Can't find summer tires in stock size

[repenttokyo]

205-65-16 - everything seems to be all-season. Does anyone know of any summer / performance tires that fit our cars in the stock size, or am I going to have to go slightly wider / lower profile?

[BMWCCA1]

Don't you mean 205/65x15? Any high-performance all-season tire should work but I think most would just recommend going with the 535/530/540i stock size 225/60x15.

[repenttokyo]

yes - 15 - sorry for the typo. I'm trying to avoid all-season if at all possible but it doesn't look like I will be able to :(

[BMWCCA1]

Tire Rack shows a BFGoodrich g-Force Sport Ultra High Performance Summer tire in 225/60x15 for $99. That's about the best you're going to do in 15" tires these days. FWIW, they also show a Sumitomo high-performance Summer tire in 205/65x15 or $65.

Sticking with the 205/65x15 and wanting a Summer tire (high-performance is the assumption here) makes no sense. You can't really have the highest performance without lowering the aspect ratio. Slip angles and everything else suffer on a taller tire. At least consider going to the 225/60, that would be the same tire used on the 525i Tourings so there's nothing to fear!

Or open your mind to the modern all-season tires. Mostly they're designed to meet road requirements for areas where winter tires are required in winter. While they usually make pretty awful snow tires, their dry/hot performance gets better every year. I'm running Yoko A/S tires on all my cars these days. I still keep a dedicated snow-tire set mounted on M5 wheels for, well, snow. But the all-around performance of the modern A/S tires has gotten so good that, tossing around a big car like an E34, I don't feel I'm giving up much in ultimate traction, precision, or feedback. Of course on my E34 I'm using 17" wheels with 235/45 tires . . .

Regardless, if you're replacing all four tires, there's no good reason to stick with the 205/65s.

[Tiger]

That is precisely why I go 16" wheels... you can find 16" wheels cheap. You are in Boston area right? I checked with tireeasy.ca and same result as Tirerack... nothing in 205 and only two in 225.

As above... there is no reason to stick to 205 if you are going to summer tire.

I am running 225/55R16 on M5 replica wheels with General UHP Exclaim. Really smooth riding tire with alot of grips.

[whiskychaser]

We are lucky enough to buy one set of tyres and when they wear out we replace them. Out of interest, do you guys have to have 5 winter tyres and rims and 5 summer? When do you decide to replace them? Lived in Switzerland where my mate had 3 sets. When I asked the question how he decided to change them he just said 'you are English... you wouldnt understand'

[Tiger]

LOL! "You are English... you wouldn't understand"

Yes for each car I have two sets of 4 wheels and tires... one for winter and one for summer. Why do you need the fifth wheel? We swap them out when it gets below freezing temperature or weatherman said snow is coming.

As for spring, we usually swap them out by mid April, but this year I am darn lazy... May! in 80 degree weather... but it is interesting driving winter tire when hot... it howls and very numb feel.

The advantage when we do this... we never worry about weather... we never curse that we got stuck and nothing stops us from driving unless it is too wild to go out. Tires last longer too... we get about 6 years out of summer tires and winter tire is still good... however one car, the winter tire needs change... not bad for 8 years of service!