and it is ludicrous to put a spare in every car for such a rare event. Karma's a *****.

I was 150 miles from home when my tire blew in the early winter afternoon in Minnesota. We happened to have had a couple of major snowstorms followed by extremely cold weather (the polar vortex). The run flat fix did not work (sidewall damage). When I called roadside assistance, they told me they would get back to me with information on a tow, but after three calls back to them in two hours, I was told they were finding it almost impossible to find a tow as everyone was busy and that it may be the next day before they could find someone. Luckily I was in town (on the U of Minnesota campus) and could find an Uber to my appointment in town as well as a hotel for the night. They called me close to midnight and connected me with a tow truck and they said they would only them to tow me to a Honda dealership, which was closed on Sunday. So, no one would even look at it until Monday. I explained that this did not work for me as I needed to head back home (150 miles away) and be at work Monday morning. After a lot of negotiating, they agreed to tow my car to a Walmart so that I could get a new tire put in Sunday afternoon so I could be back that evening.

Overall it was a horrible experience and would have been much worse if I had been on the side of a highway waiting for hours instead of on campus. It took them several hours (and repeated call backs) even to get them to find a tow truck for me.

Hopefully this will be the last flat I'll have during my ownership of the Clarity.
 
Rajiv Vaidyanathan said:
Okay, I never got around to posting my awful experience with Roadside Assistance. I'll also admit to being the one who remembers posting a rather snarky reply when someone in this forum complained about the lack of a spare. I commented that I have driven 30+ years and had maybe 2 flats in all those years and it is ludicrous to put a spare in every car for such a rare event. Karma's a *****.

I was 150 miles from home when my tire blew in the early winter afternoon in Minnesota. We happened to have had a couple of major snowstorms followed by extremely cold weather (the polar vortex). The run flat fix did not work (sidewall damage). When I called roadside assistance, they told me they would get back to me with information on a tow, but after three calls back to them in two hours, I was told they were finding it almost impossible to find a tow as everyone was busy and that it may be the next day before they could find someone. Luckily I was in town (on the U of Minnesota campus) and could find an Uber to my appointment in town as well as a hotel for the night. They called me close to midnight and connected me with a tow truck and they said they would only them to tow me to a Honda dealership, which was closed on Sunday. So, no one would even look at it until Monday. I explained that this did not work for me as I needed to head back home (150 miles away) and be at work Monday morning. After a lot of negotiating, they agreed to tow my car to a Walmart so that I could get a new tire put in Sunday afternoon so I could be back that evening.

Overall it was a horrible experience and would have been much worse if I had been on the side of a highway waiting for hours instead of on campus. It took them several hours (and repeated call backs) even to get them to find a tow truck for me.

Hopefully this will be the last flat I'll have during my ownership of the Clarity.
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Thank you for posting. This is good information to know. I don't know that AAA would be any better, but glad I still have that for a few more months, and may rethink letting it expire. Will also reopen my search for a spare.
 
MajorAward said:
Thank you for posting. This is good information to know. I don't know that AAA would be any better, but glad I still have that for a few more months, and may rethink letting it expire. Will also reopen my search for a spare.
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Unlike HondaCare, AAA will tow your car somewhere besides the closest Honda dealer, if you choose.
 
Ken7 said:
Got a call from my wife today that she had a flat. I went out to see what I could do and used the sealant kit that came with the car. It did nothing since this was apparently a sidewall issue that I could not see.

So we called Honda Roadside Assistance after it was apparent the sealant kit was having no effect...oh for the days of spare tires. Honda said it would be 90 minutes before a tow truck would show up. So I scouted around the area in my car and found a Mavis Discount Tire Center. I called my wife and had her limp into the Tire Center. There they confirmed the sidewall issue and told us they did not stock Michelin tires. Plan B. We waited two hours for the tow truck to come after giving them our new location...2 hours!

We eventually got towed to the nearest Honda Dealer. They were very nice there and did have the Michelin replacement. Although we had to wait 2 hours there too, they were nice enough to take us without an appointment on a very busy day.

Peace has been restored.
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Ken7 said:
Ken, sorry I saw your post so late! Yes, the only option was a tow. They flat-bedded the car and we bought a new one.

I'm just finding the frequency of flats more than a bit concerning.
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Just figured I'd post a couple of experiences I had with Honda Roadside Assistance.

In April 2019 the 12V battery died after being parked with the radio on for 10 mins. Turns out the battery wore down while the car wasn't being used for a few weeks at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. (BTW, if you don't already know, you can't use the car in full EV mode when the 12V battery is dead. I had a good 30 miles of range left in the high voltage batteries but was still left high and dry.) I called Honda and during the discussion it came up that I had AAA and the rep said they subcontract to AAA in my area (eastern MA) so it would be quicker to call them directly.

