check out performancetireplus.com they are in Long Beach

 

The PS2 that is correct for the car is the one with the STAR IMAGE on it. There is another one with HIGH LOAD written on it. At least that is what it was for the M5's. Not sure about the BMW on it.

Give John Gardener a call from America's Tire in Pasadena (626) 584-6770. Tell him that the guy with the Silver M5 sent you (even though his guys intially gave me one that says HIGH LOAD on it, but rectified later). If memory serves me right, I negotiated a better slightly better deal than that.

Replacing the Conti's?

 

Yeah, Mike, I am getting rid of the Conti's.

Belowis what Tirerack said. I can't beleive they would respond with an "I don't know either" answer and then still insist you buy the more expensive tire.

"Thanks for your question to The Tire Rack. We would like to know the difference as well, but unfortunately Michelin will not share that information with us. Normally, tires built for OE applications will feature a slightly modified tread pattern or sidewall construction to meet the requirements of the auto engineers. All we can share is that Michelin recommends against mixing the OE tire with any other variant of the model to avoid handling issues caused by the (unknown) differences. From a realistic standpoint, we would not expect any major differences in durability and performance based on customer feedback. Sorry that we could not help further."

 

Unfortunately the "I don't know" answer seems to be the standard response. Here's a thread from another forum:

Gary: Which Milchelin Pilot Sport PS2 at TireRack? - bimmerfest - BMW Forums

This is also not specific to the PS2s. When I got my Pirelli's it was the same deal.

If it were me I'd probably go with the BMW OE even though they are more expensive.

 

Getting ready to replace the PS2's on my M6 and wondered the same thing.

 

Since the M6 achieves such high speeds I think the PS2's for it are safe beyond typical high speed ratings like Z, Y etc. I only have seen this level of specificity for tires for models like 911TT and Ferrari. All of which have top speeds that exceed the top speed ratings of typical tires. I'm not 100% certain but it makes sense. I would spring for the PS2's made for our cars. In fact I have a few times. I'm on my 3rd set of PS'2 (with the star symbol) in 18k mi.

 

Paul, John Gardener gave me the same price for the "STAR" one as the "HIGH LOAD" one. Don't know, but $100 bucks is a bit much of a difference.

 

Here is what I found:

Tucker Tire $1816
New Century BMW $2123
PerformanceTirePlus.com $2129
American Tire $1967 (willing to price match)

I will probably go American Tire since they are closer.

Thanks for everyone's help.

 

Hey Paul,

Try calling (909) 468-1311, The Wheel Supply (TWS) is Walnut California and ask for Albert. Tell him that Steve's (Dark Blue 996 C4) business partner (me) sent you and that I got PS2's from him a while ago and he hooked me up. It's a small shop, but he works on nice cars. It was like over 1 year ago I got tires from him, but IIRC, it was 350 installed FRONT and 400 installed REAR. Cash discount (he pays the tax) if you pay by Greenbacks. I almost forgot about them.

 

I just called and he is $1760 cash out the door. Best offer yet.

Thanks for the tip.

 

Unless you are just buying tires from them and not having them do any actual work on your car...be careful.

I found out that the best price is not always the best choice. I have been going through a 2 year nightmare with The Wheel Supply.

Just a word of warning!

 

I'm not sure about PS2s, but the PSCup tires as OEM tires on certain Porsche and BMW cars have an added concentric groove around the outer edge of the tire where the "standard" tire doesn't have the groove. Maybe those who have the OEM PS2s could check and see. I would guess you might have the extra groove in your tire.

 

Geez.....this is a perfect example of the old saying: "You get what you pay for".

 

I think you are right there!

I wish I had taken the time to do more research before I went to TWS. Live and learn I guess.

 

BHR4CE, I'm sorry to hear about your story. It is a small shop and other than one set of tires, I've had no other experience with them. Albert does seem like a stand-up guy, but your story made me re-think that. I did PM MonacoM6 about reminding Albert to order tires (if he goes with them) as he did forget to order my tires by the appt date. Got 'em in 2 days after that. Thanks for the head's up. I don't think I'll be going back since their shop techs don't seem to know how to mount and remove tires.

 

Wow. Really sorry to hear. It really was a nightmare. The "swapping" of your FTM's, btw, is nothing more than a criminal theft. If I were you, I'd seriously threaten legal action if they dont make things right for you.

 

I have actually thought about that, and am looking into it as we speak. In addition to the theft of the OEM BMW TPM sensors they stole from me, they installed wheels and tires on my vehicle that were not properly mounted and were very unsafe.

I have been driving for 30 years, and I got more flat tires in the past 18 months due to their negligence than I have the remainder of the time I've been driving.