Tire Recommendations -

[5seriesrule]

Need new tires. Have worn out my Michellen Pilot Sport A/P's - size 245/45/ZR18 (on M5 wheels). Good tire, but very expensive. Anyone tried Falken ST-115's? Tell me what's good and/or what's bad, in your experiences. My 530 is not a race car, and I don't have anything to prove, but a 530 does require a certain amount of tire under it...

[liquidtiger720]

Falken st115's are okay, mine are all crapped up after a single car control clinic. Traction is okay....They can get a little slippery in the wet.


Only thing they got going for them is that they don't show tooooo much wear, after that car control clinic of course.

[nixter]

I'm picking up Eagle F1 GS D3's tomorrow. I've heard plenty of good things about them. Awesome wet and dry traction apparently.

n

[soul assassin]

i just picked up a set of bfg g force sports and can't complain one bit they are a tad louder then the continentals i had on but they don't follow the road (ruts)like the conti's did also. as far as sidewal strength i take some corners pretty hard on a daily basis and have had no rollover whatsoever and traction is great. i would definitly buy em again

[exmaxima1]

Need new tires. Have worn out my Michellen Pilot Sport A/P's - size 245/45/ZR18 (on M5 wheels). Good tire, but very expensive. Anyone tried Falken ST-115's? Tell me what's good and/or what's bad, in your experiences. My 530 is not a race car, and I don't have anything to prove, but a 530 does require a certain amount of tire under it...

I have the ST-115s in a 235/45-17. It rides pretty smooth and handles at least as well as the OEM Dunlops. But I mainly bought them for being quiet. I have a huge investment in my car stereo, and i like to hear it at its best.

Matthew

[thejlevie]

I'm picking up Eagle F1 GS D3's tomorrow. I've heard plenty of good things about them. Awesome wet and dry traction apparently.
Those are excellent tires. Dry and wet grip is just slightly better than Michelin PS2's as proved by a couple of K of street driving in the wet and dry and one DE weekend. The sidewalls appear to be a fair bit stiffer than the PS2's, causing me to wind up running them 4psi less than the PS2's liked.

The DE was in 96F temps in the afternoon and I noticed that the F1's don't get as greasy as the PS2's did when the track temp gets into the 140-16F range. I didn't have a chance to test them in the cold, but wouldn't be surprised if the PS'2 perform a bit better in the cold. Until someone comes up with unobtainiuum for tread compound a tire that works well in the cold isn't going to perform as well in the hot, and vice versa.

The F1's are a touch noiser than the Ps2's, but I don't think they are objectionably loud.

[5seriesrule]

I have the ST-115s in a 235/45-17. It rides pretty smooth and handles at least as well as the OEM Dunlops. But I mainly bought them for being quiet. I have a huge investment in my car stereo, and i like to hear it at its best.

Matthew
So, are they noticably quiet? That's one of Falken's main selling points for these tires. Is it true? And, they perform well...

[onewhippedpuppy]

I had Falkens on my 911, they were pure crap, Ziex ZE512. Rough riding, very loud, they did seem to grip well though. I just put Avon Tech M550s on my 540 and love them. Very quiet, smoother ride with 17s than I previously had with 16s, excellent grip, excellent wet handling, and with 2k or so on them seem to be wearing well. About $100 from Tire Rack in 235/45/17.

Someone on bimmer.info bought a General Z rated UHP tire from Tire Rack for something crazy like $75 per in 17" sizes, and was very happy with them. That might be worth looking into. Tire Rack's ratings are very good, even if you don't buy from them the ratings are worth a look. If you don't need all season, Fuzion ZRi are another excellent choice. I had them on my 951, they're cheap and performed very well. HRi is the all season version, they're supposed to be pretty bad.

[BillH2121]

I purchased my 530iA approximately 3 months ago with nearly new Fuzions on it. I didn't know anything about the tire at the time but have been pretty impressed with the handling in both dry and wet. It wasn't until I looked at Tirerack site that I found out how inexpensive they are. Unless someone shows me something better at that price, I would probably buy them again.