Tyres for an E46 M3

[sebhaque]

I know this question has probably come up a million times already, but I'm after some advice.

I use my M3 mainly for motorway drives - I know, it's the perfect car for the job, what with it's addiction to rubber, fuel, tax and insurance etc etc. Still, my hooning in the M3 is very limited, it's mainly used on boring motorway runs.

I'm running the 19" wheels - having transferred from a VX220 Turbo (and having a classic Mini) I have no bother about a rough ride or anything. I was wondering what the best tyres would be for the car if I were purely to use it on the motorway, with back road runs being very limited and not even at 7/10ths.

Price isn't really a problem, however having got 8,000 miles out of the Pilots I last bought, I was wondering if there were tyres availabel for the car more suited to lengthy driving rather than providing great grip, which is going to waste 95% of the time. A colleague of mine uses Falken FK452s (IIRC), but I'd appreciate any further input into what my most appropriate set would be.

I have no problems buying another set of Pilots if they are indeed the best choice for my usage of the car - but if there's something I can buy for a similar price (i.e. not a set of LingKangYingYang ditchfinders) that will last longer when I'm not powersliding into my garage etc, that'd be great.

TIA!

[daz4m]

You could try Vredestein Ultrac Sessantas, reasonably priced and whilst not top end will do what you require. Work well in the wet too.

I've heard PS2s wear better though.

Kumho Ecsta could be another option.

www.tyrereviews.co.uk is a decent site to get an idea.

[MattOz]

I'm using Conti 5P's on my CS and they're a brilliant tyre. They're the "sportier" version of the Conti SC3 and having run both types of Conti, I'd be happy to state that they're better than the PS2's I've used in the past. Have heard good things about the vredestein Ultrac too, so might be worth considering. I did briefly try Kumho KU31's and they weren't that good in my opinion.

[DivideBYZero]

I always used the Conti Sport Contact M3 edition tyres that were created for the car. Got very good life out of them and they handled great, too.

[Sir_Dave]

I use the Kumho KU31's and honestly? No difference to the Pilot Sports on the gf's TT.

At £125 a corner its a no brainer for me

[Nedzilla]

8k miles seems a bit on the low side for motorway driving on michelins.Are they wearing evenly?

Which pilots were they?

[jaedba2604]

mine wore rather quickly when the trailing arm bushes had gone, might be worth checking these.

[sebhaque]

The wear seems pretty even to me, it's not the most accessible tyre to run a Vernier over but it seems to be around 2mm all the way round the left (give or take 0.1mm), didn't get a chance to do the right due to my piss poor parking on the drive.

Having had a look on the review sites I'm privvy to going for the Goodyears, £250 a corner seems like a reasonable price for a quick search on 265/35/19Y. I did see a set of Proxes on blackcircles, I loved them in my Impreza but I'm guessing they're probably not so good for an M3. Likewise with the Potenzas I enjoyed on my VXT, again assuming not appropriate for a much heavier car.

8,000 miles is rather low but that's probably due in no small part to my "spirited" acceleration up motorway slip roads. The back road hoons probably knocked off a bit of life too. Either way, I'll get the car checked up at some point to make sure the tyres are wearing evenly and at an appropriate rate.

The next question I suppose is, what size should I be looking at? Everywhere I look I'm told a different size, ranging from 235 to 275(!). Apologies if I sound like a clueless idiot but, well, I am!

[Nedzilla]

Ive gone through two sets of PS 2s on my M3 vert and got over 15k miles out of each set,not much motorway driving though.I have recently replaced all four with vredesteins sessantas and im very pleased with them.Im not sure what kind of mileage they will do but see now reason why they will be much different but at around £650 a set they are incredible value for money.

[Sir_Dave]

OEM Polished wheels Standard size: 225/40/19 fronts with 255/35/19 rears

OEM Polished wheels UPSIZE or CSL Alloys: 235/35/19 fronts with 265/30/19 rears

[KP]

Conti M3's for me.

[nottyash]

DivideBYZero said:

I always used the Conti Sport Contact M3 edition tyres that were created for the car. Got very good life out of them and they handled great, too.

Me too.
I had Michelin on before which made it tramline terribly.

[Al 450]

I'm looking for some as well, will probably go for the Vredesteins I think. Does anyone know which tyre has a decent rim protector on it?

[dgm]

nottyash said:

DivideBYZero said:

I always used the Conti Sport Contact M3 edition tyres that were created for the car. Got very good life out of them and they handled great, too.

Me too.
I had Michelin on before which made it tramline terribly.

The two of you are having a laugh. These tyres were slated when they were put on the M3 in 2001 and have long since been superseded by numerous other tyres not least by numerous offerings by Continental themselves. They may have been created by Continental for the M3 but they were by no means the exclusive tyre fitted to new M3s by BMW They are terrible tyres.

