Your favorite DD tires

I've read rave reviews for the Michellin PS2's and now that the PS3's have been out for a couple seasons (all season), I find myself considering those. What are your favorite sets of tires for DD? I found an awesome link on tire reviews here, seems to reflect what I've researched so far:

http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Tyres_F...6-3-Series.htm

I still have the PO's original tires on (Bridgestone Potenza's) and the road noise is killing me. For DD I take it easy, so LLR's (low rolling resistance), road noise, and efficiency are top priorities for me.


EDIT:
Compiled Results Here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6c...it?usp=sharing

I've gone through many tires and my favorites for value, performance and smooth quiet ride are my current Nitto NT555's.

Good thread. I'll probably be in the market for new tires later this year. The PO of my car put on some terrible no name tires but they are durable as steel lol. Performance is predictably bad but that is expected.

Nexen N3000 - literally the cheapest summer/ultra-high performance tires available online anywhere in our size combination. Low price, A AA traction rating, and really high treadwear rating for the tire type. Oh, and they look really cool too.



If you're not taking the car to the track, this is an economical way to shoe your baby in something that will still accept the occasional spirited jaunt around the block.

EDIT: Looking really cool, too -

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-P...s800/photo.JPG

Since I'm in the mood of researching and giving, after we reel in results I'll start posting the tires, links, and pricing for each of them for all to conduct their own research if preferred.

I'm still loving the Khumo Ecsta 4X as the best bang for your buck all season tire out there.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

I have the new PS3s and they are awesome.

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Originally Posted by kayger12

I'm still loving the Khumo Ecsta 4X as the best bang for your buck all season tire out there.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

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I'd be willing to give up the all season style tires for a bit more performance and "stick". It doesn't snow much around here (although we just got about 4" of the white stuff this morning lol) but we do get a fair amount of rain. Good thing is I have a short commute so I'm not far from home should the weather turn nasty.

I've been very happy with Michelin Super Sports

- Peter

I put on all season Michelin Pilot Sport AS3's about a month ago and I'm loving them

You can't go wrong with Michelin. I have PS A/S on the e90, Primacy MXV4 on the Saab, and PS A/S 3 on the Mini Cooper. I'm very happy with my choices.

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Originally Posted by pfr

I've been very happy with Michelin Super Sports

- Peter

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+1 on this. Got these tires this summer and am happy with them so far - great grip.

I'm on my third set of cont. DWS. Really good all season tires. But the mich pilot sport AS plus tires wee the best ones I've ever bought. Not worth the extra $400 per set over the DWS unless money is no object though.

I've had Yokohoma, Michelin, Kumho, Nexen, Continental, General, BFG, and maybe one other brand I can't remember on the 9 e46s & 3 e39s we've had/have. Without a doubt the Continental DWS's have my vote as the best DD. Close to Michelin in grip, better in fuel economy, better in wear/tread life, good ride comfort, a little on the soft side for sidewalls if you push the car hard regularly but no complaint for DD, quieter than the Michelin A/Ss, no tramlining, they do flat spot a bit in the below freezing cold temps but this goes away in 5 miles, they're less expensive than Michelin & Yokohoma but more than the others, not too much more. We have a set of 315s on the rear of my wife's x5 with 25K miles and they still have 6-7/32nds of tread, about half life of a tire, the x5 is a staggered set up so these haven't been rotated, I'm amazed by their longevity. I have one front set on a ZHP with 32K miles and the D, W, & S stamped in the tread is still perfectly visible. I'm sold, I'm a convert, I will only buy the DWSs for our BMWs from here going forward.

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Originally Posted by 94jedi

I'd be willing to give up the all season style tires for a bit more performance and "stick". It doesn't snow much around here (although we just got about 4" of the white stuff this morning lol) but we do get a fair amount of rain. Good thing is I have a short commute so I'm not far from home should the weather turn nasty.

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It's not always a matter of snow or not, but summer tires essentially become a lot less effective with traction when the temperatures go below 40 degrees (I believe that is the temp BMW uses in their documentation). It could be 25 degrees out, but you'll have next to no grip in those temperatures even if the pavement is dry. If you live in Maryland, either winter tires or all seasons are recommended as temperatures do go below 40 during the winter. That said...

