Essential to use star rated tyres?

[Billy_Whizzzz]

Fed up with 20 inch wheels cracking on my G31 530d X Drive I bought some 18inch wheels 2nd hand while the
20s were being repaired. They are staggered and same size as BMW recommends but different brands (245 45 18 P zero front, 275 40 18 Eagle F1 rears) and rears are on 5mm fronts on 6mm. Will non star rated tyres which these are ruin the 4wd system…? Having decided to stay with 18s should I ditch the non star tyres and get star rated ones? Many thanks.

[rottenegg]

Nope, not essential. BMW * is more about grip and feel than mechanical essentials. Xdrive like other 4WD systems can be picky with rolling circumference differences though.

[E-bmw]

Personally, as there really are SO MANY well documented cases of X-drive diffs sh!tting themselves over tyre selection I would only ever fit the BM * rated tyres.

It just isn't worth the risk.

Cue 10 pages of yes/no arguments.........

[danb79]

Know plenty of folk inc my Dad on his X3 that use non star rated tyres; but stick to the OEM BMW sizes with zero issues, zero complaints

xDrive is all about keeping the tyres on the OEM sizes; stick with that and you'll be fine

[VeeTenM]

Contact7s job done

[matt5964]

I would be more concerned with miss matched tyres front to rear than * marked , as they will heat up and grip different to each other, as said above the x-drive system can be picky with different tyres, rolling circumstances etc.

[rottenegg]

VeeTenM said:

Contact7s job done

Yeah they are very good tyres.