Flat...and a flat.

[JayhawkM3]

So the day after I bought my M3 a few weeks ago I ran over a GIGANTIC screw...Left it in there as it was holding air and have been shopping a new set of shoes since (they only had maybe 2,000 miles left on them anyhow). This morning on my way to work I stopped for gas and discovered the nail AND the air were no longer a part of that tires history. Got the spare out, swapped it on real quick...took off for the last mile of my journey. Got into the parking garage and wouldn't you know it; ran over a g*d d*mn nail in the spare. I guess I'll be replacing 5 shoes today instead of in a few weeks...Any suggestions out there (currently outfitted with 235/45zr17 Michelin Radial X's...which I don't know if I like or not as I've only used a bald set for 3 weeks...used Hankook's on my 2002 WRX and Hankook DynaPro's for my Silverado...but wanted to get some opinions before shelling out. Thanks!

[TostitoBandito]

For the street you can't go wrong with either the Michelin Pilot Super Sports (summer) or the Pilot Sport AS3 (all seasons). What wheels do you have, and are they staggered or square? Stock M3 wheels were 17x7.5 front and 17x8.5 rear, but the car can easily handle 17x8.5 all around with no extra work required. Stock tire sizes for the staggered setup were 225/45-17 front and 245/40-17 rear. If you go square, put 245/40-17 all around.

Personally, my M3 has the stock staggered contour wheels with Pilot Sport AS3's on them for the winter, and then I have a set of 17x9 Apex ARC-8 wheels for the beefier summer/track tires in a square setup. They can run up to a 255/40-17 tire, with spacers in front and fender rolling in back (and at least -2.5/-2.0 camber front/rear).

[kevinwilly]

For the street you can't go wrong with either the Michelin Pilot Super Sports (summer) or the Pilot Sport AS3 (all seasons). What wheels do you have, and are they staggered or square? Stock M3 wheels were 17x7.5 front and 17x8.5 rear, but the car can easily handle 17x8.5 all around with no extra work required. Stock tire sizes for the staggered setup were 225/45-17 front and 245/40-17 rear. If you go square, put 245/40-17 all around.

Personally, my M3 has the stock staggered contour wheels with Pilot Sport AS3's on them for the winter, and then I have a set of 17x9 Apex ARC-8 wheels for the beefier summer/track tires in a square setup. They can run up to a 255/40-17 tire, with spacers in front and fender rolling in back (and at least -2.5/-2.0 camber front/rear).

What he said. I'm running some nice forged e90 stock wheels with Pilot Sport AS3's (235/40/17) as my winter setup and square APEX ARC8's with sumitomo HTRZIII's as my summer tires (245/40/17). The Sumitomos are nice but I just got them because I had recently had to put the michelins on my winter wheels AND put michelin touring tires on the wife's wagon. Was sick of spending money on tires so I got something cheap. I've used the Sumitomos before, though. Good tire for the money. Good grip in the dry. Reasonable wet traction. Low road noise. Wear evenly. Last decently long. Nothing special, but good for what they are.

Rule of thumb that I live by is that if you can afford michelins at the time there's no reason not to buy them. They grip better and last longer than anything else out there. Yeah, they are more expensive, but they last long enough to actually make them the same price or cheaper than a lower cost tire.

[mboor]

You can't go wrong with Michelin Pilot Super Sports. I've been running them for 3 seasons with the occasional auto x, i'm very pleased with them and they still have some life left. Prices on PSS's are coming down too.

[JayhawkM3]

I've looked into the Sumi's because of their price point...might settle with them for now. I just put $1000 out maybe 30 minutes before this happened on coolant hoses, thermostat, throttle body, and all the fuel stuff needed to repair a leaking "octopus" hose (since I'll have the upper manifold off anyhow; figured I'd rework everything in there)...so having kind of blown this months expense stipend out I can get by on tires that will maybe yield 25k instead of 50k.


