I use my sedan as a daily driver and have a dedicated set of Blizzacks for the CT winter. My summer bottlecaps (and yes, I want to keep them, no I don't want larger wheels) have some seriously old Bridgestones on them. There are really no "good" tires such as high performance all seasons available. What is available is the following, along with their Consumer Reports ratings.
I realize these are all relatively boring tires but if I'm honest with myself, I drive my stock sedan in a pretty tame way. Anyone have experience with which of these is the least mini-van like?
185/70-14: less than .8% larger than stock: aka better cruising
Michelin Defender: Top rating on C-R (70) - ~$300 after rebate https://www.discounttiredirect.com/b...er-a-s/p/34283
General Altimax RT43 - Verygood CR rating (66) but also more of a crossover snow/all season. ~$242 after rebate https://www.discounttiredirect.com/b...x-rt43/p/18889
Kumho Solus TA11 - 62 Rating on CR, ~$200 after rebate https://www.discounttiredirect.com/b...s-ta11/p/25608
175/70-14: ~1.7% smaller than stock: aka more fun, acceleration. My winter Blizzacks are 4.1% smaller than stock and it makes the car FUN. So I'm inclined to lean this way rather than going larger than stock.
Defender https://www.discounttiredirect.com/b...er-a-s/p/34282
etc etc, pretty much same options
Huh last time I didn't even bother looking in 195/65/14 (stock size) because there were only no-names available but now I see Falkens there..
Ziex: https://www.discounttiredirect.com/b...-ze912/p/18117
about $270 after rebates...
Walmart has lots of choices for those sizes. Actually I'm thinking of going to 195's just to make my speedometer more accurate as it reads about 7% too fast now.
I have no problem with Walmart (I get my Mobil-1 there) but last I looked their offerings were... off-brand to say the least. Am I wrong on that?
Here is what Walmart has for 195's
https://www.walmart.com/search?cat_i...fs2=70&_fs3=14
Walmart 175's
https://www.walmart.com/search?cat_i...fs2=70&_fs3=14
for 185's
https://www.walmart.com/search?cat_id=91083_1077064&_rt=pft&_rts=1&_fs1=18 5&_fs2=70&_fs3=14
for daily and light autocross use, the brands Walmart carries work fine. back in my poor (autocrossing while having two kids and my wife didn't work) days, I ran Walmart tires on my 89 325i and won my class two years in a row.
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also, check ebay for what sizes you might want to try. discount tires sells on ebay and delivers to your door in 3 days. the prices are usually super, also. I just put some tiger paws on my son's 325 for something like 40 or 45 bucks a tire from ebay. they came as two sets of two and I just took them and had them mounted
No e30s again.
I bought the cheapest 195/65/14 tires for sale on eBay, I think they were $172 shipped for all 4. So far they've been holding up great, limited grip as one would expect from that size/price, but if you need something to just roll around town with they're great.
I guess I am in the opposite position I want the best tires I can find in the correct size. I will probably end up with the Michelin defenders once they are back in stock.
Humm... 185/65-14 is an interesting option. 2% smaller than stock, and lower profile than the 70 series with much better selection including Pirelli P4s: https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires...omCompare1=yes
one of the e30s I had gotten in the past had 185s on it. they look normal so it would probably be better if they have lots of options.
its just skinnier by a bit, also, so less rolling resistance on the ground. I am not sure if you ever try for the most miles you can get on a tank of gas but they might help that way. I always try and get the most I can and compare my car to other e30s on fuelly.com but I never really thought about skinnier tires. maybe some day I will try and compete for best 325e gas mileage and get some skinny tires and do an all highway run to san Antonio and back? hmmm
No e30s again.
Superj, your comments have my head spinning. Here are my thoughts. By going to a smaller diameter tire you will probably get worse gas mileage. The engine has to make more rpm's to get the same absolute speed. Newer cars travel at lower rpm's to get better gas mileage. You can't use the cars odometer to figure comparative gas mileage. A smaller diameter tire will show better gas mileage vs a larger diameter tire but in reality it's the opposite because the engine runs at lower rpm with the larger diameter tire. However at a lower rpm the engine will be pulling slightly harder so that will lower the mileage - so there is no straight line comparison. I think the only way to find out is to drive the same exact distance, from point A to point B, then see how much gas you use.
Yes, you are right. I didn't think about that when dreaming of super gas mileage, ha ha ha.
I wonder how much off the speedometer will read. Mine, stock, reads slow by 3 or 4 mph already, so this would maybe make mine more accurate? Ha ha ha, the funny things threads lead to
No e30s again.
Just installed 185-65-14 Michelein Defenders. $300 shipped. There are the #1 rated all season on Consumer Reports and by my calcs 2% smaller than stock. Seeing that I live in CT, USA I don't do any sustained cruising over 85mph and see no downside to the nice boost in acceleration this provides. The stock size makes the speedo slightly under report 'true' speed as provide by GPS, these yield an avg 4mph over reporting.
that's not a bad price.
we aren't supposed to do over 75 around here, on the highways but I just set cruise at 79 so I don't attract attention from the police because lots of people try and get away with 10mph over.
No e30s again.
My winter snow tires are 185/65R14 (standard tires for early 90's Corollas and Mazda Protege, etc) on OE wheels and they are ok for non-aggressive driving. Standard OE spec for the e30 calls for H-series tires that provide a stiffer sidewall and hence a more stable ride in cornering and aggressive driving. My summer/all season are Pirelli P4 195/60R15 H and these perform very well.. very happy with them.
... forty-three years of driving before I get behind the wheel of a BMW .... and I am thinking, "why did it take me so long?"
... and then after another 4 years I can't believe that I have two of them !!
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