Have a friend who has a Honda Van with RFTS ,said he has to replace wheels when he replaces tires because the stock wheel are made with a extra grove for the RFTS , THAT CAN NOT PUT NEW NON RFTS on the stock wheels . Tire guys tells him he need special tire changer to take tires off , so they going cut holes in old RFTS to remove tire sensors .
Runflats are notoriously hard to get off of the rims as they are very tight. BUT, you can put new runflats on the original wheels. The shop just needs to be familiar enough with them to do the job. Sounds like he needs a new tire shop.
He really needs to find another tire shop. The wheels are the same weather you have run flats or non runflats. Gutterman's friend needs to go to tire kingdom or Discount tire. The person that wants to sell him new wheels is either a crook or just plain stupid. As far a a tire changer there is no super special unit that is needed. They just need a later less then ten years old tire changer with the proper fittings for all of the different applications. Extra Groove ???? WHAT???? DUH???? I don't think so.:crazy: