What is your favorite tire brand?

[finch]

hey, my mates dad was telling me about "konti" (i think that is what they are called, it was something like that any way, short for something) he said that they are what BMW's come with from factory in Germany.. he has them on his E36 M3 and says they kill every other tyre that he has had...

any one know them..? are they any good..? are they a real tyre brand..?

 

[andreyiv]

He is probably talking about "Continental" which is also short for "Conti". Never had em so I can't comment but I think some new BMWs in the US also come with them.

 

[jonnyk]

ive just taken goodyear eagles off mine when i swopped to 18s but they where really good in the dry and wore really well i done think i had any back end twitching i could throw it into a corner and know i was coming out the other side,not as good in the wet

 

[Rukus]

My car specifically is hardly worth spending lots of money on tires for.... so i picked up a set of Falken ze512's. an affordable tire, that can still provide the bit of performance that i like. not as quiet as most tires, but really, who can hear the road in a BMW?

 

[jrt67ss350]

I'm so surprised people actually like Michelin. Every set of michelins on my parents cars, friends cars, etc. has dry rotted after about 2 years, and lost most useable traction after about 40k miles.

Yeah, my family and I have had the same experience with Michelin tires - and, were not just talking one set - every set of Michelin tires we've had have been shit. My dad had a set of Michelins on his truck that were dry rotted in about a year and half. Those tires totally sucked - a year after buying them they turned into hard rocks. I have had two sets of BFGoodrich Radial T/As on my Camaro (BFG is also made by Michelin). They are rated at like 45,000 miles, and I don't think I got 10,000 out of the first set before they were bald. The current set on the car is also bald and they only have about 15,000 on them. My dad has BFG tires on his truck now, and they are bald and there are bulging spots on them where belts are popping. My BMW had Michelin X-One tires on it when I bought it. They were 50,000 mile tires and hit the wear indicators at about 30,000. They were wearing REALLY weird and were the noisiest damn things I've ever heard. I was actually calling around to different shops to see how much it would cost to get my rear wheel bearings replaced, because it honestly sounded like my wheel bearings were shot. I put new tires on the car and it was instantly silent inside. I couldn't believe that all that noise was coming from the damn tires.

I have Goodyears (60,000 mile touring tires - not balls-to-the-wall high performance) on my BMW now, and I really like them. I will NEVER buy Michelin tires again.

 

[Dutch]

I use a set of separate winter tires on the diesel since weather can be crappy in Europe, and I go to southern France for skiing in the winter (hills, snow & some ice...). I got a great deal on a set of rims at the dealership and part of the deal was the new Continental winter(contact) tire. I must say (did not expect this) that these winter tires worked really great. I used them in all winter circumstances (also above 65 degrees F; that sucked btw) Won't change to other winter tires. When it comes to summer tires, I do not really like the (standard) Continental Sportcontacts. On dry roads, they are really good but when the road starts to get a little wet, they suck. But I heard that the sportcontact II is much better. Think I will switch to the Potenzas though.

 

[Joe_31]

I had the Continental's on the car when I got it and was not happy, mind you they were the wrong size too. They were 195 or somthing like that! I've got Pirelli P6000's, 205/60R15. they are great! I only have 15" rims so my options are limited...

I've also got a set of Toyo winter tires and steel rims which I love as well and are needed out here.

 

[THEOLDMAN]

For what it's worth I have the Goodyear EAGLE F1 GS-D3s (225/45/ZR17 on 17"X7.5" wheels) on my RSXTypeS and love them. They supply plenty of grip in wet or dry conditions, and tread life as compared with other Goodyear tires is 280, I'm on my third summer and it will probably be their last. My winter tires are Dunlop M3 WinterSports, these are a Vrated winter tire plenty of grip in snow, slush and fair in really icy conditions when we shouldn't be driving anyway. I realize that there are a lot of differences in the dynamics between front and rear drive cars, and if either are availble in a 15" I wouldn't hesitate to put them on my 89 E30. I grew up learning to drive long before FWD was a common automotive drive as I have been driving since 1965. [driving2]

 

[I love my 5 Series]

