M3AG wrote: Patrick Don't you mean 14's as opposed to 15's? Or does your car have a wheel upgrade? As for Metric tyres, brave man! Save them for the shows. AG

AG, Patrick's car has the much loved 15" E34 x-spokes which work great with 225/60 rubber.

Ian is running my old 732i with these rims on new budget tyres Nankang 225/60 - Patrick could ask Ian if he's happy with them

Philip wrote: [AG, Patrick's car has the much loved 15" E34 x-spokes which work great with 225/60 rubber. Ian is running my old 732i with these rims on new budget tyres Nankang 225/60 - Patrick could ask Ian if he's happy with them

Very happy, ask the 206 and Vectra that tried to take me on a roundabout last night after I'd been to post some letters .

They work well in 14 pr 15 inch on E28's as well, thats what 528 running!

eta. wrote: Is Ian 'Rubberknees'? Do the Nankang run really true (no vibration)? Are they quiet? .

Lol, yes, I'm also Ian. Hadn't noticed any noise or harshness in the ride. I told Philip I was very impressed bringing it home as it was totally silent on the M6 until I opened sunroof. So far I've found the slight extra width makes a noticeable difference to the grip, much better than the E28 I had with standard wheels & tyres.

M3AG wrote: Patrick Don't you mean 14's as opposed to 15's? Or does your car have a wheel upgrade? As for Metric tyres, brave man! Save them for the shows. As for brand types, Pirelli are good, as are continentals and the goodriches I have oon the Volvo are really good, especially for low mileage use. AG

Ah, you're back! How was Ibiza?

Patrick,

have you made your mind up yet?

I was rummaging in my hoard today and found a pair of new Pirellis size 215/65/15. 1 off P6 & 1 off P6000.

I bought them for my 15" rims but then some sexy 16" rims came my way.

the tyres have been ued for about 1 week. tread depth 8mm like new tyres have.

M3AG wrote: ...the 149mph tyres are OK, but can you see yourself attemting to do that type of speed in your e23?

Why not?

Thats a little harsh rob, , New cheep tyers are not all that bad and you will still pay 40 quid a corner it can all add up. Arftr all thay have to past tests and all that, But if you were spending all the cars life on the motaway them middle off the road would be best.

The letters rep the speed ratings, my tyers are bugget I think that are 205 65 15

205 being how wide the tyer is 65 being how tall the tyer is and 15 the size of the wheel rim 15"

I would go for 225 60 R15 as this will give you a bit more rubber on the road and slightly lesss give in the tyers

bmw1066 wrote: ...my tyers are bugget...

Wha'? They need replacing already???

omega man wrote: just go out and buy some desent tyres i wish id bought desent tyres instead of buying rubber from korea or china. this is the most important thing on your car apart from your stopping power brakesorigional post edited

Rob, when's your interview with the Diplomatic Corps?

Patrick, as rob says money spent on top quality tyres is never wasted. When you add up just how much you've spent on your E23 a nice new set of tyres is the icing on the cake.

VJ is running 16" E38 rims shod with Goodyears. 2 off Eagles & 2 off NCT5 in size 225/55. no wobbles at all and excellent grip wet & dry.

the silver surfer is running 16" E31 x-spokes shod with continental sport contact.

Ian is running Nankangs 225/60/15 on his 732i and is very pleased them I hear.

My e28 is running BK Racing 16" 5 spokes shod with Korean copies of Eagles 225/55/16. I'm going to put this car on the road soon and will find out just how good these Korean tyres are.

As with all things, you pays yer money, and takes yer choice.

Philip wrote: omega man wrote: origional post edited Rob, when's your interview with the Diplomatic Corps?

Think he's already working as an Entry Clearance Orificer in one of our African or Asian outposts .....

bmw1066 wrote: Long time no type Hiab were have you been

Wafting round Ireland

Reading the posts re tyres I couldn`t help but be boring and chuck a reply up.

My job is tyres (yawn) so I feel well placed to offer advice.

Firstly, do not detract from the manufacturers recomended tyre size, this is becouse the chassis, suspension and wheel/tyre combination have been designed together to provide optimal traction and handling abilities with the best braking performance.

If you change just one element of the design criterior you may just develope a problem

As for metric tyre, which someone mentioned, the only ones available are from Michelin and Dunlop, Michelin are on indefinate back order for all metric sizes and Dunlop only have a LIMITED number available in storage for emediate dispatch, some are available from independant wholesalers, but how old are they, I would not touch any tyre over 5 years old, even if you paid for it, not safe at all.

Then we come to Marshall tyres, I am sorry but I would not buy those things, even with your money, the shoulders are so weak they fold under on heavy cornering and the compound is very soft, it wears out quick, the tread pattern is very tight which promotes a lot of noise and they do not shift water very well due to the lack of minor sipes in the tread profile.

I run 7`s and for my money only pirelli p600p or continental ecocontact will do, they are both very, very good tyres which give good all round perfomance, and if you shop around you can get some good deals, I personaly would not put 2 tons of car on budget tyres, but that is just me I supose.

