# Tire suggestion



## wlee6065 (Nov 29, 2003)

I would appreciate any suggestions for replacement tires for my 2001 530i. I have stock rims and live in northern California (Bay Area). I not a speed racer but I want a good tire, minimal road noise without busting my wallet. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

I will be having the tires mounted and balanced at Dinan. I local tire shop destroyed my rim when fixed a flat several years ago. They bought me a new rim ($1000.00) and I went to Dinan and had it mounted. Dinan does a GREAT job.


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## KevinM (May 2, 2003)

I also wanted a reasonable performance tire that was reasonably priced so I bought 4 Yokohama AVS-ES100s for $111 each and have been pleased after 5000 miles. Mine are 235/45-17; the noise seems reasonable to me, but I'm not that sensitive to road noise.

Good luck, Kevin


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## norcal 528i (Dec 2, 2003)

I have the Kumho Ecsta Supra 712s on my non-BMW (17-275-40) which I really like. The price is tough to beat (about 100 each). I have Nitto 555 extreme on the bimmer and they are good. No complaints but a bit more expensive. I really liked the Bridgestone Potenza RE730 (I think those are discontinued with the intro of the RE750 now) which I had before the Kumhos, they handled better than the nittos and kumhos, but not by much. Good in rain too. Downside is after about 10k they really like to sing on certain types of pavement. They also cost quite a bit more than the other two. In the 165 range. If I were to pick one over the other I would go Kumho for the price/performance ratio. You can't really lose with any of them, though.

Also a really great shop right by you is 'custom alignment and balance' in mountain view.


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## Ågent99 (Jan 7, 2002)

I just picked up a set of Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-3D from Tire-Rack. If you hurry, you can get a $75 rebate from them until 12/6 for a set of 4 of these tires.

Fantastic tire, all-around good rating on Tire-rack and CR gave them their top ratings.

I like them alot so far...600 miles and counting.

Chris

http://members.roadfly.com/agent99/GYCashCardRedempForm.pdf


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## roots (Sep 27, 2002)

Hey, I'm in the same boat. I've been shopping for new tires too after a few days ago I discovered that my front driver side tire had a nail puncture. My current tires (OEM Continental Sport Contact) are getting increasingly loud at only 17K miles. I think the tread will go for probably another 4-5K miles but I'm thinking about just buying a new set of tires now.

If I decide to buy, I have my eyes set for Pirelli PZero Nero ($127 ea from Tire Rack).

How much does Dinan quote you to install the tire? I haven't decided which installer to go to (my preferences are Custom Alignment, RennWerks, or Dinan). I got a quote of $143 for 4 tires from Custom Alignment.


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## Salvator (Oct 14, 2003)

I purchased Bridgestone Potenza 950s for my 325Ci and have had good experiences with them thus far... About $100 each from tire rack... It's snowing / sleeting / raining outside right now, will see how they do on the way home!


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## Ågent99 (Jan 7, 2002)

roots said:


> Hey, I'm in the same boat. I've been shopping for new tires too after a few days ago I discovered that my front driver side tire had a nail puncture. My current tires (OEM Continental Sport Contact) are getting increasingly loud at only 17K miles. I think the tread will go for probably another 4-5K miles but I'm thinking about just buying a new set of tires now.
> 
> If I decide to buy, I have my eyes set for Pirelli PZero Nero ($127 ea from Tire Rack).
> 
> How much does Dinan quote you to install the tire? I haven't decided which installer to go to (my preferences are Custom Alignment, RennWerks, or Dinan). I got a quote of $143 for 4 tires from Custom Alignment.


ADDS Wheel Warehouse did *5* tires (balance, mount/unmount) for $110. They are in San Jose and are a preferred installer by Tire Rack. I've used them twice...good place. No scratches.

Chris


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## bimmer12 (Jan 30, 2003)

I recommend the Continental ContiExtremeContact...it's a great all-round tire and pretty good in the alternative weather conditions for those of you who do not live in Sunny California.. It runs for less than $110 a tire


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## DSPTurtle (Oct 4, 2003)

Michelin Pilot Sport All Season. The all season lets them last a little longer and handle better in the wet. I live in FL and they sure come in handy at times.
JB


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## wlee6065 (Nov 29, 2003)

Dinan charged $25.00 to mount a tire and balance. I carried the wheel and tire into the shop, there was no rack time. The did an outstanding job. Stay away from the Wheel Works.



roots said:


> Hey, I'm in the same boat. I've been shopping for new tires too after a few days ago I discovered that my front driver side tire had a nail puncture. My current tires (OEM Continental Sport Contact) are getting increasingly loud at only 17K miles. I think the tread will go for probably another 4-5K miles but I'm thinking about just buying a new set of tires now.
> 
> If I decide to buy, I have my eyes set for Pirelli PZero Nero ($127 ea from Tire Rack).
> 
> How much does Dinan quote you to install the tire? I haven't decided which installer to go to (my preferences are Custom Alignment, RennWerks, or Dinan). I got a quote of $143 for 4 tires from Custom Alignment.


