I am getting very poor tread wear on the OEM Bridgestones equipped on my 335i. Is it typical to only get 17000miles from these rough riding "run flats" ?? Does anyone have any experience with Michelin Pilot Sports as a replacement ?? ie ride, handling, wear ?? Freedback appreciated. Thanks
BMW seems to be installing very sticky tires with low treadwear numbers for the last several years, so the rears being down to treadbars by 17-20k is about it. Tires with a treadwear rating (look at your sidewall or look your tire up at places like tirerack.com) of 140 trade longevity for lateral grip & handling performance. The r-compound track tires I usually use have a treadwear rating of 100, so the OE tires BMW is installing these days are on par or better than the street-legal race-rubber of years past, and not far off from some of todays r-comps. With staggered fronts & rears for the stock setup, no way to rotate to even out the life, so the rears last half as long as the fronts, although the all-drive cars may wear down somewhat closer in the same time. Your options are to run the same sizes at all 4 corners and rotate (which may require different wheels, or at least two more rear wheels, IF the rears are correct enough to run on the front without problems) or opt for different, longer-lived tires, runflat or not.
Depending on how you drive the vehicle they can only last for 15,000 miles. Just be aware if you do switch tires that you should keep them run flat because the vehicle has no spare tire.
Thanks and thanks. There is a reason why BMW engineers included staggered tires on the 335i's with the sport package and that I would not change by switching to the same size tires on all fours. If 15,000 miles is what one should expect from a set of tires that cost $1,400 - then so be it. Part of the cost of driving a performance car I reckon. The Michelin (Pilot Sport PS2ZP) model that I inquire abt are also a "run flats". I hope there are not too many BMW owners that switch from run flats only to realize they have no spare. Cheers
Bridgestone seems to be one of BMW favorites! Just recently I ran into similar problem but also followed by tire noise issue. I read a number of comments on different number of tire sets at Tirerack dot com and still have not found anything good. It looks like some BMW dealers install Dunlop tires as an alternative, however owners complain there even more than those who have Bridgestones. I didn't have time yet to run through the forum but if someone could suggest any performance oriented tire solution here that would be great!
At 18,000 miles my 335is rears are down to 4/32, about what I expected. Just because you don't have a spare doesn't mean you need runflats. M cars do not have runflats or spares - just upscale fix-a-flat. I'll see if Michelin Pilot Super Sports give better mileage.
Our first experience with Bridgestone run-flats was worse than awful. 2006 E90 330xi. The Bridgerocks were rough riding, incredibly noisy and down to 4/32" by 11,000 miles. Replaced with Conti's that went >29,000 miles without trouble, before trade-in. Next a 2008 335xi. Dumped the Bridgestones at purchase and went with Continental run-flats. Not great tires but, worlds better than the Bridgestones. The square set-up accomplished amazing life. At lease end, they had run >45,000 miles with 4-5/32" left. And that's with several "spirited" runs through the Ozarks and a few hot laps around Heartland Park Topeka and Road America. Can't ask for more than that. The next Bimmer with Bridgestone run-flats was an F25 X3. Better but, still not great. A little rough riding but, livable. Down to half tread by ~12,000 miles. Traded early for another F25 X3 wearing Pirelli run-flats. Much better! Until Bridgestone comes up with vastly better design and engineering for their run-flats, we're staying away.
