Tyre Choice

[Nic325i 0]

Does anyone have any thoughts on particularly good tyres (preferably from experience)?

My car is currently on some type of directional Federals, but it is now time for a change (and upgrade).

Some thoughts include

Bridgestone Grid III

Continental V Rated Premium contact

Dunlop Direzza

Goodyear NCT5

B F Goodrich G Force

Michelin V Rated MXV8

Pirelli P6000

Yokohama A539

which covers quite a price range. Size required is 205/55 15 inch

Nic

[petone 0]

Yoko have change the A539 to C-drives, Grant has some of those, I'll let him comment on those. If the NCT5 are anything like the NCT3 they aren't that good, my toyo TPTs had much more grip. Have you considered Toyo T1-S or the new T1-R? Not cheap but i hear very good things about them. I think *sic is T1-S which have just been replaced by T1-R but you could probably get either. Most Michelin are also good but expensive.

Have the direzza's replaced the FM901 by any chance? I've got FM901 on the front (cheers jamahl) and am very happy with them.

My 0.02

[bimmer boy 21]

i got bridgestone Grid II which aprently is real quite good

so i imagine Grid III is even better and at a decent price too

[CaM 0]

i've experienced bad things when it comes to pirelli and michelin as well.... wouldn't expect it but yeah..

Had a set of pirelli's on my Rx7 back in the day, they were about a year old and I ended up having to change them for a wof because of mad tread seperation....

Also had the same thing happen on my ae86 with michelin directionals that had benn on there for god knows how long (didn't fail a wof with them tho, took the risk and wore them out)

sittin in my shed on a set of lancer gsr alloys is also some michelins which are doing the same thing, even though geeting low in tread, thats not the point.... I've never had trouble with any "lesser" brands, except for a bridgestone who's bead stretched and dislodged from a 10" mini rim (probably more due to my cornering lol)

sparkle's mums compact has michelins on it, they 're looking a bit worse for wear as well..... and his mechanic has told me a few bad stories about these brands on his alfa race car...

my 2 bucks worth, stay away from pirelli and michelin......

I can't complain bout the couple of sets of nankangs I've had in the past.... comparing grip, wear rates, and price, I'd say they're good value..... they lasted a whole 2 months on my rx7!!!!! :bowdown:

[Gus 5]

im going for the yoko a539 on my 325 (yoko dont make the c drive for my size yet)....was very impressed with grants old set i stole, long lasting and gripped well.....would love some formula r's, but i drive my car everyday and they not cheap either....tyres own

[aliluya 0]

I like the ContiSport that comes factory with my current car .. they are good grippers in the wet and dry ....

[David 0]

I have had the Yoko A539 on my 325SE, but not being directional you can't

turn them around on the rims. So once they're worn on the inside (and they will

if your car is lowered) they are stuffed. Apart from that they were quite good, &

very good in the wet.

I now have the Falken ST115's on, and I am very happy with them.

The M325 has the formula R's on. No good for the road, very noisey.

[petone 0]

Should add to davids comment on the A539 (or Cdrive) that they are assemetrical so they will only mount one way as he said.

[Grant 4]

Hello

The A539's were good, probably better than the C Drives - I get a lot more squeal off the C Drives than the A539's, and I'm sure they have slightly less grip (but are still very grippy).

I can't recall driving them (the C Drives) in the wet much yet, so can't comment on their ability in the wet yet.

I think if it is dry in Taupo for the Track Day, I'll put the rims with the 80% worn 539's on the back instead of the C Drives.

Cheers

[m325i 709]

ADVAN

[cainchapman 0]

I didn't like A539's on my Blown Commodore. The Pirelli P6000 are not really a performance tyre either.

P Zero Rosso's yes.

Yokohama A008R are the ducks guts on a light car (E30 is) and great in everything except standing water. They wear quickly (note the R), so the A008 are good for general use. I don't know if you can still get them. But they do come in sizes suitable for an E30.

Look at the tyres that the Porsche guys are using. As they consume loads of them, they are normally well priced if you can find someone who supplies the race guys.

[Coffee&Doughnut 0]

I spent months reading reviews and shopping around, finally decided on

Goodyear Eagle F1 Gs D3 size 205 50 16, Only had them for a week, high resistance

to aqua- planing was pretty high on my list, and I got a better price than for similar

Yokohama.These are very popular choice on 3 and 5 series.

Its pretty early yet to say, but the ride and handling are a big improvement.

