F30 3-Series Tyre Choices

[Clivey]

Hi all, I need a new set of tyres for my F30 3-Series. It's an M-Sport on the standard passive suspension and staggered 18"s, currently running Bridgestone Potenza S001 runflats, which seem to have lasted quite well.

Before I order another set of the same, are there any similarly-priced alternatives that are worth looking at? I'm especially interested if they improve the ride, as although this car's much better than some other cars on "sports" suspension, it can still feel a little bit too firm on some of the atrocious urban roads we have nowadays.

Thanks for any help!

[Pica-Pica]

I dropped down from 19” to 18” on my F30 335d. I went from Pirelli Pzero to Goodyear Efficient Grip, and found them quieter and (obviously) better able to cope with bad roads and speed humps.
For me it was probably the size drop that made the difference.

[d_a_n1979]

Clivey said:

Hi all, I need a new set of tyres for my F30 3-Series. It's an M-Sport on the standard passive suspension and staggered 18"s, currently running Bridgestone Potenza S001 runflats, which seem to have lasted quite well.

Before I order another set of the same, are there any similarly-priced alternatives that are worth looking at? I'm especially interested if they improve the ride, as although this car's much better than some other cars on "sports" suspension, it can still feel a little bit too firm on some of the atrocious urban roads we have nowadays.

Thanks for any help!

My pal runs an F30 3 M-Sport (albeit his is on Bilstein coilovers) and has moved over to Uniroyal Rainsport 5s, non-RFTs and has said it's made a world of difference re ride comfort/handling and grip

IIRC they do them in non-RFT and RFTs (RainSport 3s also); worth having a look as they're superb tyres and very well reviewed

Generally, Camskill have the best prices, you just need to get them fitted locally for £beeertokens

[Alextodrive]

I've just bought the Goodyear Assymetric 2 run flats for my F31 touring and while they're not fitted yet, there were plenty of people who recommended them in another topic I posted here last week. Also well reviewed and tested online. Looking forward to getting rid of my Potenza's.

They're also currently running a Goodyear promotion of £100 off for 19" wheels and I think £80 off for 18" at Costco for a set of 4.

So £505 all in fitted with new valves, nitrogen and the 5 year warranty costco provide themselves. My local garage wanted £650.

[Sim89]

F31 330d on S-Drive on M-Sport passive suspension. 19", always had Michelin PS4s, worlds apart from RFTs - quiet, excellent water clearing, long lasting - around 25-30k a set, mostly motorway miles.. Come in at £500 fitted at Costco when the offer is on.

[Alextodrive]

Sim89 said:

F31 330d on S-Drive on M-Sport passive suspension. 19", always had Michelin PS4s, worlds apart from RFTs - quiet, excellent water clearing, long lasting - around 25-30k a set, mostly motorway miles.. Come in at £500 fitted at Costco when the offer is on.

Same car, suspension and alloys. Loved the Pilot Sport's on my bike, assume theyd be decent on any car. Same price as the Goodyear RFT's Ive just bought.

Just curious to pick your brains. On this whole non RFT thing, I get it for the ride comfort, but do you have a plan of action for if a tyre punctures? Do you carry a can of the emergency tyre sealant and take the hit on it ruining a sensor? Do you just plan on pulling over and getting towed?

Im not a fan of RFT but I imagine the tyre sealants dont always work.

[Aluminati]

PS4 S on mine also. Excellent.

[gizlaroc]

Alextodrive said:

Same car, suspension and alloys. Loved the Pilot Sport's on my bike, assume theyd be decent on any car. Same price as the Goodyear RFT's Ive just bought.

Just curious to pick your brains. On this whole non RFT thing, I get it for the ride comfort, but do you have a plan of action for if a tyre punctures? Do you carry a can of the emergency tyre sealant and take the hit on it ruining a sensor? Do you just plan on pulling over and getting towed?

Im not a fan of RFT but I imagine the tyre sealants dont always work.

Tyre gunk works well.

Some of the better German stuff is now water based, so fine with sensors and can be easily removed so tyre can be repaired.

One of the guys on the old BM3W.co.uk forum did 3 laps of the 'ring with a tyre repaired with sealant, then drove back to the UK, far bigger balls than me, but shows how well the stuff works.

A run flat would not even make it back to the UK, the side wall would collapse after 100 miles or so.

A run flat is great if you are pretty local, but I think I prefer the option of sealant and compressor if being further than 50 miles or so from home.

[smashy]

I bore myself with my same post but here goes. F30 330d 18s bought new. After 3 weeks ,I do about 500 a week I had had enough of the Runflats crashy noisy terrible. I put on normal Michelin PS3s lovely felt like I had rubber between me and the road. Afternearly 4 years I thought I was handing the car back and they needed replacing so thought I had better put Runflats on.Spent ages googling reviews and forums trying to find one that seems to be the best of the bunch

I chose Goodyear F1 Eagle Assymetric 3s came out the tyre place worried sick I had just blown £600.

Anyway they are great infact I prefer the ride to the Normal Michelins which are supposed to be as good as it gets. Not Crashy no howling on certain roads real nice feel I would not bother going back

FWIW I have done 150 miles on a runflat puncture with no issues.

[Alextodrive]

gizlaroc said:

Tyre gunk works well.