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## Malachi (Sep 30, 2003)

DSPTurtle said:


> Michelin Pilot Sport All Season. The all season lets them last a little longer and handle better in the wet. I live in FL and they sure come in handy at times.
> JB


That is what I was thinking. Clcik below for some great information from TireRack.

Tire Information


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## Ågent99 (Jan 7, 2002)

:rofl: :lmao: :bustingup

There as many tire preferences as there are people! 

Chris


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## Farbton (Oct 27, 2003)

Before trading my 2001 530 on an E60 I had 4 sets of tires. The original Pilot Primacy's which handled well but got very noisy close to the 30k life I had out of them. I then went with Bridgestone S03 pole positions. Fantastic tire but I only got 25k. Then went with AVS 100's. Good price, very good dry/wet handling but had to replace them at less than 20k. the noise started getting loud at 10k and by 15k you could not hear yourself think. As my E60 was coming in 2 months I needed a cheap set, found a set of 3 day used Pirelli P6's at Discount Tire Company. Know why there were returned as they are very quiet but poor handling. My wife's volvo came with them as stock and I cant wait to get rid of these as well.

My 545 6 speed has the Dunlop SP01 run flats on it. They handle great and are quiet. Only 4400 miles so too soon to tell on mileage.

As stated before tires are very much preference, but the best i had on the 530 were the Bridgestones.

Hope this helps.


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## safetywork (Dec 10, 2003)

I'm not sure how much the SO3s are now but they're great tires to have (at least on the 996). I track my car as often as I can and would strongly recommend the SO3s.


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## Chnsky545i (Nov 10, 2003)

*Stay away from Wheel Works*



wlee6065 said:


> Dinan charged $25.00 to mount a tire and balance. I carried the wheel and tire into the shop, there was no rack time. The did an outstanding job. Stay away from the Wheel Works.


I second the comment about Wheel Works. They impact wrenched my knuckle on my Chevy, short time later found the car floating to the left and right, found the bolts were not on all the way due to cross threading. I made Wheel Works refund my money and replace the knuckle and replace all the hardware. NEVER AGAIN GO TO WHEEL WORKS!


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## Ågent99 (Jan 7, 2002)

Nothing can cross-thread faster than an impact wrench!! Those are made for removing things...not assembly!!!

Chris


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## WAM (Jan 30, 2002)

I had Yokohama AVS ES100, on all 4 tires of my 325i Sport. For the first 5000 miles they were excellent, good grip, extremely quiet. After that point they began to get extremely noisy. They had cupped. First thing I did was to get my suspension checked by BMW of SF. They reported back that everything was perfect. I had the revised control arms fitted in an earlier service, and the car handling was fine so I was not expecting anything to be flagged up either.

I contacted Yokohama but all they could say was that I should rotate the tires front to back. I asked them what they would have suggested if I had a 330i, which has diffeerent sizes front and rear. I got no answer about that.

So I went ahead and switched them front to back, not really expecting any difference. I had bought the tires from America's tire center so they offer free lifetime rotation and balance. I decided to ask their opinion on why the tires were cupped. The tire fitter said that front tires will wear out faster and the car has most of the weight in the front because of the engine. I explained to him that the car was RWD and BMW's are almost perfectly balanced at 50/50 weight distribution.

As I expected the tires got even noisier, it wasn't just a constant noise either, it was a thump, thump, thump sound that increased in frequency with speed. At 12,000 miles the rears were at the wear bars, with just regular city and highway driving, no wheel spins etc.

I replaced all 4 with ContiSport 2 tires. Now, at about 3,500 miles later, they are excellent. Very good grip and virtually silent. The AVS ES100 have a design fault similar to the one that the Bridgestone RE730's had. Bridgestone were quick to recognize the problem and to redesign the tire. It doesn't look like Yokohama is going to do that.

For people on the peninsula in the SF bay area, I strongly recommend Nielsen Automotive in San Carlos. They are listed as a fitter on the Tire Rack website. They did the best job fitting the tires that I have ever seen anybody do. They took off and fitted the wheels with extreme care. When placing the wheels on the hub of the balancing machine, they lifted the wheel up to the mounting surface, taking care not to drag it across the threaded part of the hub. When they removed the old wheel weights, they used an adhesive remover to clean all the old adhesive off and cleaned the surface of the wheels before fitting the new weights.


