best rear tyres for a 323 saloon

[mart77]

hi all


i need two new rear tyres for my 323 and was wondering what best to go for.its currently got conti contact 3's on it.......i dont mind paying for good tyres i just want good grip and long lasting/hard wearing..

cheers martin

[Fox-]

More SportContacts or perhaps some Eagle F1 Assymetric 2.

[BlitzE34]

What tyre size?

[mart77]

225/40/18

[billzeebub]

Think my ContiSports are the perfect trade off price/performance..

[Repent]

Another vote for the F1 Assy 2's here!

[s m]

mart77 said:

hi all


i need two new rear tyres for my 323 and was wondering what best to go for.its currently got conti contact 3's on it.......i dont mind paying for good tyres i just want good grip and long lasting/hard wearing..

cheers martin

What have you got on the front? Contis as well?

I'd stick with the Contis personally ....or if there's another good make on the front try and get a matched set?

[4rephill]

s m said:

What have you got on the front? Contis as well?

I'd stick with the Contis personally ....or if there's another good make on the front try and get a matched set?

+1
Be aware, 3 series BMW's do not react well to different brands of tyres on the front and rear, it can seriously throw the cars handling off!
(To the point in some cases where the car feels dangerous to drive!)

I'd play safe and fit the same brand and type of tyres that are on the front.

[OldSkoolRS]

Seems to be a common theme this week for me: I had Michelin pilots on the front of my Z3 and Avon ZV5s on the rear. I swopped them round and the car feels much better, so the pilots (which have 3mm or so left) will get replaced by matching Avons. It was surprising how many cars I looked at that had random mixes of tyres even on the same axle considering how much I've seen written lately about how BMWs seem sensitive to tyre choice.

[mart77]

i've got sunew i think they are called on the front.they are pretty crap to be honest but came with the car and looked brand new.i think its going to be a full set of conti's then........gonna be expensive.lol

[mart77]

i just found an ad on ebay for 4 conti sport for 450 quid.sounds good to me.
is it ok to fit 4 of these or are directional tyres better on the front?


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4-x-225-40-18-92Y-CONTIN...

[s m]

mart77 said:

i just found an ad on ebay for 4 conti sport for 450 quid.sounds good to me.
is it ok to fit 4 of these or are directional tyres better on the front?


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4-x-225-40-18-92Y-CONTIN...

I've found some tyre patterns will exacerbate tramlining tendencies on BMWs but have never found Conti Sports that bad for this.........however, personally I wouldn't run anything larger than I had to as the sidewall depth on those 18s wouldn't be as compliant as 15s or 16s. Then again, I run mine on rutted, potholed roads with cambers and longitudinal ridges rather than smooth motorways and I've found 17s to be worse for handling and ride so could only imagine that 18s would be like 17s.

I do like the Contis as a tyre though

[jamesson]

Different car, I know, but I had Continentals on an Audi A3 and they didn't last very long at all. I have Goodyears now which are lasting much longer. Compound too soft for the OP's long lasting criteria? Good tyres in every other respect, though.

[4rephill]

mart77 said:

i've got sunew i think they are called on the front.they are pretty crap to be honest but came with the car and looked brand new.i think its going to be a full set of conti's then........gonna be expensive.lol

Based on that info, definitely get four new decent tyres.

When I bought My 328i Sport it came fitted with the infamous Wanli's!
The first time it rained I can honestly say it was the most terrifying drive I'd ever had - on roundabouts it was Chronic understeer into snap oversteer then straight back to chronic understeer - and this was all at less than 15mph!
I've had more grip on black ice!

As soon as I could I put four Goodyear F1's on it (££££££'s! ) and it completely transformed the car in both the wet and the dry!



Falken get rated very highly by BMW owners as being as good as Michelin/Goodyear/Bridgestone/Pirelli etc., for half the price.

mart77 said:

i just found an ad on ebay for 4 conti sport for 450 quid.sounds good to me.
is it ok to fit 4 of these or are directional tyres better on the front?

Some owners have had problems mixing directional tyres on one axle and non-directional's on the other (saying that, I ran Goodyear F1 asymmetrical's on the front with the old Goodyear F1 DSG3 directional's on the rear for a few months because the fronts needed replacing while the rears had plenty of tread left, and the car drove fine. BMW said that way round should not be a problem but the other way round could possibly cause odd handling).

If it were Me, I'd replace all four tyres with the same make and model of a decent brand tyre (expensive I know, but don't forget that good tyres on all four corners is a major factor in staying safe on the road. Cheap tyres might save you a bit of money but they might also cost you your life!).

[s m]

jamesson said:

Different car, I know, but I had Continentals on an Audi A3 and they didn't last very long at all. I have Goodyears now which are lasting much longer. Compound too soft for the OP's long lasting criteria? Good tyres in every other respect, though.

My Conti Sport Contacts lasted pretty well on an E36 328 but maybe different on an Audi - prefer them to GY F1 GSD3 and asymms but all personal taste in the end.

[4rephill]

s m said:

My Conti Sport Contacts lasted pretty well on an E36 328 but maybe different on an Audi - prefer them to GY F1 GSD3 and asymms but all personal taste in the end.