[nottyash]

dgm said:

nottyash said:

DivideBYZero said:

I always used the Conti Sport Contact M3 edition tyres that were created for the car. Got very good life out of them and they handled great, too.

Me too.
I had Michelin on before which made it tramline terribly.

The two of you are having a laugh. These tyres were slated when they were put on the M3 in 2001 and have long since been superseded by numerous other tyres not least by numerous offerings by Continental themselves. They may have been created by Continental for the M3 but they were by no means the exclusive tyre fitted to new M3s by BMW They are terrible tyres.

Of course, how silly of us to trust BMW and Continental and the 16000 miles ive driven on them. I should of just asked you.

[Sidewindow]

I've just got some Vredestein Ultrac Sessantas to fit onto 18" wheels, interested to see how the car rides and handles after 14k miles on 19" wheels with PS2s.. Chose the Vred's after reading lots of reviews, they seem to offer the benefits of the PS2s at a cheaper price, but not the brand name. Paid less than £580 delivered from Mytyres and Camskill which is good value.

[dgm]

nottyash said:

dgm said:

nottyash said:

DivideBYZero said:

I always used the Conti Sport Contact M3 edition tyres that were created for the car. Got very good life out of them and they handled great, too.

Me too.
I had Michelin on before which made it tramline terribly.

The two of you are having a laugh. These tyres were slated when they were put on the M3 in 2001 and have long since been superseded by numerous other tyres not least by numerous offerings by Continental themselves. They may have been created by Continental for the M3 but they were by no means the exclusive tyre fitted to new M3s by BMW They are terrible tyres.

Of course, how silly of us to trust BMW and Continental and the 16000 miles ive driven on them. I should of just asked you.

You should HAVE () just asked me? Of course not but you could have done some research over the last 10 years before putting your faith and recommendation in old tyre technology. I've driven on them as well, hence my opinion. You do realise that BMW put a wide range of different tyres on each of their model range? Perhaps you don't. In any event, things do move on in a decade and you might like to reflect on that, probably not though.

[nottyash]

dgm said:

nottyash said:

dgm said:

nottyash said:

DivideBYZero said:

I always used the Conti Sport Contact M3 edition tyres that were created for the car. Got very good life out of them and they handled great, too.

Me too.
I had Michelin on before which made it tramline terribly.

The two of you are having a laugh. These tyres were slated when they were put on the M3 in 2001 and have long since been superseded by numerous other tyres not least by numerous offerings by Continental themselves. They may have been created by Continental for the M3 but they were by no means the exclusive tyre fitted to new M3s by BMW They are terrible tyres.

Of course, how silly of us to trust BMW and Continental and the 16000 miles ive driven on them. I should of just asked you.

You should HAVE () just asked me? Of course not but you could have done some research over the last 10 years before putting your faith and recommendation in old tyre technology. I've driven on them as well, hence my opinion. You do realise that BMW put a wide range of different tyres on each of their model range? Perhaps you don't. In any event, things do move on in a decade and you might like to reflect on that, probably not though.

I did some research actually on M£ cutters, most people recommended sticking to them on there. The Michelins I had fitted on the front of my latest M3 were more grippy, but they tramlined so bad I had the car checked out, tracking done etc. They were rubbish. These Continentals are a great all round tyre, been good in all conditions, and the car drives spot on with them.
I fancied Vredstien after the write ups but they were not available locally, the M3 Cutters said the Falken 452 were good, but poor in colder temperatures. I paid the extra and stuck with what I know.

[jaedba2604]

dgm said:

nottyash said:

dgm said:

nottyash said:

DivideBYZero said:

I always used the Conti Sport Contact M3 edition tyres that were created for the car. Got very good life out of them and they handled great, too.

Me too.
I had Michelin on before which made it tramline terribly.

The two of you are having a laugh. These tyres were slated when they were put on the M3 in 2001 and have long since been superseded by numerous other tyres not least by numerous offerings by Continental themselves. They may have been created by Continental for the M3 but they were by no means the exclusive tyre fitted to new M3s by BMW They are terrible tyres.

Of course, how silly of us to trust BMW and Continental and the 16000 miles ive driven on them. I should of just asked you.

You should HAVE () just asked me? Of course not but you could have done some research over the last 10 years before putting your faith and recommendation in old tyre technology. I've driven on them as well, hence my opinion. You do realise that BMW put a wide range of different tyres on each of their model range? Perhaps you don't. In any event, things do move on in a decade and you might like to reflect on that, probably not though.

i've always used the conti sport contact M3, never found them great - what are the alternatives that supersede these?

[spacegrey335]

Vredestein Ultrac sessanta...if you want good grip and good value for money!...