What a difference new tyres make!

[mikey-r]

I know most if you may well have experienced this but it's been a new experience for me.

After having my pride and joy written off I've got myself a replacement '54 330d Sport Touring (photo's to be updated on profile). It had on it(on 18" MV2's
)....

Fronts: VREDESTEIN 225/40ZR18 92Y Ultrac Sessanta XL
Rears: DUNLOP 255/35R18 94Y SP SPORT MAXX TT MFS

Both were well worn but not illegal, between 2 & 4 mm's

After 700 miles all was good apart from severe tramlining and a god awful, for want of a better word, groaning from the front of the car when breaking from about 40mpg and sometimes when cornering. My old car had MV2's and tramlined noticably, but nothing like this. Also, my wife has a 330d Sport saloon with the Dunlop SP's all round and 18" wheels and does neither of these things.


I suspected a wheel bearing for the groaning noise. However, after popping the car in for an oil change (13,000 miles since last one and still 5500 miles showing before next one due - damn these long service intervals!) the guys said the wheel bearings were fine, try changing the tyres as certain makes/styles can really effect noise and tramlining. I opted for Falken 452's (£430 fitted) all round.... WOW! No groaning, absolute minimal tramlining and I would estimate at 75% general less road noise overall. Handling is spot on.

Sorry if this is 'old news' but I've owned a few cars over the years and I've never had a new set of tyres transform the car like this before.

Cheers.

[Mattt]

Heard good things about the 452's. Tempted to switch over to non-RFTs when mine run out.

[pstruck]

I'm hoping that the 'groaning' from the front of my 330ci Sport is down to tyres. There is still some life in my Bridgestone RE040's, but will be going for the Falkens when the time comes.

[Bernie-the-bolt]

I've got these on my 535D Sport and over 10,000 miles they have proved to be fine.

Took about 500-1000 miles before I felt the car wasn't slipping around the road and they do like to be warm to perform at their best.

The downside is they are not very wide and the anti kerb strip just isn't good enough and I have caused some damage to a rear wheel I probably wouldn't have had I still had Conti's on.

[ZeroSum]

I had 452's on my 16" wheels - they caused my car to tramline terribly and the ride was awful. My 18" wheels with nankang rubber feel far more compliant and do not tramline at all. (not what I was expecting when I swapped the wheels!)

[christer]

I went from RFT on 18's to normal tyres on 19's. I considered FK452's but went for Goodyear Eagle Assymetrics in the end - as they were only about £80 more for the set of 4. Very happy with these! (just another option, as I believe the FK452 is a good tyre by all accounts).

[The_Doc]

Well I run Pirelli P6000s all round on my '02 330d (225 45 17) and as they were getting a little worn (perhaps 2.5mm) I thought I'd leaf through my bills to see how long it was since they were new.

Rears: 28,000 miles !
Fronts: 25,000m

impressed.

pay more money for better tyres and they last longer...

what should I go to next though? Goodyear Eagle F1 GSD3 ??

[Traveller]

Always ran GSD3s, which I was very happy with, thought I would try the Falkens out, as I had heard good things about them both from friends and several different forums. So far so good, although they are more noisy than the GSD3 on the motorway, they certainly seem to be a decent tyre.

I have found on the Cupra though, that as the tyres wear, the tram lining and torque steer, which is non existent for the first 10 0000 miles, gets much worse the older the tyre is. It becomes very noticeable when there is 2 or 3 mm left on the tyre. This both for the GSD3s, Falkens and Pirelli P zeros.

Edited by Traveller on Wednesday 8th July 11:06