[Squintstream]

Gents,

My mates looking to switch from RFT to conventional tyres on his 330d in the very near future.

After much searching, the word on the street seems to be to go for one of the following makes (if you're working towards a more financially "middle of the road" switch).

Falken 453
Vredestein
Kumho KU39
Toyo Proxes
Avon ZZ3

Ideally he's looking for good grip, but something that will last too.

Can anybody share their experiences on which tyres he should be looking to choose?

Thanks in advance,


Charlie

[shrink]

well my take on it is that a few of these tyres, are only a matter of £10-15 cheaper per tyre than buying something a bit more premium.

The falkens IMHO have variable performance between models in their range, the ZZ3's i've tried and are very noisy and squeally around corners and off the lights if you happen to give it the beans, they also pick up quite a lot of road noise. They are quite soft hence the above qualities and fast wear rate. with the Kumho's it was the KU31's that were very popular back in the day, the 39's are a bit of an unknown quantity.

This is the ONE thing that keeps your car on the road. We live in a country that see's its fair share of rain, he has a car with a LOT of torque and good performance abilities that also even on an early model, is still worth quite a lot of money.

So why would you compromise a performance car, with huge torque on potentially wet/cold/icy roads, with middle of the range, korean rubber.

Go to camskill.co.uk, but some goodyear F1 asymmetric or continental Sport contact 3's and do it properly.

edit: FWIW, the conti's and goodyears will last a lot longer than the falkens and avons anyway, meaning that in the long run, you're saving money. I'd expect the falkens to be dead within 10k miles, but the continentals to go on to at least 20k. May cost £20 more, but they last twice as long!

[Squintstream]

Thanks for the reply, I can't say I've checked, but if the differences in price are so small it would be a false economy.

I know im reliant upon other peoples thoughts, But from what I've read, even the tyres I've mentioned below are far from bad and are a considerable improvement over the standard RFT Bridgestones that are fitted.

Would welcome any other thoughts/comments...

[Jay2301]

Get some Goodyear eagle F1s... You won't be disappointed.

[parapaul]

My 2p...

I had the Falken 452 on my 330d. The rears lasted less than 10k - and that's almost all motorway miles, not hooning around. Grip was good wet and dry, but they got very noisy once they were halfway worn. I haven't heard any comments yet on the 453 though, but I would expect them to be just as good.

I've used the KU31 in the past and been happy with them, so opted to to replace the rears with KU39 this time as they're supposed to be the new flagship tyre. 3 months in and it's all good - grip is as good as the Falkens but subjectively they are quieter. Too early to say anything about wear.

The price difference between these and 'premium' tyres was staggering, to be honest. Definitely NOT £10 a tyre. I think the Kumhos were about £130 each, the premium tyres were all upwards of £200 - and while I'd happily pay that if it were worth it, I don't think I'd get nearly twice the miles from them.

[shrink]

depends what size wheel you're talking about here... on a 225/45/17 an avon zz3 is about £70-75... but a continental sport contact is £92.

me.. i'd rather spend the £92 and get a decent bit of rubber on the car.

Its not worth scrimping on the one thing that actually touches the road

edit: just checked camskill:

-vredestein £88
-Hankook £83
-AVon £79-81 depending on model
-continental SC3 £90

so yeah, you're right, its not £10 difference... its £2-9 difference.

http://www.camskill.co.uk/m54b0s16p0...5_17_225_45R17

even on the bigger 255/40/17 rears i have, theres only £20 per tyre between the zz3 and the continentals.

[mob17]

I have Goodyear Eagle F1 A2s, which replaced my RFTs. They have brilliant grip. If you want a good ALL ROUND tyre this is the one to go for. But there are other tyres which are better in certain aspects but this tyre is a brilliant allrounder

[parapaul]

Just checked some prices on Event Tyres, my usual supplier. For OE 18" tyres (225/40 and 255/35):

Tyre-------Front--Rear
Kumho KU39--£105--£140
Falken 453---£109--£149
PZero--------£119--£187
Sessenta-----£122--£153
F1 Assy------£127--£182
Conti SC3----£129--£200
Conti SC5----£131--£197
Michelin PS3--£133--£199

So for a set of 4 Kumhos that's £490. For a set of Conti SC5 it's £660. A little more than £9 a corner...

Yes, I agree it's not a huge amount in the scheme of things, but will the Contis last 20% longer than the Kumhos?

[forever_speed]

Continental extreme contact DWS. The end.

