Jagerman,

Tires are a very personal thing to most people who care enough to actually choose their tires (i.e. most people don't have a clue, but those who do tend to have a wide range of opinions). For what it's worth, I have run Dunlop run flats on my 545 (I don't recall which model Dunlop), Blizzaks, stock tires, and a few others. My favorites by far to date are the Michelin PS2's for summer tires and Michelin Alpina for winter. They are expensive but - IMHO - worth the cost in terms of what you get in performance. Since you are in GA, you should be good with just PS2's. On the occassion that you get ice (which is not unheard of from what I recall), you probably would not want to drive your nice car no matter what shoes it's wearing.

Regardless of your choice, I would recommend that you forego run flats and get yourself an M-Mobility kit. It comes standard with the M5 but you can purchase one for about $125-$150. The kit includes an air compressor and basically a Fix-a-Flat bundled in a nice small carrying case. The compressor plugs into your cig lighter (there's one in the trunk of the car in case you have never seen it). The bag/kit fits nicely in the spare wheel compartment after removing the dead weight that is your under-sized spare. At least that is what I did. If you've got one of the newer 5ers, I suspect your car never came with a spare to begin with thanks to the BMW bean counters.

Regards,

RR

 

Price no object summer performance tires: Michelin PS2

Price no object AS tires. Michelin Pilot Sport A/S

Discount summer performance tires: Hanook Ventus V12 Evo

Discount AS tires: General Exclaim UHP

Tirerack.com usually has the lowest prices for new tires

Happy hunting!

 

yup

 

Great info, thanks guys. I'm glad I found this forum...

 

Hey Jagerman,
Local tire guys will always recommend brand names, it' safe and it's not their money. Dunno if you looked some direct comps. On some of these tests the Hankooks beatign Michelins in many categories.

It's gotten quite wet out here in SoCal this season, and I have not had any slippages or hydroplaning with hankooks. I basically drive freely passing others at will without hesitattion in the pouring rain. My older shoes, Nitto NT555=junk, tread wasn't great 40% left, I couldn't let loose in the wet.

You have choices. The other quality I like is that hankooks are somewhat soft and comfy for 20 inch, I'd wonder how much better ride would be with 18" stock wheels.

GL

http://www.caranddriver.com/var/ezfl...fa4477cd02.pdf
http://www.caranddriver.com/var/ezfl...db6d08bbf2.pdf
http://www.caranddriver.com/var/ezfl...5364f66014.pdf
http://www.caranddriver.com/var/ezfl...7d182ef955.pdf
http://www.caranddriver.com/var/ezfl...ecd0eaf943.pdf
http://www.caranddriver.com/var/ezfl...66f4a3c932.pdf

 

Vredestein Ultrac Sessanta (UHP)

I love the design and how they handle in the rain.

 

Thank you for posting this... the local tire store keeps trying to get me to put goodyears on my 19" 166s this summer, I asked about the hankooks but they keep trying to steer me away from those.

 

NP. Check out customers reviews and get a better feel for these tires, might look for BMW 3 and 5 series with comparable engines as yours.
http://www.tirerack.com/survey/Surve...irePageLocQty=

 

The hankooks treadwear 280AA is higher rated than Michelin PS2s 220AA. links below, goto Specs, under UTQG
Michelins http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....ilot+Sport+PS2
Hankooks http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....s+V12+evo+K110

I looked at all these data before I made my choice.

Cheers!

 

I just switched to Goodyear assymetrics and I like them. While it's to early to give a full report, there are some obvious traits for the tires. First the wet traction is much better than the bridgestone rfts. Had dtc on and it took alot to break loose, albeit seems they offer less warning. With power back on the regrip is solid. Impressive. Dry grip seems better also but I need more time on this. The goodyears are a tad more slippery until warm.

Only negative is hum at 40mph but maybe more break in time is needed. 100 miles so far.

Last item. They are much smoother than rfts but I'm missing the quick turn in of the bridgestones just a bit. Rfts felt real aggressive firmwise. But the goodyears are a good trade off and indicator stalk isn't rattling as much over bumps.

$800 net of rebate wasn't bad pricewise.