Tyre choice

[billi]

Hi all , I dont know if this subject has ever been raised as I did do a search and came up with nothing. I have just gone and got myself a set of ac schnitzer type 3 17" wheels and now for the tyre choice my z3 is a 1998 1.9 , so what make and size would you recommend for front and back ???? Got to say I dont know a lot about wheels and tyres and it would be helpful for your advice

[Pep]

I've got 17" type 3s and they came with 225 45 R17 front and back.

I had a blow out on the rear ns so I replaced both rears with ContactSport 5s in the same size and I'm about to replace the fronts with the same again.

I expect you could go wider but there'll probably be more tramlining.

I'm no expert though, just letting you know how mine were set up. By the looks of the tyres it came with they were only the 2nd set since new

[PCSAM]

as you have the narrow body(pre facelift ) you may hit a few problems with the rears if you go for bigger at the back nice alloys lets see some pics of them

[Pep]

Just noticed the typo in my post, I meant the 255 45 R17

[Robert T]

Just noticed the typo in my post, I meant the 255 45 R17

Really? Think you might have been right first time.

Standard tyres for 17" wheels on 7.5J fronts were 225/45 ZR17 and on 8.5J rears 245/40 ZR17 (assuming wider rears - if the wheels were same front and rear, then they would be 225/45s all round).

Any wider than 235 on the front will likely rub, and the the wider they are the heavier the steering and more likely it is to tramline. If you go for wider tyres, then make sure you come down on the profile to maintain the rolling radius.

Cheers R.

[Pep]

Just noticed the typo in my post, I meant the 255 45 R17

Really? Think you might have been right first time.

Standard tyres for 17" wheels on 7.5J fronts were 225/45 ZR17 and on 8.5J rears 245/40 ZR17 (assuming wider rears - if the wheels were same front and rear, then they would be 225/45s all round).

Any wider than 235 on the front will likely rub, and the the wider they are the heavier the steering and more likely it is to tramline. If you go for wider tyres, then make sure you come down on the profile to maintain the rolling radius.

Cheers R.

bah i'm not sure at all now, after i posted i tried to zoom in on a photo on my phone to see and it looked like 255 but it was really blurred!

I'm happy to bow to your superior knowledge!

[Robert T]

I looked it up.

Cheers R.

[billi]

Hi thanks for the tips, am looking at michelins at the moment and reading a lot of reviews and it seems to me its down to personal choice . When it came to replacing the tyres on my motorbike I always stuck to the same make which was Bridgestones , the tyres I had on the z3 when I bought it were 16" budget ones so now I got the 17" wheels thought I would go for some good ones. Trying to get my head around how you put some photos on here of the car so bare with me yeh

[billi]

Hopefully this works and here's some pics.http://i1287.photobucket.com/albums/a63 ... a861c1.jpg http://i1287.photobucket.com/albums/a63 ... 48b110.jpg and now the new wheels http://i1287.photobucket.com/albums/a63 ... 7fdbf0.jpg

[Alfie]

I used to swear by Goodyear Eagle F1 GSD3. Great performance, and a tread pattern that looked SO cool...!
But GSD3s are now superseded and difficult to find, so after a fair bit of research, RED is now shod in Vredestein Ultrac Sessantas.
I'm not into paying silly money for rubber, so the mid-price, high performance Sessantas were an obvious choice being at or near the top of most of the 'best of' tyre charts.
They feel more planted and confident than any other tyre I've ever tried. The car hasn't put a foot wrong since they were fitted. Don't know about longevity yet, but the only down-point is slightly increased road noise.

Go check 'em out!

A.

[billi]

Thanks Alfie will check them out, same here I don't want to pay a fortune as I just replaced all 4 tyres on our mini cooper clubman and they were all run flats so you can imagine the price on them .

[sobe_on]

prefer 225 45 17 x 4 or F 225 45 17 / R 245 45 17.

[Pep]

I checked this weekend and I'm running 225 45 r17 front and 245 40 r17 rear

[billi]

Thanks pep when I bought the wheels they were fitted with 225/45/17 all round and 2 were barely legal so thought get the wheels refurbished and good tyres all round . When I did try them out on the car they were quite close to the strut so if I do go for 245/40/17 on the rear I would need to space them out a bit thats if I can get awy with it or just stick with 225/45/17 either way they looked great on the car , thanks for all the advice anyway will post some photos when I get them done