E46 Tyre choice

[NiceCupOfTea]

Hi all,

E46 330 Sport Touring - currently with standard staggered 18” MV2 Sport setup. They are in a state and at least one tyre is losing pressure due to corrosion. Plus I am fed up with the ride and road noise. Rears are done so I have sourced a set of style 68 17” wheels in staggered flavour (7.5J/8.5J iirc) with the correct e46 offset).

Can I confirm that correct sizes are:

Rear - 245/40 R17
Front - 225/45 R17
?

I have seen it suggested that the rears are 255.

Also, is the go to tyre still Michelin PS4? I am looking for very good wet/dry performance, but decent ride and noise levels also.

TIA.

[Mr Tidy]

I had an E46 325ti Compact Sport with Style 97 wheels in the same staggered sizes as your 68s.

OE tyre sizes were indeed 225/45 x 17 fronts and 245/40 x 17 rears.

[helix402]

Good wheel choice. I used to use Goodyear Eagle F1 or Continental Sport Contact 5 on these. 6 may be available now.

[Pica-Pica]

Goodyears have generally been quieter.

[NiceCupOfTea]

Thanks re the tyre sizes. Yes, I am quite excited about getting them on as I think they should be a big improvement in a lot of ways (and not least ease of cleaning compared to those bloody MV2s!)

I’ve had Goodyear F1 Asymmetric on my MV2s which seemed OK and have worn well. Even with 2mm on the rears they were pretty confidence inspiring driving home in the biblical floods and standing water on Wednesday night.

I was wondering about the PS4s because everybody raves about them - Evo best tyre or whatever. I’ve fitted them to my R52 Cooper S and they do seem very good. Other tyre on my radar are Uniroyal Rainsport 5s which I have on my Saab, but I don’t think they’ll be as good being a “midrange” tyre…

[helix402]

Unis are a class behind the Eagles and Contis.

[d_a_n1979]

NiceCupOfTea said:

Thanks re the tyre sizes. Yes, I am quite excited about getting them on as I think they should be a big improvement in a lot of ways (and not least ease of cleaning compared to those bloody MV2s!)

I’ve had Goodyear F1 Asymmetric on my MV2s which seemed OK and have worn well. Even with 2mm on the rears they were pretty confidence inspiring driving home in the biblical floods and standing water on Wednesday night.

I was wondering about the PS4s because everybody raves about them - Evo best tyre or whatever. I’ve fitted them to my R52 Cooper S and they do seem very good. Other tyre on my radar are Uniroyal Rainsport 5s which I have on my Saab, but I don’t think they’ll be as good being a “midrange” tyre…

I was really impressed with the 17" PS4s I ran on my E39 touring; little road noise, superb grip (wet & dry) and comfy too...

Camskill had the best prices and they had a £50 cashback offer on them too; worth looking into. You just get them fitted locally

Other tyres I'd recommend are the Uniroyal RainSport 5s, Vredestein Ultrac Vorti's and Goodyear F1s... The first 2 tyres are superb IMO; the RainSports suit the UK climate superbly and offer a very comfy/quiet ride and the Vreds, IMO, are as good as the PS4s, but they are firmer (although I only ran them 17" size for a short period as I ended up getting 18" alloys for a previous E39)

The Conti Contact6s are supposed to be very good too; but never had them myself

[4rephill]

The problem with tyres is, one person's: "Best tyre ever!", is another persons: "Couldn't get on with those tyres, they were terrible!"

Some will swear that you can't beat Michelin's, some will say Goodyear's are the best, others will say you need Conti's / Pirelli's / Dunlops / Bridgestone etc., etc., etc.

Then there will be people who will say Avon/Falken/Toyo/Firestone tyres are just as good as Michelin / Goodyear / Pirelli / Dunlop / Bridgestone / Conti's etc., etc., etc.

Tyres can be a very personal choice, and it can take a few attempts to find tyres that suit both the car and the driver best. The problem is, finding the right tyres can be very costly, as it's not as though you can try out various sets of tyres, to find the ones you really like, and just hand back the ones you don't like.

[Gtamaddog]

After two sets of Michelin PS4 tyres all round on mine I've gone back to Goodyear (F1A5). On the back the Michelins were fine, but both front pairs began to wear irregularly on the inner edges (after 40-50% worn) despite the car having a full laser alignment as a precaution each time new tyres were put on. I had a set of Goodyear F1A2s before the Michelins and never had that problem with them, they wore evenly front and back.

Don't get me wrong the Michelins performed well, but having to scrap summer tyres when the rest of the tyre is still on 3mm+ of tread isn't ideal although some replace at 3mm regardless. I personally found that both sets of Michelins created more noise even before the wear irregularity began. The Goodyears are a touch softer in the sidewall, but now I'm used to them I kind of appreciate it with the state of the roads.

As above its all personal preference. I'm on staggered MV2s and for the most part I think the car rides pretty well compared to some more recent offerings. It is no Rolls Royce, but I've never considered downsizing wheel size (apart from winter wheels) due to ride quality.

[4rephill]

Gtamaddog said:

......I'm on staggered MV2s and for the most part I think the car rides pretty well compared to some more recent offerings. It is no Rolls Royce, but I've never considered downsizing wheel size (apart from winter wheels) due to ride quality.