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Originally Posted by Mtnman

I'm on my third set of cont. DWS. Really good all season tires. But the mich pilot sport AS plus tires wee the best ones I've ever bought. Not worth the extra $400 per set over the DWS unless money is no object though.

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I have had Conti DWS tires prior to me purchasing a dedicated set of summer and winter tires. They were an excellent all-around tire, with plenty of grip in the dry and wet. Snow performance was "whatever" as expected from an all-season tire. They were decent on the track, and lasted about 4 track days and 35-40k miles of daily driving (don't remember exact figure).
Currently I have Pirelli Winter Sottozero tires, which are a performance winter tire. They have excellent grip in the wet and snow, and acceptable grip in the dry.

For those who don't want to swap tires, Conti DWS is my choice.
For those who want to swap, then get dedicated winter tires and summer tires if you want the best performance in either temperature conditions.


My daily set of wheels this past summer (summer tires) were Hankook Ventus V12 Evo K110's. As a daily driving set, they were great tires for the price, and were definitely "bang for the buck" tires. They were not good on track; I came back with missing tread blocks after just one track day. I've never ever had that happen to me before...
I can't report a mileage on them as I had premature failure on one of the rears (bubbled up sidewall), most likely from a pothole. I also forgot to record the mileage when I put them on.

bridgestone so4 pole position.

DWS

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

Like the Hankook V12

sent by new technology DA

+1 for the DWS, though I’m getting a set of Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3s tomorrow. I’ve had no complaints with the Contis, just wanted to see what the new PS A/Ss are like.


Tapatalk’d on my iPad mini

Michelin pilot sport A/S are the best I've ever used. The new A/S 3's are supposed to be even better so they're my recommendation. I've driven the A/S 3s just not on a BMW and they're awesome. They'll be my next set in the spring

Back in the 90's I loved my Yokohama AVS' on my VW's but they decided to stop making them for some reason.

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Originally Posted by Crickett

+1 for the DWS, though I’m getting a set of Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3s tomorrow. I’ve had no complaints with the Contis, just wanted to see what the new PS A/Ss are like.


Tapatalk’d on my iPad mini

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The Tire Rack review of the A/S 3s was impressive. Leaning towards dropping the coin on them when the Khumos give up.
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/...y.jsp?ttid=177

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Originally Posted by pfr

I've been very happy with Michelin Super Sports

- Peter

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Originally Posted by kerunt

+1 on this. Got these tires this summer and am happy with them so far - great grip.

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+2

I love mine, but I'm kinda disappointed they don't make one in the 740's oddball 18" size. Even more annoyed that they don't make a 15" so I can run them on the 2002 and E21

i have the pilot sport a/s and im not too happy.

They handle great, but they stupid things are starting to chunk! It looks like my dog chews on the tires at night. Yeah, I've done some spirited driving on these tires but I have never seen tires start to chunk! Luckily they are still good on my dad's M5, no chunking there. I could still get another 10-15k outta my tires no sweat (currently 10k on em). I guess they are good DD tires, but they can't handle it when you push them. They actually corner really well and grip well, but the aftermath, the chunking makes em a no-no for me.

Funny thing is my mechanic said the EXACT same thing. He said these tires will start to chunk when you go on drives with twisty roads..

Next time I'll get the Conti DWS or just a summer tire.

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Originally Posted by Johal E32

i have the pilot sport a/s and im not too happy.

They handle great, but they stupid things are starting to chunk! It looks like my dog chews on the tires at night. Yeah, I've done some spirited driving on these tires but I have never seen tires start to chunk! Luckily they are still good on my dad's M5, no chunking there. I could still get another 10-15k outta my tires no sweat (currently 10k on em). I guess they are good DD tires, but they can't handle it when you push them. They actually corner really well and grip well, but the aftermath, the chunking makes em a no-no for me.

Funny thing is my mechanic said the EXACT same thing. He said these tires will start to chunk when you go on drives with twisty roads..

Next time I'll get the Conti DWS or just a summer tire.

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Are you running the new A/S 3s or the previous version A/S?

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Originally Posted by Hermes

+2

I love mine, but I'm kinda disappointed they don't make one in the 740's oddball 18" size. Even more annoyed that they don't make a 15" so I can run them on the 2002 and E21

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+3. Best tire I've driven on, and they're so light that my gas mileage improved a bit compared to the Bridgestones I had before

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Originally Posted by Johal E32

i have the pilot sport a/s and im not too happy.

