TYRES (yes that old chestnut again)

[Redline]

Speaking of tyres i parked the Zed up after the Cotswolds run 260 miles I've been away a couple days only to come back to see the Zed has a flat tyre. it has a puncture it has a small pin in it, when wetted it bubbles so will try to get it fixed tomorrow.

Always annoying.

I hope it is in the middle of the tread. Should be easily fixed.

 

[gookah]

I look at the A-E grip ratings now not the manufacturer. Thats what I buy my tyres on. A lot of the big names have crappy ratings.
Name is not everything nowadays

 

[Tracy Dee]

Puncture all fixed.

 

[ppavuk]

I found Kumho tyres surprisingly good, I've used them on zed, and on other cars, no faults. Good enough for my driving abilities. And pretty cheap as well!

 

[Poprin]

I found Cumho tyres surprisingly good, I've used them on zed, and on other cars, no faults. Good enough for my driving abilities. And pretty cheap as well!

I would agree with this, I was pleasantly surprised by the Kuhmo's. Have a new set on my 2.8 and it drives better than my 3.0 on Conti Sports. Can't speak for wet weather grip though or longevity.

 

[Vince]

I like uniroyal rain sports myself but I needed a tyre on a budget quickly on the E36 so have just had a pair of toyo proxes fitted as these were on special offer locally at £50 a corner and apparently the E36 crowd say they are brilliant tyres and I must say I totally agree.
I must say the grip is amazing on them and they make the Pirelli P6000 tyres that were fitted feel like cheap Chinese linglongs, so I highly recommend giving them a try but then the Pirelli tyres are quite old.

My Zed is still on the same tyres as when I bought it over a couple of years ago and I have some mismatched landsail linglong things on the back and pair of tyres called sava on the front to be honest I can't say it handles bad if I'm honest with everyday driving but then I rarely drive it in the wet or during the winter months but I must say I did a quick u turn the other day in the car and the tyre squeal must of woke up the neighbourhood and I do notice it does tramline at times, so I'm hoping that I can wear them out and either go for rainsport 3 or Toyo proxes again.

 

[IJSK]

Hi all,

I'm a newbie here with a 2001 red Z3 2.2i.

Occasionally the handling (when not even trying hard) gives me a fright!

So, as the first stage in my process of elimination, I've just bought some decent genuine Z3 second hand 16" wheels to replace the incorrect E46 10-spokes fitted to the car (with the wrong tyre size on the rear!).

The wheels are pretty good but I may get them refurbished before I chose some tyres, and this is where I would be really grateful for some guidance please.

I see that the web-site "tyrereviews.co.uk" orders tyres as follows:

1) Uniroyal Rainsport 3
2) Bridgestone Potenza RE720
3) Continental Sport Contact 3
4) Falken FK452

The Uniroyals can be found quite cheaply but I've read some unnerving reviews which refer to very soft sidewalls and "driving on jelly".

The guy I bought the wheels off just now, recommended the Falkens.

My priority is obviously safety, and I would like decent grip and handling without tramlining etc. Wear and cost are factors too, but lower down the list as I don't expect to do too many miles.

I would be grateful if any of you would share your views of what is best on the 2.2i with 16" wheels please.

Also the manual gives several Summer tyre options for the 2.2i:
205/55 R16 91V
225/50 R16 92V
225/50 ZR 16

Again, does anyone have any recommendations here please?

Thanks in anticipation!

 

[Howard]

All those tyres are excellent. I fitted the Falkens to my Z3 mainly to help the tram lining, it sorted it out. Excellent road holding and low road noise.
Don't know how long they will last as iv only done 3k on them.
H

 

[IJSK]

Thanks for the prompt response Howard - so that's one vote for the Falkens!

 

[IJSK]

This is one of the Uniroyal reviews that has put me off these tyres:

"Had Bridgestone Potenzas on my FN2 Civic Type R which were really great and needed to change all 4 for the MOT. On Type R forums people raved about the Uniroyal Rainsport 3 so I thought I give then a go. I must say after 2000 miles of driving, general grip at normal speeds are ok but once I start to have spirited driving these tyres are LETHAL. It feels so unstable at speed, sidewalls are so soft that I can`t take the corners I once did on Bridgestones. I must say that I don`t confidence with these tyres and will return to Bridgestone once these wear out."

Ok not on a Z3 but nevertheless ...

Then I found this on the Falkens:

"While the wet grip is impressive, we've nearly been caught out a couple of times as the break away nature of the tyre is so sudden. Not ideal in a powerful RWD car!"

I'm not sure that the 2.2i would be deemed a particularly powerful RWD car these days but...

I wonder what BMW fitted originally and what the up-to-date version is now?

 

[the Nefyn cat]

Falkens on mine, too. Very happy with them so far, wet or dry they seem to work just fine. Not been on long so no idea how long they'll last. Had Avons on before, good tyres too, but not available in 19".

 

[Poprin]

I don't think the Falken FK452 is still in production. Had those on my 328Ci and my Cooper S easily 5 years ago. Falkens are generally a decent tyre for the price but they are a little firm. The only tyre I've had experience with recently is the new Khumo sport tyre. Had a set of 4 on my project 2.8 and was overall impressed with them. Key is with cars used very little is tyres get old, hard and start to deteriorate. I've moved over to the mindset of buying mid-range good tyres and expect to replace them more often.

 

[hard top]

I've just bought some decent genuine Z3 second hand 16"

I ran winter tires all year round on my 16".
I think @t-tony still does on one of his other cars.

 

[andyglym]

Hi all,

I'm a newbie here with a 2001 red Z3 2.2i.

Occasionally the handling (when not even trying hard) gives me a fright!

So, as the first stage in my process of elimination, I've just bought some decent genuine Z3 second hand 16" wheels to replace the incorrect E46 10-spokes fitted to the car (with the wrong tyre size on the rear!).

The wheels are pretty good but I may get them refurbished before I chose some tyres, and this is where I would be really grateful for some guidance please.

I see that the web-site "tyrereviews.co.uk" orders tyres as follows:

1) Uniroyal Rainsport 3
2) Bridgestone Potenza RE720
3) Continental Sport Contact 3
4) Falken FK452

The Uniroyals can be found quite cheaply but I've read some unnerving reviews which refer to very soft sidewalls and "driving on jelly".

The guy I bought the wheels off just now, recommended the Falkens.

My priority is obviously safety, and I would like decent grip and handling without tramlining etc. Wear and cost are factors too, but lower down the list as I don't expect to do too many miles.

I would be grateful if any of you would share your views of what is best on the 2.2i with 16" wheels please.

Also the manual gives several Summer tyre options for the 2.2i:
205/55 R16 91V
225/50 R16 92V
225/50 ZR 16

Again, does anyone have any recommendations here please?

Thanks in anticipation!

Recently put Avon on mine, seem to work well thus far.

 

[Si]

As @Vince mentioned above the Toyo proxes are worth consideration, just fitted a set of these on my Freelander 2. First impression are very good the guy said he had a set on his A6 and they were very good both wet and dry. I guess they are budget but high end of budget mixing it with some of the so called premium tyres being offered. He said I should try them on my Z4 as they should go well on there for grip. May not last as long though...

 

[IJSK]

Thanks for all the replies folks