Hi performance fans, I need a recommendation for the best set of tires for my black on black '03 540I M-Sport. The car was certified at 27K miles. I have 43K on it now. Wheels are chromed OEM 5 spoke. I am an extremely light driver and will be lucky to put 5K a year on this vehicle. Thanks.
We have 2-2002 530i and are very pleased with Bridgestone Potenza 960 AS on one and Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3 on the other.The Goodyear's are of course summer tires
So what is it you want? Performance or longevity? A set of nasty-sticky R compounds will last you maybe a year or two. Then, they'll be worn out and/or hardened and no longer sticky. The downside is, these will throw little stones & stuff all over the bottom of your car. Kinda' like driving in tar, only all the time. You cannot use them in winter because they will quite literally crack if you drive on them when it's too cold. Or you could go with a long-lasting tire that would go about 5 years on your car before hitting the same limits as the stickies. The downside here is, there isn't much 'performance' to be had from them. If by "light" you mean 'gentle', then it won't matter. If by "light" you only mean seldom, but brisk, then you might want the gumballs.
It is my understanding that R-comps are nearly useless on the street, unless always driving in sunny, warm, dry weather... Don't they have nearly zero hydroplaning resistance/wet traction? I'd think driving on R-comps on the street is irresponsible from a safety perspective...
Depends on the tread pattern. I drove Yokohama A008 RS2s on the street in Washington State, as well as A032Rs, both autocross gumballs. The compund heats up quickly (which is why they wear out fast) and sticks while squeegeeing out the water. In a wet autocross, those tires could still pull close to 1 G laterally (one novice observer asked how all those cars with "bald tires" were able to go so fast in the rain...). Yeah, there is a speed point where they do lose that ability, but I had no problem on the freeway even in the rain. And they still picked up rocks in the wet... Hard to see the tread in this pic, but this car was a regular street driver, as well as weekend autocrosser: First tires on it: Then these: over 1 g laterally in the dry, and nearly 1 g laterally in the wet. Unfortunately, they only lasted about 10k miles in street driving.
I had a set of PS2s on my 540 and they were awesome but wore a bit quick (I drive 12k/year). I have recently switched to Falken 452s and they aren't as sticky, but they seem to be lasting longer.