I have Michelin Pilots on my 03 Boxster and they work great, though they plow a little on hard corners. At speed they are nice and tight. I just changed the Yokohama AVS dB's (worn out) on the 540i to a brand my tire guy recommended - Fuzion ZRi's (made in Japan). They are a little harder than the dB's and a little noisier. Grip is good and they have a protective edge to keep me from curbing my wheels. Best thing is that they are very reasonable. I have 17's and they were only $102 each for P235-45-WR 17's (94W). When the Pilots wear out, I'm going to put the Fuzion's on. The dB's were great, but they wore pretty fast (soft compound). For normal driving, I still like Michelin (pricey) for our Odyssey and Continentals for our Volvo Wagon. We also have stock Bridgestone Potenza's (HR's) on our 04 Civic and they are very good for a stock tire. I've had bad luck with Pirelli's and the Nitto's got slick and hard as they aged. Years ago I had some Goodyear Gatorbacks (old P235-60-VR 15's) on my 1980 Z28 and they were very good for the era. I remember replacing them with Michelin XGT's and I hated them. Remember that I live in So Cal, so I don't have to worry about the weather.

 

[bmw555]

I put yesterday set of Yokohama ES100 on my car. They seem to grip much better than my previous tires (worn out Brigestone 940 in the back and Kumho h-rated tires in the front), although the car seem to oversteer a bit more than before. The car used to be quite tail-happy and I had no problem losing the tail when I wanted even on dry pavement, I did it for fun quite often. Now it feels that the car will rather flip over then lose the tail.

 

[Wadula]

michelin pilot sports never had let me down. they were always fine.

but recently i read an article, a tire comparison, that changed my mind. still michelin made quite a good result, but Conti´s sport contact scored best. i might wanna reconsider when it comes to new tires. we´ll see.

 

[///M SPEED]

Tim I sure love my ContiSport Contacts. They are great tires. They even a have a small bead around to help save your rims from curb rash....

 

[bad ass v-dub]

I had Pirelli Hp's (came with the car) they suck, esp in rain, i couldn't go around a turn without the back end drifting out, which is fun sometimes, but when your just cruising around, and your girlfriend is with you,its not. Then i had a set of offbrand Federals on a set of 17"TSW rims which I still have with the tires and about 50 miles total on them which im trying to sell for $700 if anyone is interested, and now I have a set of Kumho Ecsta SPT's on a set of 13lb Team Dynamics rims and they are the best handling tires ever.

 

[epj3]

Wow I'm truly surprised bridgestone isn't on top. I guess becuase they aren't as easily available.

 

[modified bmw]

Goodyear Eagle F1 - drives great and looks great! Leave a great mark on the road! if you know what I mean...

 

[sinisterE36]

bf goodrich
falken
nitto
toyo
dunlop
yokohamas
all these to me have excellent tire compound and look great in any profile. i mostly buy tires with a treadwear of 280 or higher because i do alot of driving and one set will usually last me about 8-10 months.
they all have from what i experienced not much road noise,very good in the rain ( here in so.fla we get plenty of it in the summer),excellent grip when pushed to the limit or driving at high speeds (90-120mph).
i always plug my tires myself if i get a nail/screw in them and i never had a plug come out or a tire failure from any of these makes.
and i can always find these at a good price i never pay more than $400-410 mounted and highspeed balanced for a set of tires.

 

[DSK]

I have hit selected Pirelli, because I thought I'd try out their P-zero Assimetrico - and I was expecting a lot from it, and it surpassed my expectations but the wear rate was about as quick as I expected. But I like quite a few UHP (ultra high performance tyres and do switch between them from time to time). My preferences are below.

Pirelli P-Zero Assimetrico
Continental Sport Contact 1 and Sport Contact 3
Goodyear Eagle F1 GSD3
Michelin Pilot Sport 2

Just to mention, we sell Falken High Performance tyres at just a few £ (like £5-10) more than a cheap new budget tyre as we buy these in bulk and they are very popular and I had them years and years ago and was very impressed with them. They seem to perfrom far above peoples expectations, road noise isn't bad at all, but they also have a good tread wear rate.

 

[Militant-Grunt]

Pirelli P-Zero Scorpions FTW. Have em on the ML, getting them for the A4 if possible.