[shrink]

Originally Posted by parapaul

Yes, I agree it's not a huge amount in the scheme of things, but will the Contis last 20% longer than the Kumhos?

yes... and probably more than that. I'd imagine probably 30-40% longer

[Subzero2003]

Goodyear Eagle F1 assymmetric 2's are £530 inc del. plus £50 to get them fitted. £580 gets you the best set of all round tyres money can buy. well worth it over mid range stuff, which is often a false economy imo.

[Squintstream]

Has anyone tried the Uniroyal Rainsport 2 on a BMW?

My mate has them on his Golf and I had them fitted to the wife's MX5 and they seemed good, but would be interested to hear peoples thoughts on how they handle greater power and the respective wear rates.

I'm tending to favour GY F1, having run them on two previous cars (Impreza & Cupra R) I was very happy with them for both performance and wear.

Cheers

[MrRee]

Toyo Proxes were the only tyre I would choose for my Westfield SEiW - they worked awesome on it, very few tyres would work well on the Westfield as it was only 600Kg in weight so each tyre was only working to just over 150Kg per corner - the Toyos just seemed to really suit it - not sure how they would perform on a 3 series with all the extra weight though.

[mob17]

Originally Posted by Squintstream

Has anyone tried the Uniroyal Rainsport 2 on a BMW?

My mate has them on his Golf and I had them fitted to the wife's MX5 and they seemed good, but would be interested to hear peoples thoughts on how they handle greater power and the respective wear rates.

I'm tending to favour GY F1, having run them on two previous cars (Impreza & Cupra R) I was very happy with them for both performance and wear.

Cheers

Even though im happy with my Goodyear F1 A2's, I am considering maybe getting the Uniroyals next. Just purely because I like driving in rain and it should have better wet grip? But im not sure what the wear rate and dry grip is like so still on the fence.

[shrink]

the uniroyals are not great tyres. If you want good wet weather performance look at this:

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/tyre-gu...pirelli-p-zero

the pirellis were rated highest for wet driving. That said they still think the goodyears are best overall

[messi]

Originally Posted by MrRee

Toyo Proxes were the only tyre I would choose for my Westfield SEiW - they worked awesome on it, very few tyres would work well on the Westfield as it was only 600Kg in weight so each tyre was only working to just over 150Kg per corner - the Toyos just seemed to really suit it - not sure how they would perform on a 3 series with all the extra weight though.

I have non rft Toyos on the front now. Very unite compared to stock. None of these non rft tyres look as nice as the oem tyre. I find the sidewalks to be too rounded and their aspect ratios to look bigger than the oem. I can only speak about kumho and toyo.

[smacg]

I ran the Toyo's on my old car (Astra Bertone coupe) so not BMW, but they were generally good tyres. the car was FWD, tended to understeer in the wet and wear rate was average to good. Still got RF's on the car atm, but michelin pilot sports not the original bridgestones so am looking to change soonish also.

[MEGA]

Contisport contact 5p piss all over most of those you mentioned. tried the vreds, gooyears and falkens and there's no contest

[parapaul]

Is Tony still around on the forum? He was the first IIRC to fit the 5P, I wonder what his feelings are a year or so on?

[chrisbmwcy]

I had goodyear Asymmetric F1 18" and the ride was quiet and lots of grip on my E46 comvertible. Very comfortable Tyre! now sold the e46.

I would be interrested also to try the new falkens fk453 or go back again to Goodyear Asymmmetric when the time comes to change the Bridgestone Runflats on my e92.

[Subzero2003]

The Falkens and Goodyear Eagle F1 Assymetrics aren't comparable. One is a cheapish midrange tyre, the other is ultra high performance.

Performance wise, Falken 452/3 are on par with Kumho KU39's, Vredstein Ultrac Sessanta's, Avon ZZ3's etc etc

Performance wise Goodyear Assymetric 2's are on par with ContiSport 3/5's, Michelin PS3's/SS, Dunlop Sport MAXX RT's etc etc

[a11y]

Everyone's got their own preference when it comes to tyres.

Personally, on a FWD hot hatch my favourite tyre has been Uniroyal Rainsport 2's - great grip, not snappy when they do let go, decent wear and a good price. Only ever had them on lighter FWD cars though so no idea how they'd be on a heavier RWD 3-series.

My e90 currently has Falken ZE912's fitted (by previous owner). Can't say a bad thing about them so far TBH, but then I've got nothing to compare it to on this car. Previously ran FK452's on my Z4 and was impressed enough with them apart from high wear rate - if a "premium" tyre such as the F1 assym or Conti 5P genuinely gives extra mileage then I'd be tempted when I next need tyres. At the end of the day it's only 4 tiny bits of contact with the road.

FFS I don't think twice about spending £35/40 on a mountain-bike tyre yet I begrudge spending more than I need to on car tyres lol.