M Roadster Tires

[Astronut]

I have a 1998 Z3 M roadster with 92,500 miles on it. I live in San Diego, CA, and drive an average of 7000 miles per year. I try not to drive in rain, since it is absolutely true that Southern California state cannot drive in rain. We have local mountains, to which I occasionally drive when it is cold out, but the roads have to be clear. Chains on my car would not work. I go on occasional car runs with a couple clubs I am in. There is some very curvy road driving, but I do this a few days per year, at most. I sometimes drive in dirt with it, as I am an astronomer, and go out camping to dark sky sites. 99% of the drive, though, is on paved roads.

What tire would you recommend? I was planning to buy from Costco, which limits me to BF Goodrich, Bridgestone, and Michelin. I suppose I could go elsewhere, but would need a compelling reason to do so.

Thanks for your advice.

[nevan]

Howdy neighbor, I recommend Michelin PSS in which I've been running on mine as well.

P.S., I got mine from DiscountTires during sale. If you can wait for some time, they occasionally offer some deep discounts. I paid about $400 installed (manufactured within 54 wks) + rebate cash giftcard from them (I think it was about $50 or 75 if I recall right).

[Mr Bingley]

Costco will ruin your wheels unless they have mounted tires to M Roadsters before, ruined theirs, and learned their lesson; there is a mounting trick they must know, or kiss your rear wheel finish goodbye. As for tires, the question is what is the lowest temperature you will be operating in, as the best tires for an ///M have limits on how low a temperature they will work at before turning rock hard and providing no traction. If you're going to operate into the low 40's or below, you will have to get all seasons, which limits your performance considerably; if you will keep it above the low 50's, you can get super sticky summer only tires. BTW, you will probably not get more than 15K miles or so out of a good set of performance tires--considerably more out of all seasons. Remember, your '98 has no traction control, so it makes a big difference how sticky your tires are. You shouldn't drive an M Roadster on dirt roads at all--that's why God made 4X4's.

[zellamay]

Continental Extreme Contact Sport. I read reviews and bought 4 of them. Absolutely fantastic tires.

[raubritter]

Great to hear about the Continentals! I plan on getting some soon. Did you use Tire Rack or find a better deal somewhere else?

I'd be very careful who you allow to put your tires on, doesn't matter whether it's an M Z3 or 1.9 Z3 or a Mini. All have aluminum wheels that these guys like to butcher. Every place I've taken my Mini for either new tires or tire repairs has put new gouges and large scratches on them. It's more my workhorse so I don't mind as much, but at this point the only place I'll take the Z3 to have the tires changed is a trusted wheel repair shop. They are the only ones I can be sure know what they're doing (and can fix it if they #$@# it up

[E.Hands]

I have a 1998 Z3 M roadster with 92,500 miles on it. I live in San Diego, CA, and drive an average of 7000 miles per year. I try not to drive in rain, since it is absolutely true that Southern California state cannot drive in rain. We have local mountains, to which I occasionally drive when it is cold out, but the roads have to be clear. Chains on my car would not work. I go on occasional car runs with a couple clubs I am in. There is some very curvy road driving, but I do this a few days per year, at most. I sometimes drive in dirt with it, as I am an astronomer, and go out camping to dark sky sites. 99% of the drive, though, is on paved roads.

What tire would you recommend? I was planning to buy from Costco, which limits me to BF Goodrich, Bridgestone, and Michelin. I suppose I could go elsewhere, but would need a compelling reason to do so.

Thanks for your advice.

What kind of scope are you hauling in a Z3? Have you ever been out to ECETI or Joushua Tree?

[Astronut]

What kind of scope are you hauling in a Z3? Have you ever been out to ECETI or Joushua Tree?

Well, truth to be told, I haul very little in my Scarlett. I have been to Joshua Tree, but I rented an SUV for that, since I took my 12" do and three other scopes. I have taken my 8" Celeste on SCE, plus batteries, camp chair, etc, and have also taken my 25x100 astronomical binoculars on their parallelogram mount several times, as well as my 10-25x zoom binoculars on a tripod. The 28" do travels in a trailer, and there is no towing capacity on Scarlett.

Where is ECETI? For more on my scopes, visit www.stellarexperiences.com

[Astronut]

New twist on the tires. I bought Scarlett used, and it appears that the previous owner put bigger fancy rims on. I need 235 in front, and 255 in back, which is 10 each bigger than factory. Does this impact where I get them installed and this special trick that is involved in mounting them? Thanks again!!!

[zellamay]

Great to hear about the Continentals! I plan on getting some soon. Did you use Tire Rack or find a better deal somewhere else?

I got my Contis at Discount. Within a few dollars of TireRack with installation. As I remember, close to $800 for the set.

- - - Updated - - -

New twist on the tires. I bought Scarlett used, and it appears that the previous owner put bigger fancy rims on. I need 235 in front, and 255 in back, which is 10 each bigger than factory. Does this impact where I get them installed and this special trick that is involved in mounting them? Thanks again!!![/QUOTE]

I put 235-45 on front and 275-40 on the back (gobs of grip. As mentioned above, I don't have any traction control), stock Z3M wheels. If your wheels are different, you'll have to compare offsets with stock before buying tires. ........... What is "Scarlett"?

