MaxBuck

Absolutely no complaints about ride quality with my 545i sport. In fact, ride quality is far superior to a number of rental and fleet cars with less sporting abilities, including Nissan Maxima, Ford Taurus, and WAY better than the Dodge Magnum.

Not a Cadillac DeVille, though. That thing is SOFT!

arthur.tjon@planet.nl

See my post in: http://forums.e60.net/index.php?showtopic=23355

My car was delivered on RFT's although I asked for Non RFT. Drove the RFT's for a week and the ride and handling was just awful! When I got my Non RFT Pirelli's the car was transformed. What do you think the real reason for RFT's is:

1. Saves jack and spare thus cost for the car manufacturer. BMW might be premium but they are just as cost driven as every other brand
2. If you have puncture RFT's are not reparable, so you have to buy new
3. On compact cars the spare and jack take up luggage space

mihusky

I've been riding the stock RF but will be changing to Michelin PS2 non-RF so I can also experience 19" 166s. The RF seem fine but compared to what? I'll let you know how non-RF stack up to RF. RF may be acceptable but you don't know what you are missing if you hadn't experience both for comparison on the same car.

Presley348

Hello Vern:

My own personal experience...I have 16, 000miles on my Toyo Proxie 4's on my 2004 530i, I have balanced and rotated, religiously with my FREE lifetime balancing and rotation package I purchased , , , every 3000 mile and properly maintained by BMW Specs proper air pressure, and they ride and handle great, just like the day I drove my new new Bimmer off the lot in 2004 (No road noise or rough ride), or un even tread wear,

In fact I still have 8/32 worth of tread left. My buddy is an BMW Master Mechanic, and advises all BMW owners if all possible to balance and rotation for the longevity of my tires, or you don't have to, but be prepared shelling out your money on new one about ever 12000 miles and not a good but road noises ride especially if running run flats up in the northern United States, .

He also said expect 1/2 or even more wear on your tread life if I don't choose to rotate! Also he said to keep balanced and keep your proper cold tire pressure on my 530i is 34 rear, 32 front....I have notice guys that don't do this get maybe 10,000 to 15,000 per set of tires, and complain about roughness and road noise,until they buy another set and it start al over again. I suppose it all boils down to: Opinions vary! All I know what has worked for my with all my ALS Ambulances in my business for 20 yrs in Atlanta GA, and personal cars, from Corvette's, Jaguars S-Type, and now BMW's.

In conclusion: Vern I see your view point on BMW balance and rotation, and I wish you the best with your method of not balancing and rotation on you BMW tires. (How many miles have you got on your set of tires now, and have your measured the tread dept lately on you tires, and what is your mileage on these tires, and what is the tread dept on your tires)

Sincerely,

R. Eddie Presley

hoopsrob

Actually on my '06 530i with Bridgestone RFT's I DO have a spare in the trunk.
I discovered it a couple of weeks after I had the car---just poking around as I assumed I didn't have one.

Presley348

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Hi hoopsrob:

Hi I love your pictures at your gallery of your M Aero Package on your cool 530i, I am getting my M Kit next week and looking forward to it....QUESTION: Mine is going to coast 3000.00, Installed and parts, if you don't mind me asking how much did your cost? I think their taking me a little, I heard from another member 2700.00 complete what it cost him in CA... Again your Bimmer looks M great, and I cannot wait to get mine that way too! When you look back is there any thing you would had done different having the lit professional installed and painted? I have a choice go straight through an Atlanta BMW dealer from A to Z, that handles everything, or through an BMW dealer that just handles the kit for about 500.00 less, but you must use another of site body shop, and not a BMW dealer.

Any advice you can give me on the kit is greatly Bimmer e60 forum member appreciated, and thanks in advance.


Eddie Presley = Atlanta Georgia

vern

I can also see your views, to each his own. As stated in my earlier post I have 12,000+ miles on my RFT's. I have the new Dunlop RFT design and compound, so far I haven't had any problems with them. On this forum as well as others I have read that there are some people that had to change there RFT's at 8500 miles,fact or fiction,who knows. Judging from the amount of thread left there is no reason I shouldn't get 22,000-25,000 miles out of them with out pushing it.
unless I have some kind of tire failure. I'm another one that says keep your car aligned your tires balanced and the right pressure COLD.36 front 44 rear is working for me as far as tire wear and IMO ride quality. I'm not the one that says don't rotate your tires,its BMW,but I do go along with them on that
cheers
vern
PS I have always rotated the tires on all my cars until I started buying BMW's.

gIzzE

All I am going to say to those guys who say the run flats are OK is you obviously haven't experienced your car on regular, decent tyres.

It is like night and day.

I kept reading the posts about how bad the run flats were and thought everyone was being too critical, thought that with 18's and sports set up the ride was pretty much what I expected.
Then took out an M3 CS with the 19's on and regular tyres (Conti sport contact 2's which are fairly hard anyway) and realised just how hard and skitty my ride was.
Changed for regular Pirelli P Zero Rosso's yesterday and the car is totally transformed!!

I went out for 30 minutes today down some twisties I know really well and it is awesome, in fact if anything the M sport suspension is now too soft, I am looking at getting a firmer set up.

I can see why everyone says the run flats are OK, but please don't say there is no improvement with changing to a decent regular tyre, once you have tried regular tyres you will feel a little silly and you won't be going back to run flats.

TXPearl

Wavehogger, to answer your question, it sounds like anyone who has switched to non-RFTs has noticed a significant improvement in ride quality. If your new ride comes with runflats, it'll be a great car, but not as nice as it could be with non-RFTs.

I'm replacing my Bridgestone runflats with Michelins ASAP. I can't take anymore of the harsh ride and interior rattles that the Bridgestones cause. The Dunlops were OK when new, but got noisy after about 3-4K miles. I'd suggest you try to get them switched to non RFTs before taking delivery.

MidnightRider

I'm casting another vote for perfection. I love the handling, enjoy the safety net of having runflats, and can comfortablely chat on the bluetooth phone hands free without a fuss. The issue of excess noise is way overblown.