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## wbg94583 (Apr 6, 2003)

I recently purchased and installed Firestone Firehawk SZ50 EP's on my 97 528i (235/45/17's). I had heard from several local BMW friends who had first-hand experience w/these tires on their car, some avid auto-crossers (i.e. they KNOW tires), that these are excellent street tires. I took the plunge and I am exteremly pleased with the tires' performance and very quiet noise level.

These tires are not inexpensive---they run about $160 each + installation; but IMO tires are not an area to skrim on with any car, and particularly with a nice handling car like a BMW; besides driving skills, they are a key element to safety and performance of any car. Don't be afraid of Firesteone.....my tires say "made in Japan" and you can bet they're made by Bridgestone, the parent company. The SZ 50's are not a new design...they've been around for quite some time; they're a proven product.

Read the reviews on Tirerack.....you may be surprised as to how highly this tire is rated. Remember the old adage "you get what you pay for"......there is no free lunch; spend a few more bucks and buy a quality tire, whatever you determine it to be.

Happy Shopping!!!


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## Steve D (Oct 10, 2002)

I am considering the SZ50 vs. the RE750. Are they equivalents or is one better than the other. They are both made by the same company and are about the same price.

Thanks,

Steve D


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## wbg94583 (Apr 6, 2003)

Steve D said:


> I am considering the SZ50 vs. the RE750. Are they equivalents or is one better than the other. They are both made by the same company and are about the same price.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Steve D


Steve, I don't know about how these two tires compare----so can't provide any definitive info. Perhaps there is some "comparison" data on Tirerack's website????.....best of luck. Also, I had Michelin Pilot Sports on my previous E39 and they were great,......but as the rears wore down, they became pretty noisy. But all in all, Michelin makes an excellent product-----could not go wrong with that choice either.


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## Tahoe (Jan 9, 2004)

wbg94583 said:


> I recently purchased and installed Firestone Firehawk SZ50 EP's on my 97 528i (235/45/17's). I had heard from several local BMW friends who had first-hand experience w/these tires on their car, some avid auto-crossers (i.e. they KNOW tires), that these are excellent street tires. I took the plunge and I am exteremly pleased with the tires' performance and very quiet noise level.
> 
> These tires are not inexpensive---they run about $160 each + installation; but IMO tires are not an area to skrim on with any car, and particularly with a nice handling car like a BMW; besides driving skills, they are a key element to safety and performance of any car. Don't be afraid of Firesteone.....my tires say "made in Japan" and you can bet they're made by Bridgestone, the parent company. The SZ 50's are not a new design...they've been around for quite some time; they're a proven product.
> 
> ...


It's good to hear that you have had a good experience with the Firestone SZ50 EP's so far. I have pretty much decided to get a set when the Blizzaks come off in the spring. I have Pilot Sports that are close to the wear bars. Additionally I got a side wall puncture in one so it is trash. I considered new Pilots but they are a lot of money, not that the Firestones are cheap. The Pilot's are noisy, worn and, comparing the performance charts of both on the Tirerack site, the Firestones get some better ratings. The reviews of those tires from Tirerack buyers are also good.


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## Ågent99 (Jan 7, 2002)

I have about 3k on a new set of Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3s. Great wet/dry traction and very low noise. They grabbed a CR top rating and Tirerack has pretty good numbers on them. The OEM Michelins (Pilot Primacy) that came with my car were fine the first time and so I bought a second set but the rears wore out very quickly...too quickly. I hope for more longevity out the Goodyears.

Chris


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## DZeckhausen (Mar 11, 2003)

Ågent99 said:


> I just picked up a set of Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-3D from Tire-Rack. If you hurry, you can get a $75 rebate from them until 12/6 for a set of 4 of these tires.
> 
> Fantastic tire, all-around good rating on Tire-rack and CR gave them their top ratings.
> 
> ...


I also love those tires. I have them in 265/35-18 rear and 245/40-18 front. Amazing wet weather performance and similar, but not quite the same, dry grip as the Pilot Sport or S03 Pole Position. Perfect compromise for NJ weather. Not sure I would pick them if I lived in SoCal.

I tried clicking on the link you provided to get the redemption form, but I got an error message. That could be because the link is broken or because Roadfly is blocking my IP address. Can you check to see if it's really there or if it's just me? Got a non-Roadfly link?

Error message as follows:

*Sorry, an Internal Error occurred.*

file is not found


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## Ågent99 (Jan 7, 2002)

Dave,

The promotion was up about 2 months ago so I deleted the file. You missed the boat, Fella! 

Chris


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## DZeckhausen (Mar 11, 2003)

Ågent99 said:


> Dave,
> 
> The promotion was up about 2 months ago so I deleted the file. You missed the boat, Fella!
> 
> Chris


Doh!!


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