New tyres

[Tilly]

Since new the car has always had F1 Eagles.

Tyres have been replaced several times but the wheels are the original unfurbished ones now 15 years old. Unfortunately, yesterday I clipped the apex on a left had bend and took a three inch strip out of the tyre sidewall and gouged about 6 inches out of the rim edge. Proves you don't have to be a GP1 driver in Singapore to do it. I am now going to have to the wheel refurbished. The damage was checked by BWM garage and a tyres specialist and both said and rim is repairable, only problem would be matching colour so they both recommended to do all four.Well they would say that. Since I am not into concourse, as long as the finish is close to the others I am not really that fussed. The car has the original paintwork and I know every dent and ding picked up over the last 130,000Km. Garage said tyre is still drivable and when I get new boots they can send all four wheels away for refub. I will get new tyres immediatedly the electrics on the estate have been sorted.

The question is which tyres? Cannot now get the old F1's. BMW recommend Continental sports( fitted £681) and the independent specialist, Michelin Sports( fitted £830).

Any recommendations would really be appreciated.

[Zedona]

Falken 458's are excellent and just under £100 a corner.
I replaced the original Dunlop SP Sports and noticed an immediate
improvement in handling

[Gazza]

Wheel refurb at Lepsons in Chatham will be around £65 + vat each, I had mine done and I'm very pleased with the result.

If you want to stay with Goodyear, the Eagle Assymetric are very good.

I've gone back to Michelin PS2, difficult to get now but outstanding in wet and dry, not cheap either.

[Tilly]

The tyre specialist recommended Lepsons to repair the wheel. They said it would take about a week and cost about £80. However the damage would have to be assessed by the expertes before a specific qiuote could be given. The BWM agent quote a price of £110.

The Michelins I can get. Costly, but since it is only four little strips of rubber that keep you and the car intact it is worth getting the best.

I will find out about the Goodyear Assymetric. The F1 are great in the dry but you need to take great care in the wet and cold.

Thanks for the info.

[Tilly]

Falken 458's are excellent and just under £100 a corner.
I replaced the original Dunlop SP Sports and noticed an immediate
improvement in handling

Thanks I have not considered Falkens. I will get some info and check them out. The cost seems very inexpensive!

[Badman gee]

veredestein ultrac sessantas are excellent.

ive had them on my m for 18 months.

top reviewed tyres for a good price.

from here,

lovely tread pattern too.

http://www.camskill.co.uk/m61b758s134p1 ... _TL_/RS_GB

[Tilly]

veredestein ultrac sessantas are excellent.

ive had them on my m for 18 months.

top reviewed tyres for a good price.

from here,

lovely tread pattern too.

http://www.camskill.co.uk/m61b758s134p1 ... _TL_/RS_GB

Oh how complicated things are becomming.

Three people replied and I now have five options, all different.

Is it because:
1. There is really only a subjective difference between any of the major brands and personal preference is the deciding factor.
2. There has been no objective measurement of comparitive performance on the ZM. ( How would you conduct an objective evaluation equivalent to a clinical trail on drugs).
3. Since performance is similar, price and availablity are proving key factors.

One would hope that BMW themselves would have the data but I feel recommendation is more for commercial reasons than ones based on scientific evaluation.

Thanks for all the replies. Personal recommendation is very important even if it makes the decision making harder.

[weegeoff]

Camskill do falkens as well as veredestiens

[Murf]

Had a full set of the ultrac sessanta put on my car in July - was swayed by the number of positive reviews and also the price (£450 fitted). All good so far although done very little driving in the wet.

[Z3cade]

I have continental contact sport 3s all round on mine - came on the car.. Great tyres but not cheap..

I ran falkens on my 2.8 also a good tyre for the money..

[Trevsky]

Another one for you to contemplate, Matador MP46 Hectorra 2. I am very pleased with them. Cured the tramlining, transformed the car, reasonably priced. Apparently a subsidiary of Continental, good enough for me. I chose then after reading testimonials on 'Tyre Reviews'

[siwilson]

Lepsons are good I can vouch for that. More local to you though are these guys Wheel Works UK in Crawley. I used them to do mine in Shadow Chrome (£65 a corner) and the result was not bad at all. 18 months or so later and the finish is holding up.

[Tilly]

Lepsons are good I can vouch for that. More local to you though are these guys Wheel Works UK in Crawley. I used them to do mine in Shadow Chrome (£65 a corner) and the result was not bad at all. 18 months or so later and the finish is holding up.

