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Tires

Diane

Diane

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I just noticed a tire was low so I went to put air in it. The guy who put the air in said he thought I needed new tires - something about the tread. Does anyone know anything about tires? How does one choose a tire? I have snow tires so these tires would be for just over half of the year. I have 2 sets of rims.
 
Go to THE TIRE RACK. Input your tire size and usually, a ton of different tires come up. You can read reviews and survey results on a lot of them. I only buy from them if this site: DISCOUNT TIRE DIRECT doesn't have the same tires. Tire Rack has cheaper prices, but charges shipping. Discount Tire has higher prices, but has free shipping (or did, the last time I used them). Usually Discount Tire is the better deal, if they have the tire. Tire Rack has a larger selection.
 
Thank you for the website, but it says 131 tires match. I'm going to call a friend who drives a BMW too and ask him to help me narrow it down.

 
I have another question - is a tire that costs $100 as good as one that costs $147, etc.? I have Michelin regular tires and Nokian snow tires. Are all the brands fairly similar? Guess that was 2 questions. I thought tires were much more expensive - this is good to know.
 
I always say with tires that you get what you pay for, but I usually only buy them for trucks and know nothing about cars. Try Costco as well, they have a great selection and are competitive on prices.
 
Diane said:
Thank you for the website, but it says 131 tires match. I'm going to call a friend who drives a BMW too and ask him to help me narrow it down.

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You can narrow your search down yourself by performance category. If you aren't sure, see what category you current tire is and go from there.
 
You'll have a hard time finding Michelins or any other really good tire (IMO) for $100 each unless they're on sale.

When pricing tires, it depends on what you need or want Diane. Do you want all season tires that you can drive on just about all year 'round until it starts snowing when you'll put your Nokian tires on (great snow tires BTW)? Or do you want just Summer tires that you'll switch out just about when it gets cold and wet? You can use Tirerack's website to select the performance categories you want to narrow down that list of 131 tires applicable to your 3-series.

There are many good tire brands I trust for all-season. My favorites are Pirelli, Michelin, BF Goodrich and Yokohama. I use Tirerack.com's website to look up tire specs for what I'm looking for, and read the reviews of owners of cars like mine (FWD, heavy sport sedan). Then I'll check out tires at tire stores I can actually go to. I like Costco and America's Tires. America's Tires will price match the same model of tires at other stores.
 
We are needing some new tires for our mini van and I checked out the Tire Rack website. Very good information on there. My problem was that for each and every model of tire, there were good and bad reviews. For every two great reviews, there was a bad one. I just don't know what to believe.
 
When you are reading the reviews, check out the mileage the reviewer has driven on the tires. Less miles, regardless of the review (good or bad) doesn't mean much. Make sure you check out the survey results, when available. Make sure the tire scores well in the conditions you'll be driving in most often.

As far as good versus bad reviews, while I look at the good reviews, I really want to see what the problem reviews say. If you see the same thing over and over, then you can start wondering. But if just a handful mention something, and the reviews are for the most part good, I don't worry too much. Kind of like ebay. Most reviews are good. I want to read the bad ones and see what peoples issues are. Again, more miles driven gives you a better review.
 
I recommend round black tires, those work best.


If you have a SUV or light truck & yes Diane I know you have a BMW, avoid Bridgestone Duellers, worst piles of crap ever put on any vehicle.
 
Bridgestone Potenzas also suck. Why Subaru would put such a crappy tire on a car with such incredible traction (otherwise) is beyond me.
 
dynarider said:
avoid Bridgestone Duellers, worst piles of crap ever put on any vehicle.
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+2 on that on Dyna. Bridgestone makes a great golf ball and a great motocross tire, but they havent gotten down the whole car and truck thing yet.
 
TheGasman said:
+2 on that on Dyna. Bridgestone makes a great golf ball and a great motocross tire, but they havent gotten down the whole car and truck thing yet.
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I have Bridgestone Battleax BT-014's I believe on my R1 right now & am not exactly in love with them either. Like the Pirellis I have had in the past & even the Conti's were better.

The Duellers have horrible treadlife, the things will wear out in 20,000 or less miles & the traction isn't all that great to begin with. Currently I have a set of Firestones on my AWD Equinox & aside from being slightly noisy they are great tires.

My wifes Kia Soul has I believe Nexen tires, never heard of them before. Low profile 18" deals that grip pretty good in the dry but in the rain so far i'm not real impressed. Most likely going to have to get another set of rims & tires that will work decently in the snow. No idea on what's even out there right now.
 
Diane -

Stick with the Michelins, they're worth the extra coin. Do go ahead and pony up for the "Road Hazard" warranty (from Discount Tire, don't bother with any others, they're the most woman friendly store out there) The road hazard will replace a tire if it's ever damaged, and can't be repaired. They also have free flat repair if you buy tires there, as well as lifetime rotate and balance service (you should have this done every 6,000 miles or so, I stretch mine out to every 7,500 when I change my oil) BF Goodrich is owned by Michelin, and they're also very good tires. My wife's car rides on Michelin tires, my truck on BFG's.

After several catstrophic failures, I'll never buy, or recommend a Good Year tire.

With my hobbies revolving around cars, trucks and motorsports, I've gone through more tires than most folks I know. I've melted and torn up tons of them over the years.
 
dynarider said:
I have Bridgestone Battleax BT-014's I believe on my R1 right now & am not exactly in love with them either. Like the Pirellis I have had in the past & even the Conti's were better.
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Bummer, the M402 is the best tire I have ever run in the dirt. Sure they dont last long, but they hook up like no other.

I agree with Gummi as well, I have run BFGs for most of my life and have nothing but good things to say about them.
 
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Diane, I know you're not a Costco member, so I agree with the others with Discount Tire/America's Tire being a good place to go. The road hazard warranty is good to get, but don't fall for their tire siping speel.
 
Thanks Gummi. I'll look at the Michelins. I only drive about 10K miles a year. I'm not the best driver. I noticed today that these rims are a bit banged up too - I must have hit another curb or so.
 
Diane said:
Thanks Gummi. I'll look at the Michelins. I only drive about 10K miles a year. I'm not the best driver. I noticed today that these rims are a bit banged up too - I must have hit another curb or so.
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Perhaps my wife has given you driving lessons then? Didn't have her car 2 weeks & she scraped both of the front rims. Easy enough to do with those low profile tires, but then she denied doing it. I asked her who the heck else would have???????
 
Diane said:
Thanks Gummi. I'll look at the Michelins. I only drive about 10K miles a year. I'm not the best driver. I noticed today that these rims are a bit banged up too - I must have hit another curb or so.
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A good tire for you might be the Pirelli P-Zero Nero M+S tire. I had them recently, and they were fantastic tires. The tires have a rim protector - part of the tire just outside the bead extends out, which helps protect against curb rash.

They're a bit expensive and aren't high mileage tires (which is the only reason I don't run them anymore), but since you don't drive much these will probably last you about 3 years and help keep your wheels intact.
 
dynarider said:
Perhaps my wife has given you driving lessons then? Didn't have her car 2 weeks & she scraped both of the front rims. Easy enough to do with those low profile tires, but then she denied doing it. I asked her who the heck else would have???????
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Dyna - That makes sense. I don't remember doing it either. I'm not sure how it could have happened. When I bought these rims - the salesman said they would work for my "style of driving" after he looked at the other rims.
 
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Diane said:
Dyna - That makes sense. I don't remember doing it either. I'm not sure how it could have happened. When I bought these rims - the salesman said they would work for my "style of driving" after he looked at the other rims.
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So he sold you cheapo rims?:D
 
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