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17" tires drying up locally

5K views 24 replies 9 participants last post by  bmwdirtracer 
#1 ·
Jacob's been trying to buy tires in Java for the last 3 months in 225 or 235 front and 255 17" rear ... nothing

Michelin PS2 and 3 - no stock

Toyo T1R - new old stock , 6 years old with the new list price !

Toyo T1Sport - no stock

Bridgestone RE071 - front available , rears not available

What other brands are other M5 drivers using ?

Falken ? Hankook ?

The alternative is to go to a 19" rim as there's lots of performance tires available for this size here which is popular for Mercedes Benz and later model BMWs
 
#2 ·
Thanks Tony,

Yes, what a difficult experience. There is no stock anywhere of Bridgestone, Michelin and Toyo's. They also have a Mafia on tire imports, thus it is next to impossible for a non-political family member to import tires. Any suggestions or help will be much appreciated. Thanks
 
#3 · (Edited)
Obviously, I can't help tell you how to get tires in Indonesia, but I'd just like to say that the Pilot Super Sport is a far superior tire to the PS2 and especially to the PS3. The Continental DW is also an excellent performance tire, wet and dry


Oh, I use 245x40x17 front and rear, to give you another size option. (Also I have and use a set of 245x35x18s.....all are Michelin PSS.)
 
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#5 ·
Thinking about it some more, Nitto makes track and very high performance street tires, which are quite popular with many of my fellow instructors; their NT01 is about a 100 treadwear track tire; the NT05 is an ultra high perf 200 treadwear dual purpose tire.


I've also recently seen Achilles Sport 2 tires on a BMW....they looked like decently made tires, and they are from Indonesia. I have zero experience or familiarity with them, though. (They are 1/2 to 1/3 the price of the others)


Hankooks and Kumhos are from Korea; their Ultra High Perf tires are fine, but not really up to the same levels of abuse as Pilot Super Sports, Conti DW, or the Nittos.
 
#6 ·
#8 ·
eagle F1's but i'm on M paras but 18 inch good tyres are in good supply and cheap now. Well in the UK


Saying that ive just bought 245/40 17's for the rear of my e36 alpina. £87 each for eagle F1 assymetric 2's and there was loads of choice all the brands you mention. My PS3's on the rear have worn out in only 15k
 
#9 · (Edited)
I have 245x40x17 on 8" wide wheels, and 245x35x18, on 9" wide wheels. Both widths are completely within the tire's specs. If you go to tirerack.com you can pull up every spec, for every tire, in every size.....well, except they don't sell Nittos or Achilles. But truly, this site is an EXCELLENT source of tire information - the best I know.

For wet/dry ultra high performance, with track use (@40-45 psi dry), I'd highly recommend the Pilot Super Sport or Conti DW, if you want ~12 to 15,000 mile life. The Nittos will wear faster than this, due to softer compounds, and are not nearly as good in the wet, but are faster in the dry.

The Conti DWS is NOT for you, Tony! (S stands for "snow"!) The Michelin Pilot Sport 3 is a "4-season" tire also: NOT for Tony! The Eagle F1s are excellent tires, but cannot handle track use on a car as soft and heavy as the M5. (They rip their tread into chunks)

I've just ordered a set of Bridgestone Blizzak WS-80's for my winter tires: these are BY FAR the ultimate in snow/ice tires, and will let an M5 claw through 8" of snow, up steep winding roads (buy 4, of course) Yes, I drive my car through much snow in winter.....
 
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#14 ·
What about continental sport contact 5? X PilotSS?
They won a lot of tests
Tyre reviews, tests and ratings - TyreReviews

I am personally unfamiliar with these tires; had a quick look at Tire Rack.com. By their survey results, the PSS is the number 1 Max Performance Summer Tire.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/surveyresults/surveydisplay.jsp?type=MP

Here's a Max Perf Test: (PSS wins):
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/testDisplay.jsp?ttid=174

Another: (PSS wins)
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/testDisplay.jsp?ttid=162
 
#11 ·
with track use (@40-45 psi dry)
Thanks for this Chris , I thought we were the only one using tyre pressures this high for an E34 M5

We put chalk marks outside of the tread area and kept pumping the tires up until the scrub marks were contained within the tread area on our first track day.

We ended up with 45 psi front and 42 psi rear

Some of the later M5s were running pressures in the mid 30's and they were all scrubbing the side walls.

Also some great comments from everyone on your tire recommendations and experiences , keep them coming ! :)
 
#12 ·
I have run Michelins since importing my 95 M5 back in 2002 at 64k miles. It now has over 134k on it and I've run Pilot Sports, PS2s (2 sets) and am now running the Pilot Super Sports.

Never had an issue with any of them or for that matter any Michelin on my other BMWs. Commuting, spirited on ramps and even a dozen or so track days over the years, the Pilots have been excellent.

Not cheap but worth every $ IMO. After the first set I switched over to 245 and 275 rears.
 
#15 ·
Chris , you're best dry and wet lap times were done using which tires ?

This link is very useful , I'll be using the tire rack website in future, thank you

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/survey...ay.jsp?type=MP

Personally I like the Toyo T1R and T1 Sport on my E34s , performance almost as good as Michelin at 1/3 to 1/2 the price here in Indonesia depending on the size.

The Toyo's do have a harsher ride in comparison to the Michelin but I can accept that.
 
#16 ·
I don't give a damn about harsh ride, my friend. For my summer tires, I want grip, wet and dry, an ability to shrug off track use, and 12k-15k mile durability.

If I had the $, I'd have dry track-only tires, (likely R888s or Nitto NT1's, or maybe even Kumho V710 or Hoosier R6....but then I'd need better suspension than Bilsteins/ H&R's.

If the car didn't weigh 3900 pounds, body roll like a Cadillac, and eat sidewalls like the cookie monster, I'd buy myself some big fat race rubber...

(Eero, fat women aren't pretty, but I really like fat rubber!) ;)
 
#17 ·
Oops, sorry, you guys don't know the cookie monster, huh? I'm a dummy sometimes. Imagine a weird creature that eats only dessert. ) Or tire sidewalls, as the case applies)
 
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