Thanks for that information. I'll look on the www. Close enough that I can pop in and see them.

As for the all tyre recommendations listed. It seems the world is my oyster. Rather than all the ones I could have has anybody a bad experience with a tyre so that I can definately exclude that brand?

[c_w]

The Goodyear Asymmetric 2 is a very very good tyre, it's ability to perform in wet and dry is almost unmatched, the Asymmetric 1 were also very good the 2 apparently is better. If your F1s with the old V-groove GSD3 they are well below the performance newer F1s. I always liked the GSD3 on lighter cars (my 205GTi). My Coupe came with Continental SportContact2s (I think), seem to have good wear but nothing else, smelt after a long fast run too! I have Asymmetric 1 on my car and they are very good.

Falkens are good budget tyres but will not perform like the Goodyear, and the Goodyears are not that badlypriced atm at all. For example a 225/45/17 F1 can be had for around £80 from Camskill, cheaper than Michelin/Continental which are always in the upper price bracket. Rears are more expensive though comparably. Hankook Ventus V12 EVO get good reviews, a comparable tyre to the Falken.

[Olly2012]

Falkens 452 on my 3.0 sport work fine- comfortable with little road noise and good grip in wrt and dry - so may wear quicker! My Z isn't used every day. I had 17" Hancooks on my Honda civic and they were not good- too much noise and pull. Pirelli p6 cured that.

[Southernboy]

New F1's........ Quiet, comfortable, grippy, rim protection ridge, good looking profile...

[gookah]

I clipped the apex on a left had bend

My wife has clipped the apex also when parking, or as I like to call it, 'ran into the kerb'...which doesn't sound as glossy

I have used Falkens before now and they are a great tyre for the money, I wasn't impressed with the Sessanta's on my Z4M though, the traction light flashed more often than the normal Conti's, and it seemed to understeer more.

[Tilly]

Got car back today with new tyres and refurbished wheels.

Fitted Goodyear Eagle Asymetrics mainly because I have always had Eagles on the car and they have in the past performed very well.

Total cost of 4 tyres, balancing, valves, nitrogen inflation and refurb came to £961.90. Spit and Polish did the wheels and they picked them up from ATS Euromaster who kept the car and supplied and fitted the tyres.

The car was dropped in on Friday before nine and was ready midday Tuesday. Good service and wheels have look very good. There was a nasty graze on one of the rear wheels where I kerbed it but that has totally been removed.

[Gazza]

Don't forget to go easy for the first 500 miles to scrub the tyres in

[Tilly]

Thanks Gazza,

I will really try to go slowly but it is awfully difficult.

[sankunen]

I think it's late for my feedback but maybe could help someone else in the future:
Hankook Ventus V12 fitted on my 2.8 Z3. They are very good both on dry and wet. Have spent 700€ for the 2 225/17 front and the 2 245/17 rear tyres.

[siwilson]

Thanks Gazza,

I will really try to go slowly but it is awfully difficult.

+1. I recently fitted new Eagle Asymmetric 2's on the rear and they were downright scary for the first couple of hundred miles. Much worse than the old and very worn Asym 1's I had on there, even in the wet. Now 200-300 miles down the road they are starting to come in and I have no doubt will be sticking like sh!t to a blanket in the near future.

[Tilly]

+1. I recently fitted new Eagle Asymmetric 2's on the rear and they were downright scary for the first couple of hundred miles. Much worse than the old and very worn Asym 1's I had on there, even in the wet. Now 200-300 miles down the road they are starting to come in and I have no doubt will be sticking like sh!t to a blanket in the near future.

I'll clean the blanket in preparation. The old Eagles were great but had to gently scrub them in when first put them on.

[tribbster]

Just for futher information, I put Pirelli P Zero's on my M, but won't do it again, very slippy at the back, even when I'm not trying

[Tilly]

Just for futher information, I put Pirelli P Zero's on my M, but won't do it again, very slippy at the back, even when I'm not trying

it appear4s that the M can be very sensitive to the type of tyre fitted. I have done less than 100 miles with the new tyres so i cannot make a fair comparison with the old F1's. However, in the wet the asymetrics seem to have a good amount of grip. Hit a very large puddle where a drain was possibly blocked: was travelling at about 50 and the car did not waver. The feel is different from the old tyres as to be expected but I will have to wait for a few hundred extra miles and a mild dry day to get a better idea of the grip.