Some of the better German stuff is now water based, so fine with sensors and can be easily removed so tyre can be repaired.

One of the guys on the old BM3W.co.uk forum did 3 laps of the 'ring with a tyre repaired with sealant, then drove back to the UK, far bigger balls than me, but shows how well the stuff works.

A run flat would not even make it back to the UK, the side wall would collapse after 100 miles or so.

A run flat is great if you are pretty local, but I think I prefer the option of sealant and compressor if being further than 50 miles or so from home.

Fair enough. I've taken the plunge with the Goodyears because I'm curious to see how they compare as RFT's with the Potenzas and I wont be keeping the car all that long but interesting to know theres now water based gunk.

I did have a run flat puncture last year on my 4 series GC with a Potenza. Nursed the car 30 miles back home and it was absolutely destroyed when the tyre came off. Was about to completely fail within a few more miles. Tyre guy was impressed at how badly it had come apart, I less so.

[Sim89]

Alextodrive said:

Sim89 said:

F31 330d on S-Drive on M-Sport passive suspension. 19", always had Michelin PS4s, worlds apart from RFTs - quiet, excellent water clearing, long lasting - around 25-30k a set, mostly motorway miles.. Come in at £500 fitted at Costco when the offer is on.

Same car, suspension and alloys. Loved the Pilot Sport's on my bike, assume theyd be decent on any car. Same price as the Goodyear RFT's Ive just bought.

Just curious to pick your brains. On this whole non RFT thing, I get it for the ride comfort, but do you have a plan of action for if a tyre punctures? Do you carry a can of the emergency tyre sealant and take the hit on it ruining a sensor? Do you just plan on pulling over and getting towed?

Im not a fan of RFT but I imagine the tyre sealants dont always work.

I disliked RFTs that much, the puncture issue was a minor concern to me at the time. My car also doesn't have individual pressure sensors, just rolling diameter calculation. However, I did get caught with a puncture when I returned from a trip back to the airport last year, I was over 50 miles from home. I had two cans of Tyreweld and ended up doing around 80 miles on it in the end., no issues - probably could do a lot more! Maintained pressure at 2.4 bar.

Good job I had two, 19" 255 width takes a lot of the stuff.

Now I just replaced with another two cans, alongside a compressor if a slow leak.

As others have said, would MUCH rather have a non RFT with tyreweld than have to travel any distance on a RFT.

I THINK you can clear the foam out and reuse the tyre if the puncture is repairable, mine wasn't so I haven't any experience with it.

[gizlaroc]

You also have to remember how good the dsc is on modern cars now. Even with a proper blow out cars are still pretty controllable, not like the olden days where a blow out could see you shoot off the road.

[Alextodrive]

I’ve never worried about a blowout. It’s just about making sure I can get to where I need to be and worry about a puncture later. I’m so used to the potenza’s now that I suspect anything else is going to feel like driving on clouds next. Truly horrible tyre.

[Clivey]

Thanks everyone for the recommendations. Thankfully we ordered the car with 18"s so the ride is not bad at all but I do know from other cars we've had that tyre choice can make quite a difference.

Camskill seem to have the cheapest prices I've seen so far, although their website isn't the clearest. I'll have a play and see what I can find. I'm not sure about switching to non-runflats as depending on our usage, the car might be handed back to BMW with it's next set of tyres still on it.

[gizlaroc]

Clivey said:

I'm not sure about switching to non-runflats as depending on our usage, the car might be handed back to BMW with it's next set of tyres still on it.

Take them off the car with at least 3mm on remaining, then put them back on come hand back time.

[Clivey]

gizlaroc said:

Take them off the car with at least 3mm on remaining, then put them back on come hand back time.

Unfortunately it's too late for that. - The current tyres need changing ASAP as they've quite suddenly worn the outside edges quite badly (apparently common on modern BMWs).

[gizlaroc]

Clivey said:

Unfortunately it's too late for that. - The current tyres need changing ASAP as they've quite suddenly worn the outside edges quite badly (apparently common on modern BMWs).

Outside edge?
No, not common.
Inside edge is very common.

Outside edge means too high pressures.

I am talking run flats here, get them off the run flats and they wear far more evenly.

[Pica-Pica]

Clivey said:

Unfortunately it's too late for that. - The current tyres need changing ASAP as they've quite suddenly worn the outside edges quite badly (apparently common on modern BMWs).

But it is only the centre 3/4 that needs to be within legal tread depth. If you are within that, it is not ASAP

[gizlaroc]

I presume he means nearly down to the cords?

As Pica says, you may be fine. Post pics of the wear.

[Alextodrive]

Clivey said:

Thanks everyone for the recommendations. Thankfully we ordered the car with 18"s so the ride is not bad at all but I do know from other cars we've had that tyre choice can make quite a difference.

Camskill seem to have the cheapest prices I've seen so far, although their website isn't the clearest. I'll have a play and see what I can find. I'm not sure about switching to non-runflats as depending on our usage, the car might be handed back to BMW with it's next set of tyres still on it.

Check out Costco’s current deal on Goodyear’s (assuming you’re a member). It’s £80 off a set of 4x 18” tyres. They fill the tyres with nitrogen, 5 year warranty they provide themselves. Have used them plenty and they’ve always done a good job.

Edited by Alextodrive on Friday 21st February 19:01