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[JayhawkM3]

Being that I've always rather loved the performance in all-wheel drive from my '02 WRX on Hankook's...I've been looking at Hankook Ventus V12 Evo2's as well. They are moderately priced ($100/each give or take) and look as though they'll "match" well in terms of looks. Any experience with Hankook's on the e36?

[weedshoes]

Rule of thumb that I live by is that if you can afford michelins at the time there's no reason not to buy them. They grip better and last longer than anything else out there. Yeah, they are more expensive, but they last long enough to actually make them the same price or cheaper than a lower cost tire.

That's funny. I've never seen a car on michelins win an autocross. Dunlop star specs? Yes. Hankook r-s3? Yes. BF Goodrich rival? Yes. But never michelins. I would have thought that if they grip better than anything out there people would be fast on them.

Not to say that michelin makes a bad tire. Just not THE grippiest. Ventus v12 is a great tire for the price. Very popular for e36 and e46. If you live somewhere moderately warm and don't use the car competitively you can't go wrong with them.

[JayhawkM3]

What wheels do you have, and are they staggered or square? Stock M3 wheels were 17x7.5 front and 17x8.5 rear, but the car can easily handle 17x8.5 all around with no extra work required.

Square - 235/45zr17's all the way around. At my altitude (10,000 feet) it's hip to be square as I'll appreciate a set of winter tires after the next season season rolls up. The wheels are Beyern's...not sure on exact model though they most similarly match the "Spartan Matte Black" but with a semi-gloss coating. They were missing the caps when I bought it so I replaced them with the m3's, which I really like. Eventually I'd like to get into some OZ Racing HLT Formula's in Matte Black...but I have FAR more important things to cover first.

And coincidentally the Tire Rack stock photo of the Hankook EVo's I'm considering were shot on...you guessed it...OZ Racing HLT Formula's! How fortuitous! That may have just made my decision!

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[weedshoes]

What the hell part of Colorado Springs do you live in that is 10,000 feet? Its nearly 7,000 where I am and I look down on the town out my back porch.

[TostitoBandito]

That's funny. I've never seen a car on michelins win an autocross. Dunlop star specs? Yes. Hankook r-s3? Yes. BF Goodrich rival? Yes. But never michelins. I would have thought that if they grip better than anything out there people would be fast on them.

Not to say that michelin makes a bad tire. Just not THE grippiest. Ventus v12 is a great tire for the price. Very popular for e36 and e46. If you live somewhere moderately warm and don't use the car competitively you can't go wrong with them.

My feedback was about street tires. For track or autox there's another category above the super sports with things like star specs and R-S3/R-S4, but it'd be silly to put a bunch of street miles on a tire like that.

[weedshoes]

I figured. I just wanted to clarify for anyone trying to learn.

[VaTechE36]

I've loved my General Gmax S-03s. Awesome all around tire. Pretty good grip in the dry, amazing grip in the wet, and pretty quiet. Also, they're extremely affordable.

[JayhawkM3]

What the hell part of Colorado Springs do you live in that is 10,000 feet? Its nearly 7,000 where I am and I look down on the town out my back porch.

Ha! I technically work out of our "Downtown office" at the Antler's, but spend most of my time in Divide, Victor, Cripple Creek,etc. making most of my travel week 9,000+ (I may have overshot...I think Victor is 9,700-ish). Where I live is Old Farm; probably more like 6,800 there but unfortunately I don't spend as much time at it as I'd prefer.

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I've loved my General Gmax S-03s. Awesome all around tire. Pretty good grip in the dry, amazing grip in the wet, and pretty quiet. Also, they're extremely affordable.

I saw those General's...didn't even click on them. I'll have to take another look at them. Thanks!

[kevinwilly]

That's funny. I've never seen a car on michelins win an autocross. Dunlop star specs? Yes. Hankook r-s3? Yes. BF Goodrich rival? Yes. But never michelins. I would have thought that if they grip better than anything out there people would be fast on them.

Not to say that michelin makes a bad tire. Just not THE grippiest. Ventus v12 is a great tire for the price. Very popular for e36 and e46. If you live somewhere moderately warm and don't use the car competitively you can't go wrong with them.