I'm also on 18" staggered MV2's (SE suspension not Sport suspension).

I've run Goodyear F1's/Dunlop Sportmax's and am now currently running Falken 510's, and can't say I've ever found the ride too stiff (and the roads where I live are pretty much abysmal! - I've known smoother farm tracks across fields!) - I'd say the 18" are just about right for the car.

[Krikkit]

Another E46 compact owner here - I moved from MV2s to the style 68s as the ride was too fidgety.

Went for Goodyear EfficientGrip on the front and some cheap stuff on the rear for silly oversteer in the wet, very highly recommended, and I think 40 profile is about as low as I'm prepared to go.

[Longnose]

Opinions don't mean much. You could use objective data and compare fuel efficiency, wet grip, noise and price. Black circles (and others) have this data. For my 330CI staggered tyre sizes and everyday driving I concluded Bridgestone Turanza were a good choice. They had better wet grip than Michelin, Continental, Pirelli and Goodyear and a lower price. Similar or better in other areas too.

[Krikkit]

Longnose said:

Opinions don't mean much...

...unless you have a comparison where you agree on the same subject.

[4rephill]

Longnose said:

Opinions don't mean much.......

Really?

So if 10,000 people say "Wanli tyres are cr4p!", and one person say's: "Wanli tyres are great!", the consensus of opinion doesn't mean much?

Longnose said:

........You could use objective data and compare fuel efficiency, wet grip, noise and price. Black circles (and others) have this data. For my 330CI staggered tyre sizes and everyday driving I concluded Bridgestone Turanza were a good choice. They had better wet grip than Michelin, Continental, Pirelli and Goodyear and a lower price. Similar or better in other areas too.

Does the tyre data indicate tyre wall stiffness? - No.
Does the tyre data indicate susceptibility to tram-lining? - No.
Does the tyre data indicate expected wear rates? - No.
Does the tyre data indicate breakaway characteristics? - No.

Read any motoring magazine/website group tyre tests, and you will find all manner of comments from the testers, about how some tyres suit the test cars better than others tyres, despite all being made to similar specifications.

The "objective data" does not give the whole story about the tyres - It's just a simplified way of comparing tyre brands/tyre models.

You mention Black circles show the "objective data" -They also show customer reviews of each tyre. Why would they bother to do that, if the "objective data" tells you all you need to know?

The answer is because they know that for many drivers, tyre choice is far more subjective than just the cold hard facts supplied from the tyre manufacturers, and customers want to see some real life feedback about the tyres, from people who have actually used them. The customer's want to get an idea of which tyres are good, which are bad, anf if certain tyres suit a car more than other tyres.

The customer reviews can both help, and hinder the process of buying tyres, because of how subjective tyre selection can be - As noted before, one person's: "Great tyre!", is another person's: "Rubbish tyre!"

You're happy to simply use the "objective data" to select your tyres? - Well good for you, and you may well think that the Bridgestone's are the greatest tyre in the World for your car.

That's not guaranteed though - For all you know, there could be another tyre, from another manufacturer, that, despite not looking quite as good based on the "objective data", actually suits your car even better than the Bridgestone's do.

[Longnose]

If data is available you might as well use it. Consider the E46, in round numbers - five different body styles, six or more different engines sizes, four or more different wheel diameters and within those different widths and offsets. Some have sports suspension, other standard. Add to that the range of mileages, maintenance and wear in reasonably old cars. Not to mention after-market springs, dampers, bushes etc. Also different driving styles from track days to grocery collection. It’s infinite. It’s a complex question with no simple answer.

Noise and wear rate data would be useful (they have it this the USA from what I remember) and if anyone publishes wall stiffness, tram lining or breakaway data then I would use it.

As you said yourself it’s a personal choice and very subjective, so I explained I prefer to be objective where possible, and how I used available data to make a choice. What’s the problem?

[LanceRS]

I have the PS4s on mine, I swear by them. They work well in all conditions apart from snow. I usually get just shy of 20k Miles out of them too.

The 255 section mentioned will be for the 18” wheels.

[dhutch]

LanceRS said:

I have the PS4s on mine, I swear by them. They work well in all conditions apart from snow. I usually get just shy of 20k Miles out of them too.

Four years on, what are you running now?

For the last 8 years the I've had the car its been running PS4s exclusively, till around a year ago when they where discontinued and the PS5 where both 50% more expensive and got fairly mixed reviews and a lot of people saying there where very loud.

Opted for Avon ZV7s as we have been running on our other two cars without issue, and on the front axle, they appeared find.

However since fitting a second pair to the rear axle, the handling has really gone down hill. Almost undrivable initially, with the rear all over the show.
That improved a little with time, presumable as they tyre bedded in. And again when I had the trailing arm bushed renewed and alignment redone recently.

However its still now right and I think the next step will be try two different tyres on the rear. But what?

Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 6 225/45 R17 94Y 69dB seams a reasonable option at £103 each? Past older threads I have found rated the earlier Asymmetric 2 tyre.

[NiceCupOfTea]

FWIW I've been very happy with the Eagle F1s on my staggered 17s.