[328 Power 04]

Their (presumably red) 1998 Z3M Roadster's name .

[Astronut]

Scarlett is my car. Full name is Scarlett Marie Boogie Girl II.

New twist: it appears that Discount tire does not carry Continental in my sizes. I have currently picked out a Falken Azenis FK453 for the front and Michelin Pilot A/S 3 5 rib for the back. The Falken seemed to be highly rated, and the Michelin's for the back have the best warranty. I have no idea how they will work on Scarlett, though. Most of my driving is highway, but some is twisty mountain roads. What is on there now is Nexen Radial N3000, and they have at least 43K miles on them. They're cracking and need replacement fast. Thoughts on the Falken and Michelin, and putting two different brands on front and back?

[Bob M]

I don’t have an M. I recently got Pilot Sport A/S 3+. I couldn’t be happier. I ordered them thru Sam’s club. The price was better than I found on line. I don’t know if they come in your size. I have never mixed brands, but then I never needed to.
https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiret...jsp?techid=136
http://www.continentaltire.com/news/...tires-question

[doclip]

Costco will ruin your wheels unless they have mounted tires to M Roadsters before, ruined theirs, and learned their lesson; there is a mounting trick they must know, or kiss your rear wheel finish goodbye.

Would you please share what the trick is?

[zellamay]

Why mix brands if you're buying 4 tires?

[Mr Bingley]

Would you please share what the trick is?

Sure, for Roadstars, the rear wheels must be mounted backwards in the mounting machine with the grip pads pressing against the inside unfinished back of the wheel, not the outside finished surface, and the tire installed from the back, not the front. Most of us know this from painful experience here. However, it sounds like the OP may have aftermarket wheels on his ///M, so all bets are off on those. Knowing this trick won't help you at Costco (or other big box retailers who also install tires), as their service gorillas won't listen to you. You need to find a high end tire shop that is familiar with the car, or a dealership that remembers. It would be wise to document the condition of your wheels before having the tires mounted, with up close high res dated photos, and to document that you instructed them to mount the rears backwards, to help you in your argument for replacement wheels when they mess yours up.

[pine1000]

Google for this document: TC3500 Tire Changer PDF. Page 58 shows the M Roadster mounting procedure.

BTW, I shared this with my BMW dealer and they still scratched one of my rear wheels...

About the tires, I got Michelin PSS for my 2000 M Roaster and I'm very happy with them.

[rhoyle]

Get the AS3+ for all four wheels. Mixing tires isn’t a great idea.

They have plenty of grip for your street driving and I’ve even put mine on the track a few times, with decent results. They’re just fine in cold, dry roads as well.

[doclip]

Sure, for Roadstars, the rear wheels must be mounted backwards in the mounting machine with the grip pads pressing against the inside unfinished back of the wheel, not the outside finished surface, and the tire installed from the back, not the front. Most of us know this from painful experience here. However, it sounds like the OP may have aftermarket wheels on his ///M, so all bets are off on those. Knowing this trick won't help you at Costco (or other big box retailers who also install tires), as their service gorillas won't listen to you. You need to find a high end tire shop that is familiar with the car, or a dealership that remembers. It would be wise to document the condition of your wheels before having the tires mounted, with up close high res dated photos, and to document that you instructed them to mount the rears backwards, to help you in your argument for replacement wheels when they mess yours up.

Thanks! These are precious knowledge!

Google for this document: TC3500 Tire Changer PDF. Page 58 shows the M Roadster mounting procedure.

That document is hard to find.

[pine1000]

Here is a link to the doc: http://www.hunterkorea.com/_uploads/_bbsFiles/TC3500%20TC3700%20(English).pdf

[Mr Bingley]

Here is a link to the doc: http://www.hunterkorea.com/_uploads/_bbsFiles/TC3500%20TC3700%20(English).pdf

That one's 6 pages total, so no page 58.

[doclip]

Here is what I found: https://www.weber.edu/WSUImages/auto...n%20Manual.pdf
Section 3.8 (page 59)

[sepota]

Continental Extreme Contact Sport. I read reviews and bought 4 of them. Absolutely fantastic tires.

I have the DW one I love them best bang for the buck

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

[William Turner]

Mounting Tires: My advice (and when I bought my 2000M 10 years ago the rear Roadstars had mounting machine gouges in the lip) is have the mounting done by a dealer that sells high end rims as well as tires. You don't buy tires that often and if you really care about the condition of the rims it is worth driving some distance and paying some extra dollars to insure no problems. I have HRE Comp 70 rims now (about $1000 each at a deal) and drive about 45 minutes to go back to the dealer for anything including removing a nail.

You may also find that buying the tires from a specialty dealer does not cost that must more. I have Michelin PS3's on now, before that PS2's and have been very happy -- but living in warm southern california, only drive the car a few thousand miles a year, never in the rain, so dry traction is all I really care about.
My PS2's aged out (5 years) before they wore out although the rears were almost gone.

I realize not everyone is willing, wants to , or is able to spend $1000 + for a set of four tires but have learned over 50 years of owning sports cars, you tend to get what you pay for.