so what kind of tires are you running?

[markus]

im looking for opinions on 235/45R17 tires. The few im looking into are the Dunlop Direzza, Continental Extreme Contact and the General Exclaim UHP.
Anyone want to chime in? I picked those mentioned becuase they are all under $100 a piece from tirerack and god good reviews.

[Qube]

Man... dollar for dollar, the General UHP have me.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=General&tireModel=Exclaim+UHP

I'm running them and the only other thing I may do is get Avon Tech 550 but that's if I want to run in light snow. I've run them about 30000-35000km last year. Next year I'm going to have to change them.

EDIT: at that cost, your other option are the Sumitomo, and the UHPs have better overall reviews by far.

[markus]

they must be good. theyre on backorder till april 10th.

[DanDombrowski]

$100 a piece? Thats a pretty good deal on the tire, but do you have a decent place to get them installed? I found some nice deals on tire-rack, but no installers would touch them for less than $30 a tire, and then you get a crappy warranty (have to mail the tire back).

On tire brands, I went with the BFG TA/KDW. I got KDW2s for the rear and the original KDW on the front (don't know why, but I didn't complain). They're meant for when I take the E34 to the track, which I have yet to do (except for some 1/4 mile runs). I'll let you know how they perform under load.

Driving around town, they've been pretty good. Good traction, a little noisey. Can't comment on wear since I just bought them < 2k miles ago. No noticable problems in wet weather. AWESOME agressive tread pattern on the KDW2s.

I ended up purchasing mine at Costco for around $150 a tire (including promotion they had at the time). A cheaper alternative is the BFG gforce sport, which can be had installed for around $120 a tire.

While Costco may not have the best trained techs, if you can manage to find a non-retarded tire installer, their warranty is awesome. You get a nail in a high performance tire, and they replace the tire, no questions asked (at least this is what I've been told). Haven't used it in practice though.

[bimmerd00d]

BFG GeForce Sports, and i'm damn happy with them. I've run Kumho 711's and ASX's for the past 3 yrs, and i couldn't have chosen a better tire for the money. $113 a pop for the BFG's, and they stick better, are quieter, last longer, and don't flatspot like the Kumhos do.

[markus]

$100 a piece? Thats a pretty good deal on the tire, but do you have a decent place to get them installed? I found some nice deals on tire-rack, but no installers would touch them for less than $30 a tire, and then you get a crappy warranty (have to mail the tire back).

On tire brands, I went with the BFG TA/KDW. I got KDW2s for the rear and the original KDW on the front (don't know why, but I didn't complain). They're meant for when I take the E34 to the track, which I have yet to do (except for some 1/4 mile runs). I'll let you know how they perform under load.

Driving around town, they've been pretty good. Good traction, a little noisey. Can't comment on wear since I just bought them < 2k miles ago. No noticable problems in wet weather. AWESOME agressive tread pattern on the KDW2s.

I ended up purchasing mine at Costco for around $150 a tire (including promotion they had at the time). A cheaper alternative is the BFG gforce sport, which can be had installed for around $120 a tire.

While Costco may not have the best trained techs, if you can manage to find a non-retarded tire installer, their warranty is awesome. You get a nail in a high performance tire, and they replace the tire, no questions asked (at least this is what I've been told). Haven't used it in practice though.


i duno where the hell u get tired mounted and balanced but around here its about $10 a wheel. The mounting is free but the weights are what you pay for. i work at a auto store so i can have one of the guys mount and balance my wheels for $20.

[repenttokyo]

i was interested in getting the KDW's, glad to hear that your experience has been positive so far.

[Panda]

im looking for opinions on 235/45R17 tires. The few im looking into are the Dunlop Direzza, Continental Extreme Contact and the General Exclaim UHP.
Anyone want to chime in? I picked those mentioned becuase they are all under $100 a piece from tirerack and god good reviews.

I've got Pirelli P6000 Powergy's on the front and Continental EC's on the rear. The Powergy's are fantastic in the dry but crap in the wet (which is why the Conti's are on the rear!) The Conti's are a better compromise but lack the dry traction of the Pirelli's.
Both makes are about £90 fitted.