:thumb:

[kiwi535 538]

too little too late(as usual) 235 45 17 bridgestone g III on the five,replacing nankangs,which felt terrible in the last but they were veryworn but no complaints.....the bridgestones seem really good a bit "whiny" on smooth seal but i havent had tyres this wide before,Although it is not recommended i will be rotating back to front soon..fronts wear the outsides,rears wear the insides.

[Gus 5]

would the a539 being asymetrical, mean you rotate them anyway?

do you know if the goodyear Eagle F1 Gs D3 come in 205/55R15......i love that tyre

and as for tyres...does anywhere do 'hookups' or just plain reasonably priced tyres....they most important part of car so good ones rule...but so bling

[petone 0]

With directional or just normal tread you can get a tyre shop to flip them on the rims so the tread that was on the inside wearing out is now the outside so you can double the life of your tyres. Assemetrical are only designed to mount one way on the rim, meaning you can put them on any corner (unlike directional) but the inside of the tyre will always be on the inside? Does that make sense or were you meaning something else?

[Gus 5]

makes sense but why cant you flip the asymetrical? haha im just confusing myself....its all good

must get rears rotated sometime soon before i pwn my inside edge....they wouldnt like me

[Jimocles 0]

asymetrical tyres have an inside and an outside edge

so you can put them anywhere on the car but you shouldnt flip them on rims

directionals have a rotation so you can flip them.

Buy the Direzza's (shameless company plug)

[Carl 3]

makes sense but why cant you flip the asymetrical? haha im just confusing myself....its all good

must get rears rotated sometime soon before i pwn my inside edge....they wouldnt like me

The asymetrical tyres mean they can only go on ONE SIDE of the car due to the tread pattern, so you have two left sides and two right side tyres. (E: Hehe, ya beat me James)

I'm about to stick Dunlop Direzza's on my E30 thanks to Jimocles working for South Pacific tyres, will let you know my thoughts

E2: If anyone is interestid in joining in, i'm getting them stuck on this saturday then going for a test DRIVE around the good driving roads to see how they feel...

Edited March 14, 2005 by ///Carl

[Jimocles 0]

just to confuse the issue even more

our new rally tyres are

asymetrical and directional

they come in Lefts and Rights, and have inside/outside markings

[*sic 1]

toyo T1s have only ever done good things for me, excellent grip in the dry and wet, very resistant to aqua planing, strong side walls and low noise too. as long as you rotate well and dont have massive camber issues they will last 25-30k+ and shop around, seriously i got price differences of $200 for a full set!!

[kiwi535 538]

Carl it may be best to leave your PROPER test drive until you have scrubbed your new tyres in...coupla weeks or so.......I dont want you finding the bottom of the gully(railway lines actually) by those pine trees......

[Carl 3]

Carl it may be best to leave your PROPER test drive until you have scrubbed your new tyres in...coupla weeks or so.......I dont want you finding the bottom of the gully(railway lines actually) by those pine trees......

True true (what location are you thinking of, I was thinking of doing the bays and makara)

Will leave the true test drive for the racecraft skills day at manfeild

[my_e36 43]

I think which tyre is good depends on your priorities.

I don't drive *REALLY* fast, track day once a year, mostly town with some motorway driving (Auckland). I don't really need something *THAT* grippy.

If I was to pick, I probably pick Bridgestone Grid-III or ER030 (this is a OEM tyre). Have Grid-III on both my Civic and Accord, fantastic handling, very quiet and wear really well. As soon as the silly Bridgestone worn out on my imported bimmer, I will change that soon asss... as the Japan local tyre is so noisy and driving me NUTS

I heard some bad stories about Michilin too, they squeal a lot, lost grip mid corner (in dry), they worn out rather fast, etc... I personally stayed away from the brand.

[Coffee&Doughnut 0]

http://www.goodyear.co.nz/latestnews.asp?id=31

Have not seen 205 55 15 , the 16inch was available with the 55 profile.

The link above may shed some light

Here in Australia I called around getting quotes for the same tyres, prices ranged

in a difference of 100 bucks per tyre!! K-mart were the worst, I ended up saving $360.00 on the set.

[bravo 35]

Interesting - I was going to put michelins on my car, but won't now.

Gus - I get "hookups" from a mate up here, but that just brings the Northland price down to about the same as regular price in Auckland, so no real saving, but at least I don't have to drive to aux or whangaz for tyres anymore. :thumb:

And whilst we're on about price, you auckland guys can stop your baby-whining about fuel prices, we are up over the $1.30 up here already without the April 5c yet.