They handle great, but they stupid things are starting to chunk! It looks like my dog chews on the tires at night. Yeah, I've done some spirited driving on these tires but I have never seen tires start to chunk! Luckily they are still good on my dad's M5, no chunking there. I could still get another 10-15k outta my tires no sweat (currently 10k on em). I guess they are good DD tires, but they can't handle it when you push them. They actually corner really well and grip well, but the aftermath, the chunking makes em a no-no for me.

Funny thing is my mechanic said the EXACT same thing. He said these tires will start to chunk when you go on drives with twisty roads..

Next time I'll get the Conti DWS or just a summer tire.

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Same thing happened with my dad's 535xi (Michelin Pilot A/S+... no idea how the A/S3 are). We weren't happy with DWS either, too soft. Decided to just run summer/winter, and much happier. The car feels much better in both sets of conditions

That's odd. I drive my cars more aggressively than most I'd say and have never had chunking issues with the michelins (been through 2 sets).My whole family has been running them on all of our cars for a few years now and have never had issues. My mechanic recommends them for his sports car/exotic customers as well and hasn't told me of any issues and I talk to him weekly (good friend of mine). That's really weird that that happened.

May be another issue like tire pressure or something causing it.

Been on Kumho extsa 4s for the past year or so...they are proving to be a great tire for the money. However in have noticed a huge drop off of grip when the temps hit below freezing...which was expected. Greta tire for $99 a pop.

Sent from my GS3.

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Originally Posted by BavarianZHP

I still have the PO's original tires on (Bridgestone Potenza's) and the road noise is killing me. For DD I take it easy, so LLR's (low rolling resistance), road noise, and efficiency are top priorities for me.

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My car had the Potenza's on it when I bought it and the noise was so annoying that I switched tires a few thousand before I had to because of it. I installed a set of the Hankook V12s and have been pretty happy with them. Only downside I noticed was the softer sidewall compared to the Bridgestones but after a while you get used to it and it doesn't seem so noticeable. I've wore out 1 set of rears so far and then next time I need tires all 4 should be due.

I am going with the PSS next time. Can't wait till that time comes!:biggrin

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Originally Posted by kayger12

Are you running the new A/S 3s or the previous version A/S?

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previous version.

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Originally Posted by terraphantm

+3. Best tire I've driven on, and they're so light that my gas mileage improved a bit compared to the Bridgestones I had before



Same thing happened with my dad's 535xi (Michelin Pilot A/S+... no idea how the A/S3 are). We weren't happy with DWS either, too soft. Decided to just run summer/winter, and much happier. The car feels much better in both sets of conditions

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Yep PSS are amazing.

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Originally Posted by HokieZHP

That's odd. I drive my cars more aggressively than most I'd say and have never had chunking issues with the michelins (been through 2 sets).My whole family has been running them on all of our cars for a few years now and have never had issues. My mechanic recommends them for his sports car/exotic customers as well and hasn't told me of any issues and I talk to him weekly (good friend of mine). That's really weird that that happened.

May be another issue like tire pressure or something causing it.

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I dunno man, i read some reviews and other said the exact same thing as me. Glad they work for you though. tire pressure may have a factor in this, but I've ran 38 all around, 32F, 35R and saw no change.

It just bugs me that the outer areas are wearing (chunking..) I had a alignment done at a high end BMW shop, new FCABS, new RTABS, all other suspension components were replaced by PO.. <40k miles ago

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Originally Posted by Johal E32

previous version.



Yep PSS are amazing.



I dunno man, i read some reviews and other said the exact same thing as me. Glad they work for you though. tire pressure may have a factor in this, but I've ran 38 all around, 32F, 35R and saw no change.

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Just interesting to hear as I have nothing but good things to say. May have been a weird batch they had or I just have escaped the issue. Either way sorry you had issues with them.

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Originally Posted by HokieZHP

Just interesting to hear as I have nothing but good things to say. May have been a weird batch they had or I just have escaped the issue. Either way sorry you had issues with them.

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Yeah I might have gotten a "early" version of the tire? Picked em up from America's tire last year and they had the tires same day shipped, so I have no idea how long they were sitting before that..

They are holding up beautifully on my dad's M5, but that car is babied. Only driven "hard" when getting on the freeway. Whereas in my wagon I really push it HARD in the corners.