I just called them again (Dec 2020) after getting a flat due to hitting a pothole and learned they would only tow the car to a Honda dealership as someone mentioned earlier in this thread. I wish I had known that before getting the local tire guy I use to have a tire delivered from their warehouse. Now I can either 1) have my local tire guy send the tire back (not happening) and tow it to a Honda dealership, 2) pay to have it towed to my local tire guy (my AAA membership lapsed) or 3) remove the tire and take it to my local tire guy. Had I known the towing limitation of Honda Roadside Assistance I would have just had it towed to Honda in the first place. I hope this helps someone.
 
Tucker's Dad said:
BTW, if you don't already know, you can't use the car in full EV mode when the 12V battery is dead.
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My experience today is that when the 12V battery is dead, the car is dead. I don't know how you were able to get your Clarity going in any mode without power from the 12V battery. I'm glad I didn't have to call HondaCare. Perhaps some may find my ordeal instructive, others may find it amusing.

We didn't drive our Clarity for a few weeks and when I got into the car today, no lights came on and the Start button did nothing. Remember the good-old days when the sound of a clicking solenoid was the harbinger of a failed battery (or starter motor)? The sound of silence was my indication I was going nowhere.

The front of the Clarity was parked under an overhanging shelf, so I couldn't open the hood and attach my battery charger. Because the Clarity can't be shifted into neutral without a 12V battery, I couldn't push the 2-ton beast out from under the overhanging shelf.

I thought about getting an automobile battery charger that plugged into the cigarette lighter socket, but because Honda cigarette-lighter sockets are disconnected from the power when the car is turned off, such a battery charger wouldn't work.

There was almost no room between the right side of the Clarity and the Honda lawnmower and Honda snow-blower (with a bicycle hanging above). I have to move the Clarity out of the garage to get either of them out. I couldn't imagine getting a jack under the car from the right side to get a dolly under the right front wheel. The last thing I wanted was to have a tow truck dragging my Clarity, stuck in Park, out of the garage.

Fortunately, after putting a towel between the hood and the shelf, I was able to raise the hood 6 inches and.wedge a cardboard box under the hood to hold it up. Then I went around to the right side of the car and contorted my body to move between the car and the mower and snow-blower.

After folding the mirror, I sidled sideways with my weight on only my right knee and my chest pressed against the right-side doors as I inched my way towards the front of the car. Eventually I was able to attach the battery charger to the battery in the right-front of the engine bay. When my wife stopped laughing she was able to take this photo:

upload_2020-12-29_17-14-40.webp


Two hours later, after crawling back to disconnect the battery charger, the car started (with the frequently reported display of multiple error messages). Apparently, my Clarity accepted my pain and suffering as penance for neglecting it for so long. Too bad it couldn't use its last Watt-minute of 12V power to send a HondaLink cry for help.

After the Clarity was able to start, I left it on for a half-hour to let the traction battery add more charge to the 12V battery through the DC-to-DC converter. I was happy the radio didn't lose its station settings. I didn't have to re-pair my phone, but my contact list was gone. I had to calibrate the tire-pressure monitoring system, but after that my Clarity was ready to go.
 
MNSteve said:
Both of us are taking our luck in our hands by posting ... but my experience is the same. My personal cost/benefit analysis on having a spare tire these days is the same as the Clarity's decision ... not worth the space/weight and the repair kit is a reasonable compromise. And frankly, I am not that interested in taking my life in my hands to change a tire on the side of the road; I read too many very sad stories about what happens in these cases to the tire-changers.
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That’s a good point. Changing your own tire on the side of the road in less than ideal conditions is at least a little risky. Maybe a compromise to carrying a full spare with wheel is to just keep a spare tire only in the trunk so that the car can be towed pretty much anywhere to have that spare tire mounted to your rim.
 
I've been fortunate enough that the last three flats I have had were where I could pull off the main road/highway (two of these - one a Wendy's and one a grocery store) and the other was near enough to a exit road that had a really wide shoulder at it's interconnection - plenty wide enough to get me way off the road. I agree that if you can't be where you are safe to change the tire, it isn't worth the risk. Also worth mentioning is that level ground is really needed. Much of a grade at all can make jacking a car risky, even if you are using wheel chocks properly.
 
MajorAward said:
Thank you for posting. This is good information to know. I don't know that AAA would be any better, but glad I still have that for a few more months, and may rethink letting it expire. Will also reopen my search for a spare.
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I actually had a similar experience with State Farm and emergency roadside when I got stuck in the snow in a parking lot back in 2000/1 I ended up getting pulled out by a semi driver. They got me back on the road and I was able to get almost all of the way home when I got a call back to let me know they were still trying to find someone to pull me out.
another trip modifying thing happened with my wife’s optima and Kia‘s roadside it took them over an hour to get to us we got taken to the nearest dealer who said they could get us in and then they were unable to repair the tire and or at the end of the day/closing so they couldn’t get to us till the next day. We ended up getting my cousin to take us back to our home to get my Civic hybrid and moving everything between cars so we could continue the trip. I now carry the plug patch kits with me.
 
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