[Evan]

Pirelli P-Zero Nero
235/40 in front
265/35 in rear

I've put 5000 miles on them and I've been impressed.

My wheels are OE M-Parallel 18s.

[SharkmanBMW]

Toyo T1-R

[Macv]

I love my Kumho 711's

[Qube]

Pirelli P-Zero Nero ...
Toyo T1-R...

We're reaching wayyy beyond the original price range :)

[MTV]

Just ordered a set of Toyo Proxes4 255/40/17 - R. The fronts 235/45/17 were given to me by a friend who decided to go with 16 rims on his E28 Euro version.

[525SEI BRIT]

I was at the stealer the other day and I parked up next to an E38 on 18” M-Pars same as mine. Well I assume so! Mine are the 8.5 & 9.5 front & rear respectively.

Anyway, what stood out was the huge lip/overhang from the rim! There was no way you could curb the rims! Studying them a little further they were continental 235/50 on the front not sure about the rears.

Is anybody running these, do you know which model they would be?

I want to run them as 245/45 18” and 275/35 18” if I can getaway with it!

[DueyT]

Jeff, weren't you running ContiExtremeContact on the 530?

Cheers,
Duey

[rickm]

Toyo Proxes here. Had Dunlap somethings before, got 20k out of them. I have 35k on the Toyos and they're fine, rain or snow too.

I had Pirelli P7s once, 11k and they were toast. :P

[attack eagle]

Just ordered a set of Toyo Proxes4 255/40/17 - R. The fronts 235/45/17 were given to me by a friend who decided to go with 16 rims on his E28 Euro version.
uggh. I HATED those tires... had 225/45/17s on my DSM to replace a set of nitto 450s (which were not the greatest grip tire in the world anyway). Less grip, faster wear, and poorer handling. Not only that but they are squishy feeling. ride comfort was better though.
With in 10k they usually are atrocious, and the treadwear will RAPIDLY accelerate from there with spirited driving.

For a cruiser, Bridgestone re750s are very nice tires. Much better wet weather performance, still very good dry weather performance and very quiet compared to the older re730s. They seem to ride better, while still feeling the same under cornering... I'm puzzled but happy. Unfortunately outside of your price point at $156 a tire.

Also a Huge rim protector, Brit. 245s Look almost like a "stretched" tire on an 8.5" rim.

[Phatty5BMW]

I have the BFG Geforce Sport and I love them. Excellent dry traction and I think in wet conditions too. The grip is amazing on them and have a nice ride, not loud, and good price. I recommend them. Granite I have only driven 2k miles or so on them no problems yet. Good luck man!

Pat

[MTV]

uggh. I HATED those tires... had 225/45/17s on my DSM to replace a set of nitto 450s (which were not the greatest grip tire in the world anyway). Less grip, faster wear, and poorer handling. Not only that but they are squishy feeling. ride comfort was better though.
With in 10k they usually are atrocious, and the treadwear will RAPIDLY accelerate from there with spirited driving.

My first choice was actually the Khumo SPT's followed closely by the Dunlop Direzza's... but how can I say no to a pair of brand new Proxes 4's thrown at my feet. Might as well try them out and see what they're worth. :)

[Jeff N.]

Pole Position SO3's.

Sticky.

Quiet.

Nice.

[Evan]

don't try to save money by buying less tire than you need... and you need $800 worth of tires touching the road if you're doing any driving

[Mr._Graybeard]

BFG Traction T/A -- bargain tire

[Ferret]

For you guys in the uk, this site seems to be quite good, half the price of national or kwik-fit:

Black Circles Tyres (http://www.blackcircles.com)

[bmwrp8]

mine has continental conti sport contact 235/45zr17 frnt. and 255/40zr17 rear. don't forget to buy a hub centric ring just to be safe.mine had a shimmy before and this did the trick:D

[nixter]

GY F1 GS D3's