Runflat tire construction is optimized for tire ride comfort by reducing tire wall gauges in the tread-shoulder-to-upper-sidewall transition region and compensating with supporting sidewalls that constantly increase in thickness (gauge) from the transition region to a bead/flange area where a chafer extends above a wheel rim flange. Thus the bead and lower sidewall area are reinforced to a maximum and the shoulder area gets only the minimum stiffness necessary to achieve the required runflat performance. Within the context of wall gauges that constantly increase from the transition region to the bead/flange area, a mid-sidewall gauge ratio MSGR, being equal to a mid-sidewall gauge G2 divided by a shoulder gauge G1, is approximately within the range of 1.1 to 1.4, preferably approximately equal to 1.3; and a bead/flange gauge ratio BFGR, being equal to a bead/flange gauge G3 divided by a shoulder gauge G1, is approximately within the range of 1.5 to 1.8, preferably approximately equal to 1.7.