You might pay more for decent tyres but what is life worth, they are your only contact with the road, the only way of transmitting the go, and more importantly, the stop.

At the end of the day you could have a zillion horse power with the torque to match and a braking system which would stop the earth from rotating but if that little bit of rubber on the tarmac is crap, what is the rest of it worth?

Well I have said my bit and hope it is of some use

PS, I do not work for any major tyre manufacturer

Hi Derek,

You will probably find that has a lot to do with car suspension,

The frod mundane is built as a rep mobile, driven by someone who carries his life in the boot, so the suspension is only a couple of steps up from tractor quality, it is cheaply built to carry a load.

The 7 on the other hand is built for comfort and smoothness of ride in combination with a certain amount of sporty handling so the lumpyness and to some extent the noise of the tyres would just be soaked up

The early mich pilot (the rotation tread) where very hard and very noisy, they tended to last for ever but had the grip of teflon, the mich pilot primacy and the pilot sport2 on the other hand are much improved for grip and comfort, pluse they are, so far, the only tyres to incorperate variable contact patch technology, that may sound a bit like sales bull sh1t but it aint, it works,  but that is another story

As for the ZZ3`s I have not had a lot of experience with them but being a rotational tyre the tread blocks are quite small and all basicly the same size, this will promote noise which with some types of suspension would be quite pronounced.

Assimetric and touring patterns however tend to have varying block sizes and shapes, these harmonicly cancel out the noise generated by the blocks as they hit the road surface, a bit like a pair of noise canceling headphones, thus they seem to run quieter.

Hope I havn`t bored you to sleep and that some of this helps, any other advice needed, just ask,

My 5 series has 15" BMW X spokes on it, with 225, 60, 15 tyres.

I've always used Uniroyal Rallye tyres, the so called "rain tyre".

I've not been dissapointed with them, they work out about £70 each, fitted balanced etc

Hi Guys,

Firstly please excuse any spelling or grammar mistakes, I`ve had a beer or 10

Ok, Tyre sizes explained, the boots on my 730 are "225/55r15 88w" so what does that mean, the 225 bit is the width of the actual tread pattern in millimetres, so far nice and easy.

The 55 is what is known as the aspect ratio, this is the height of the side wall measured from the outer edge of the bead sealing wall to the extreme edge of the tread pattern expresed as a percentage of the tread pattern width, so the side wall height is 55% of the tread width, this is also known as the profile.

The r denotes the tyre is a radial construction casing, which all tyres are these days, this is just the way in which the variouse plys are layed over each other in the building of the tyre.

In some cases this letter is replaced with a z or w, all this means is that the tyre is a dual rated tyre, we will get to that bit shortly.

The 15 is the diameter of the wheel rim measured at the base of the bead sealing wall, ths would also be the 390 bit of the metric wheel, which is actualy 15 11/16".

The 88 is the load carrying index, I can`t remember off the top of my head all the values but you only realy need to get worried about this bit on commercial vehicals.

And finaly the w is the speed rating of the tyre, this is the safe maximum speed the vehical can travel at within the load carying index of the tyre.

A dual rated tyre, where the r is replaced usualy by a z or w means that the tyre is rated at two speeds depending on load applied to it, there is a chart for this but I havn`t looked at it for years, the imortant one is the one after the load index, that is the higher rate.

As for changing sizes it is time to get the calculator out so as not to alter the rolling circumfrence too much, generaly you can go a maximum of two sizes up in tyre width, with two reductions in aspect ratio, any more than that and you will drasticaly alter the rolling radius, and your wheel arches .

Also worthy of note is if you are replacing your stock wheels with some fancy after market jobbies, make sure the bearing over center is correct, in other words the vertcal center of the wheel rim when fitted to the hub must be in line with the vertical center of the wheel bearing, if not you will over load one of the bearing races and cause premature failure which could be very costly.

Generaly speaking if you follow the two up two down rule when altering tyre sizes you should not have any real problems, go above or bellow and you will get a change in acceleration, top speed and accuracy of the speedo, not to mention fuel economy.

Well if I havn`t bored the pants off you all I will bid you good night and I will await the inevitable hangover which is going to greet me in the morning, not to mention the cold shoulder from her indoors OOPS

Tony

Andy's been cycling round France for charity Patrick, here is the donations link:

http://www.extra-mile.org.uk/events.htm - http://www.extra-mile.org.uk/events.htm

you must make your own mind up about tyres as only you know your driving style and budget limits. We can't choose tyres or sizes for you.

If you seek personal subjective opinions, you might not get advice that fits in with your own views.

FWIW, I love my E23s on 16" rims with 225/55 rubber. 225/50 is also fine.

I am not as vehemently anti budget brand new tyres as Rob, as I've never had any trouble with them myself. If I was buying new I would buy the best tyre I could afford, for the reasons stated in many of the posts on this topic.

if your car's steering is too heavy you may have a PAS issue or the pre-load on the box may need adjusting. your garage will soon sort it out for you.

let us know your when you've made your mind up and lets see some pics of the new tyres in situ.