I've found the Goodyear F1's (both GSD3's and asymmetrical's) to be extremely good in the wet and the dry, but they do seem to wear out fairly quickly (that may be a lot more to do with the driver than the tyres though, I must say! )

[Patrick Bateman]

Get the new F1s.

[s m]

4rephill said:

s m said:

My Conti Sport Contacts lasted pretty well on an E36 328 but maybe different on an Audi - prefer them to GY F1 GSD3 and asymms but all personal taste in the end.

I've found the Goodyear F1's (both GSD3's and asymmetrical's) to be extremely good in the wet and the dry, but they do seem to wear out fairly quickly (that may be a lot more to do with the driver than the tyres though, I must say! )

Yep, similar experiences to me - I found the GY F1 GSD3 weren't as good in very hot weather as Contis and both Types of GYs seemed to wear quicker than Sport Contacts. Asymms are a very good tyre though

[Fox-]

4rephill said:

Falken get rated very highly by BMW owners as being as good as Michelin/Goodyear/Bridgestone/Pirelli etc., for half the price.

Thats because they desperately want to beleive it to be true because the Falkens are loads cheaper. The big list of tyre braking distances in the thread in General Gassing - where the Falkens came about 26th - has aptly demonstrated that no, you cannot have your cake and eat it, and no, the Falken's are not Contisports for half the price, they are tyres with a level of performance you'd expect given the price

4rephill said:

Some owners have had problems mixing directional tyres on one axle and non-directional's on the other (saying that, I ran Goodyear F1 asymmetrical's on the front with the old Goodyear F1 DSG3 directional's on the rear for a few months because the fronts needed replacing while the rears had plenty of tread left, and the car drove fine. BMW said that way round should not be a problem but the other way round could possibly cause odd handling).

I had the other way round - GS-D3's on the front and Assymetric's on the back. No issues.

I've now got Contisport 3's all round but think I am about to go back to mixed again simply because I need 2 rear tyres and Continental have not seen fit to bother releasing the CS5 in my size. So my choice seems either go with the now rather old CS3's again or try the apparently rather excellent AS2.

Given the lack of issues I had with directional on the front and assymetric on the back I'm tempted to go with the Goodyears, only this time I'll have Assymetric CS3's on the front and Assymetric Goodyears on the back..

It is hugely frustrating when you run staggered sizes and a leading manufacturer releases a new tyre for one size but doesnt bother with the other. The CS5 is now almost 2 years old and there is STILL no sign of it in 265/35/18.

Edited by Fox- on Saturday 10th March 23:14

[4rephill]

Fox- said:

4rephill said:

Falken get rated very highly by BMW owners as being as good as Michelin/Goodyear/Bridgestone/Pirelli etc., for half the price.

Thats because they desperately want to beleive it to be true because the Falkens are loads cheaper. The big list of tyre braking distances in the thread in General Gassing - where the Falkens came about 26th - has aptly demonstrated that no, you cannot have your cake and eat it, and no, the Falken's are not Contisports for half the price, they are tyres with a level of performance you'd expect given the price

I can only comment on the response of owners from the various BMW forums. To be fair, pretty much all of them talk about the grip levels, driving characteristics and wear rates, very few if any talk about braking distances. For Me when I chose the Goodyear's, rightly or wrongly, I was far more concerned with their grip levels in the dry and in the wet than their outright braking ability.

I've said it before in previous threads, at the end of the day, tyres are a very personal thing. One man's "great" is another mans "load of rubbish".

For Me the trick is to find a tyre that suits you and gives you confidence in your car. Tyres are your only contact with the tarmac and the last thing you want is a car that's unpredictable in various conditions. To Me that's pretty much more important than the price of the tyres (although it would be nice if the Goodyear's were a bit cheaper!). There's no point risking an accident to save a few quid.
(I've highlighted this part as I think it's an important thing to note)

The problem is, it's a costly experiment to find the tyres that suit you. It would be great if you could trial different sets of tyres to find your favourite but that's never going to happen.

In My case it might be that I got lucky and found My ideal tyre first time. I did a lot of investigating into different reviews on the net from owners and "experts" and the Goodyear's sounded the best to Me. I'd noted the Falkens seemed to get good reviews but as I didn't really know the brand, I shied away from them. Who knows, maybe there's another brand of tyre that would suit Me even better but it's a gamble I'm not prepared to take, the Goodyear's suit Me fine (of course it could be a case that I've become adapted to the Goodyear's and that any decent quality tyre brand would have felt amazing after the shockingly bad Wanli's!)

The next problem with tyres is: Just when you've found you're ideal tyre, the by manufacturer stops making them and comes out with something that you can't get on with! (Luckily enough for Me, the Goodyear F1 asymmetrical's seem to be as good as the DSG3's, if not better). Then you're left back at square one trying to find another tyre that suits you.



For the OP: Good luck with finding your ideal tyres, just remember to give them plenty of time to bed in to the car before declaring them to be rubbish. Too many people buy tyres and declare them to be cp after a couple of hundred miles. I've always found it takes a good 500~1000 miles before I'm totally happy with tyres (again though, is that Me just getting used to the tyres or is it really that at that sort of mileage they've finally settled fully to the chassis?)