Got a set of conti DWS and they have been incredible. They have been great in all conditions. Out of every all season, they are easily the best I've driven in the snow. I had a cheap pair of all seasons in my mini with an LSD that was terrible in the snow, got stuck multiple times: I also had a set of potenza all seasons that were pretty good. But these DWS tires are easily the best in the snow. Now in a rwd zhp, I haven't gotten stuck once in these and I've been trying to. The car will slip but nothing too bad. It makes the driving more fun. They sure as hell aren't blizzaks, but they do much better in the snow than your average all season. I can't imagine wanting any other tire yet.

Compiled your inputs here. I only had time to use tirerack, so if the tire wasn't on there I left the info out (wanted to do as direct of a comparison in price as well). If you have the info, feel free to comment in the thread and I'll add it in with citation.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6c...it?usp=sharing

Not sure if the sort macros work in google apps..... but if you download, enable editing, then enable content/macros they should. Hyperlinks of tires lead to tirerack.com with STAGGERED setup.


Short summary of my findings with info I have:

Most ZHPmafia recommended: Conti DWS
Highest rated on tirerack: Michelin PSS
Cheapest: Kumho Ecsta 4X (if you buy staggered)
Most sticky/Most wear: Bridgestone S-04 pole position and Hankook V12 (via UTQG)
Least Grippy/Longest lasting: Conti DWS (via UTQG)
Lightest in weight: Conti DWS

I've had Michelin Pilot Sport PS2s on the 325Ci before and it was my first car so it was "normal" to me.

But after having to shop for tires for the ZHP, I realized the difference between them and what I chose to get, the Kumho Ecstas.

Between the two, the PS2s had much better grip and felt slightly more comfortable...but at the price of the Kumhos, I would be willing to give up that extra grip to have that extra cash. It IS for DD'ing anyways - my shop guy recommended Hankook Ventus V12s since he said Kumhos are terrible from experience, but again, at their price, I am willing to have them for DD'ing.

Don't know if it's because of the tires but I have been tramlining for a while though.

I don't understand all the consternation here, and I've been plenty guilty of it myself in the past. We're all driving cars that are worth somewhere in the teens of thousands of dollars (pick your own value) and we kill ourselves debating tire selection when the difference between the best (Michelin) and others is only a couple hundred dollars, or about 2-3% of the value of our cars. We all have our reasons for making our individual tire selections, take care of your ride and buy the best that you can afford given your circumstances while realizing anything less than the best likely comes with some compromises.

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Originally Posted by BCS_ZHP

I don't understand all the consternation here, and I've been plenty guilty of it myself in the past. We're all driving cars that are worth somewhere in the teens of thousands of dollars (pick your own value) and we kill ourselves debating tire selection when the difference between the best (Michelin) and others is only a couple hundred dollars, or about 2-3% of the value of our cars. We all have our reasons for making our individual tire selections, take care of your ride and buy the best that you can afford given your circumstances while realizing anything less than the best likely comes with some compromises.

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^Not that simple, imo, which is why I think that there's so much consternation.

The question has always been (and remains) is the premium you pay for the best reflected in the difference in performance AND do you stand to benefit from said performance given your driving style.

If you put 20,000 miles a year on your ride, the hundreds of dollars of difference turns into thousands over the course of a few years.

You hit it on the head, though-- figure out the increased benefit vs what you can afford or are willing to pay.

MODs: Can we move this to the TIRES section ?? :)

Anyone try the General GMax AS03 ? This is a UHP AS tire with good reviews, and I am also trying to decide for the next set:
Gmax, DWS (current), or A/S 3?
I like the DWS but it does flat spot a LOT.

DWS has lost its throne for Hankook Ventus S1 Noble2 (IDK if it comes in OEM ZHP staggered sizes) in the UHP AS category at TR, and is now 2nd place;
AS/3 No. 6; Gmax is No. 7

What I am really after is the huge price difference between the GMax and the As/3 (or DWS) - consdiering the reviews, it seems like with the Gmax one gets about 80% performance of the other 2 for about 60% of their price...

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I'm running Michelin Pilot Sport 3 A/S. Very good ride quality, low noise, and performance. Coming from Toyo Proxes T1Rs, these were a major upgrade. As always, purchase what you can afford in your circumstances!