As was stated by another guy, I'm talking about street tires here. But I get where you were going with this.

[TostitoBandito]

It's worth noting that Pilot Super Sports are on sale pretty much everywhere right now because their successor (Pilot Sport 4S, unavailable in 17" sizes) is just coming out. You can probably get a good deal and the PSS are a hell of a street and light track high performance tire which does about as well in the rain as many all-seasons do.

[VaTechE36]

You could also check out the Conti DW series tires. Also about to get replaced with the new Conti Pro Contact Extreme or something like that.

[scooper]

You get what you pay for in tires. I find the A/S tires last longer than summer only tires. Michelin makes the best quality tire generally, but tires are mostly all a compromise of some sort. Some are better in the dry, or wet, have longer tread wear, stiffest sidewalls for better steering, or least prone to hydroplane, etc.

Also you can look at families of tire brands. Michelin/BFG, Goodyear/Dunlop, Bridgestone/Firestone/Fuzion, Continental/Cooper? I'm sure there are other groups of brands out there....

[Mklock]

I like my pss tires but I will be replacing them with a 200 wear tire... which Michelin does not make which is sad so probably Rs3 or bridge stones RE71r or some federal rsrr. I mainly take my m3 out to drive hard so not worried about lifespan.

[rajicase]

I like my pss tires but I will be replacing them with a 200 wear tire... which Michelin does not make which is sad so probably Rs3 or bridge stones RE71r or some federal rsrr. I mainly take my m3 out to drive hard so not worried about lifespan.

The rsrr's are sweet.
Hook great and are super sticky, and wear really well for a 200tw tire. I'm definitely getting another set when mine wear out.

[ben4bama]

Buy a tire plug kit for when u get nails in the new ones

[TostitoBandito]

I'm curious about the new Hankook R-S4's. The R-S3's were always intriguing because of the low price point, though they weren't as durable as the Dunlop Star Specs which seem like most people's go-to. If the R-S4's are closer to the Dunlops in performance and longevity, it would be nice. Anyone used them?

[ThreeD]

RS3# were very durable dealt well w heat. Similar wear wise to Dunlop but rain performance isn't as good. Re71r blows the rest out of the water in dry grip but it wears like crazy

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[Foda420]

I'm curious about the new Hankook R-S4's. The R-S3's were always intriguing because of the low price point, though they weren't as durable as the Dunlop Star Specs which seem like most people's go-to. If the R-S4's are closer to the Dunlops in performance and longevity, it would be nice. Anyone used them?

RS4's aren't out yet so nobody will have experience on them. The RS3's however were stellar for me. Outperformed every other tire I've had by a wide margin and lasted really long as well. I got rid of them with about 13k miles on them and they still had a good amount of life and plenty of grip (traded for a set of Apex ARC-8's riding on Federal RSR's).

I've had Sumitomo HTRZ3s (what the car came with), the version 1 RS3's, federal RSR's, Dunlop Z2's, and currently on Michelin PSS. The federals would grease out fairly easily, the dunlops were decent at first but were rock hard by 10k miles and downright dangerous around 12k when I got rid of them. The PSS have been decent, but coming from the 200 TW category, I've been less than impressed with them. I'm due for tires soon and will absolutely be going with the RS4's, just hoping they're anywhere near as good as version 1 RS3's were for me.

Last I checked though RS3's were on close out due to the new tire. Something like $120 a tire which is really an awesome price for that.

[TostitoBandito]

TireRack says the 245/40-17 R-S4's are out on 3/1/2017. The 255/40-17's are already in stock. You should post a review here once you get them.

[Mklock]

The rsrr's are sweet.
Hook great and are super sticky, and wear really well for a 200tw tire. I'm definitely getting another set when mine wear out.

I know you've said they run wide should I go with the 235 I'm lowered some with apex 17X9 et 30 and my PSS rub a tad on hard suspension compression. Unrolled fenders BTW.