Which tyres - E46 330d

[identti]

From people's experiences, especially on E46 BMW 3-series, what would you go for?

I'm looking at the following :

Tyre	Cost each fitted
Falken FK452	£83
Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric	£97
Continental Sport Contact 3	£100
Uniroyal Rainsport 2	£94

I'm tempted to spend the extra on good tyres - there's mixed reviews on the Falkens.

[nonuts]

Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric would get my vote out of those.

[Vixpy1]

Falkens will do fine, I can prob get them cheaper than that too.

[edc]

Uniroyal rainsport on our e46 for nearly a year having used them on many a previous car.

[Ranger 6]

I had Falkens on my 130 - very good and would recommend them, but have a word with Pete (Verysideways) as he's tried others on his

[D34NO87]

A vote for the eagle f1s here..

[touching cloth]

Have had Falkens on the Cerbera for a while and perfectly happy with no probs, including a few trackdays. Recently popped a set on the Legacy so will see how they are on a heavier bus, but seem fine so far.

[mgMatt]

nonuts said:

Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric would get my vote out of those.

Really?

Ran them on 3 cars now, and whilst they stick like st to a blanket, even when just legal, you get no decent wear mileage out of them.

Michellin Primacy offer far better wear, and grip just as good IME.

[nonuts]

mgMatt said:

Ran them on 3 cars now, and whilst they stick like st to a blanket, even when just legal, you get no decent wear mileage out of them.

I wasn't that bothered about wear if I'm honest, just know they're very good in my experience (as was the GSD3) and the asymmetric also did very well in the only proper tyre tests I've seen.

[hadenough!]

What about Toyo Proxes?

[mgMatt]

nonuts said:

I wasn't that bothered about wear if I'm honest, just know they're very good in my experience (as was the GSD3) and the asymmetric also did very well in the only proper tyre tests I've seen.

Ahh see on 20,000miles a year, the difference between primacy's lasting a year, and eagles lasting 3months, matters to me. Especially at circa £600 to shod the car in 4 tyres.

Don't get me wrong, the eagle f1s on my 3series tourer, are great. But they nigh-on disolve. PAS kills the fronts, and the rears normal driving has munched them.

Tyre tests are all well and good, but running eagles all round would set me back something like £2500 a year, VS about £500 a year on Michellins which are as good in every circumstance barring the wet. BUT far better than eagles in the snow/ice

[BerksJack]

Another vote for the Falkens. A very popular choice for impreza's at the moment. I had a set put on last week and i am impressed with them so far after coming from the Goodyear eagle F1s

[mgMatt]

Had Falkens all round on the 200SX. Brilliant in the wet, brilliant in the dry.

Tyre place hated them though, bad reputation IIRC.


Currently my tourer is running on MAXXIS tyres, simillar pattern to the Eagles. Runs well.

[BerksJack]

mgMatt said:

Ahh see on 20,000miles a year, the difference between primacy's lasting a year, and eagles lasting 3months, matters to me. Especially at circa £600 to shod the car in 4 tyres.

Do you drive everywhere as if your hairs on fire??

I've got nearly 15k out of a set of GSD3's and that included a track day and quite a few hoons aswell.

[mgMatt]

BerksJack said:

Do you drive everywhere as if your hairs on fire??

I've got nearly 15k out of a set of GSD3's and that included a track day and quite a few hoons aswell.

Nope.

Had Eagle F1s on MG ZR...... 8k, they were shot on the front. 12k rears.

Tried them on the SAAB 9-3, and they just disolved, and that was on motorway chomping duties.

and now the E46 wheels that are on my tourer had them on, 8k, they're on the wear markers all round.

sod that for a game of soldiers.

[muthaducka]

I've just bought the continentals for my touring. It's my first go with these so hopefully they last.
Bought on strength of 1st/2nd place awards from virtually every European review I could find.
I wanted something that performed equally well in the wet as one of my primary buying concerns.
Great so far, quiet and comfy believe it or not and no tc light flicker.

If you want mile munchers I just replaced the rear Kuhmos I inherited after 17k in my ownership and they weren't new. Wet weather grip weak but nice if you like playing with the backend in the wet (oo-er)

F1's in my experience are a good all round tyre.

[mgmrw]

conti's have been a mixed bag for me.

SAAB ate them. Yet my dad's 4x4 runs them, and they work well.

Interested to see how they get on with a BMW

[RemyMartin]

I run, Contisport contact 3s on the 328i Sport (e36) and they are simply amazing. Longevity seems very impressive too. Ok they are bloody expensive but definitely worth it. Have also had GSD3 on and was not as impressed, both in wet grip and degredation.

[nonuts]

mgMatt said:

Ahh see on 20,000miles a year, the difference between primacy's lasting a year, and eagles lasting 3months, matters to me. Especially at circa £600 to shod the car in 4 tyres.

Don't get me wrong, the eagle f1s on my 3series tourer, are great. But they nigh-on disolve. PAS kills the fronts, and the rears normal driving has munched them.

Tyre tests are all well and good, but running eagles all round would set me back something like £2500 a year, VS about £500 a year on Michellins which are as good in every circumstance barring the wet. BUT far better than eagles in the snow/ice

I suspect you need to get the geo checked on your cars, on the S3 I was doing a lot of miles and driving like an idiot most of the time and that didn't get through tyres at anything like the rate you're talking about it also had a pretty aggressive geo set-up when running the F1 asymmetric.

I did over 20,000 miles a year in both the M3 and S3, I can't be bothered to figure out how long the tyres lasted but I'd guess probably over 10k minimum for any of the tyres, from PH looks like I spent about £500 a year on tyres and they were mainly F1s or T1-Rs.

[mgmrw]

nonuts said:

mgMatt said:

Ahh see on 20,000miles a year, the difference between primacy's lasting a year, and eagles lasting 3months, matters to me. Especially at circa £600 to shod the car in 4 tyres.

Don't get me wrong, the eagle f1s on my 3series tourer, are great. But they nigh-on disolve. PAS kills the fronts, and the rears normal driving has munched them.

Tyre tests are all well and good, but running eagles all round would set me back something like £2500 a year, VS about £500 a year on Michellins which are as good in every circumstance barring the wet. BUT far better than eagles in the snow/ice

I suspect you need to get the geo checked on your cars, on the S3 I was doing a lot of miles and driving like an idiot most of the time and that didn't get through tyres at anything like the rate you're talking about it also had a pretty aggressive geo set-up when running the F1 asymmetric.

I did over 20,000 miles a year in both the M3 and S3, I can't be bothered to figure out how long the tyres lasted but I'd guess probably over 10k minimum for any of the tyres, from PH looks like I spent about £500 a year on tyres and they were mainly F1s or T1-Rs.

ZR was dropped on coilovers. E36 tourer is running OEM set-up, only difference being wider E46 wheels dropped on to it.


ZR properly ate tyres when racking up miles. But michellins were superb.

E36s eagles are dead, so at the weekend, they're getting 4x maxxis asymetricals dropped on. Until october, when steelies with winters on rear, and fuldas on front shall be plopped on