Pallokerho-35

Hi all - have a 530xi E61, and I love it. It's the perfect family car - looks good, all wheel drive for the Canadian winter and there's some cornering fun for dad as well, what's not to like?

Anyway this is about tires.
For winter I got 17" BMW rims with Nokian hakkapeliitta rsi - great in the snow.

For summer I am in a slight jam now. I got the car second hand, and I think the previous owner was something of an enthusiast, since the car is in impeccable shape. Service was done with the local BMW dealer. The tire-choice leaves me wondering if this was done by design or for a random reason.

The car came with 2 * 2 different summer tires. They all look brand new.
They are 245/40 R18 all around.
2 tires are Marangoni Mythos
2 tires are Continental ExtremeContact DW

They all look new, e.g. the Conti's have full thread and the D and W markers clearly showing, so it would be a waste to throw a pair out.
These are not commonly found tires. Searching online I found them both under "Ultra High Performance", so I don't think they are bad or cheap.

A priori I don't like to have different tire types on the car though.

Two questions if anyone can help:
1. Any chance this configuration was done by design, what would be probable reasons?
2. Which pair should I put in the front / which in the back?

Note - if there's really big concerns with having mixed tires I'll throw out a pair, but then again which one?

cheers,
p

Pic from Last year in the showroom:

Spartan335i

Hello,

I would opt in keeping the Conti's and buying 2 new tires and make them a complete set. No scientific reason for this btw! I would prefer having the same brand in all four corners as you stated as well, and given the fact that the DW's are fairly new I would just keep those.

Good luck!

luigi524td

+1 ... The DWs are popular so they may be on back-order at many on-line tire stores. And 4 all-round would be my recommendation too! But, for casual driving the temporary mix-set shouldn't be too problematic.

I was curious about the Marangoni brand name ... Google it: http://corporate.marangoni.com/en/Index.aspx

Pallokerho-35

Thanks guys!

Agreed, I think I'll go with some extra Conti's next summer season!

bmwspeed

I buy for my E61 Marangoni Mythos 245/40/R18 the price was good and the brand is true Italy.

To pay for bridgestone or dunlop which last about 25 K km ????I think not worth.

Now drive few days

Michiganmike

For a BMW xi it is suggested that there be no more than a 1% difference in circumference of the tires. http://www.e90post.com/forums/showth...42#post3248942

I suggest you have the tires checked to determine the treadwear. If one pair is virtually new, this would be an opportune time to replace the other tires with a matching pair of new tires so you have four tires with no more than a 1% difference in circumference. Do not wait too long to replace a pair of tires or you may find it is recommended that you replace all four tires due to differences in the circumference of your used and new tires.

I would also be concerned that different makes of tires of nominally the same size may vary by more than 1% in circumference either when new or due to differences in wear.
http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showthread.php?t=34326

Pallokerho-35

Wow, the level of knowledge here is scary - love it!

245/40R18 diameter should be 25.71" = 653.03mm, i.e. max 6.5mm margin of error.
Did a quick but accurate measure in the garage from the floor to top of the rim through the center (to top of the actual wheel would be tough to measure/compare to this accuracy).
Back vs front, it looked exact to the mm, just under 22", so should be fine in this case extrapolating over the full diameter.

Thread depths also look similar.

I could post some detailed pics if anyone insists, but I should be fine this season, and you guys probably have more interesting nuts to crack.

Thanks again for the advice and knowledge - really impressed with this forum!

Lotus99

I didn't realize it was just 1%... Seems pretty low to me. I'd posted about it here in fact when I needed to change two of my tires:

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=538267

If one is really concerned, Tire Rack (don't know about other places) can shave new tires to match the wear on the old ones. Didn't know one can do that!

v_therussian

I ain't never seen them macaroni tires

Michiganmike

Below is a link to one more article on tire replacement on BMW xi models that may be helpful.

http://blog.bavauto.com/3815/bmw-tir...nt-2wd-4wd-xi/