Tyre advice please
Discussion
Hi all
I have a BMW X3 M40i (G01) that I bought brand new in 2018.
Every year I have taken this car in for service to be told that my tread is just above the 2mm cut-off. And every year I've had to replace them. I've always let my local BMW dealership sort it out (Edinburgh).
The car came with Bridgestone Alenza 001, and the same tyre has been used for each replacement. That's 3 sets of 4 tyres, each time costing me around £1200.
My car had its first MOT last month and surprise surprise the tyres are at the 2mm cutoff.
For the first time I looked online and found that A LOT of people rate these tyres as rubbish, with a common complaint being they wear away very fast. I wouldn't mind this so much if they performed well but...
In the dry they're fine (for me)
In the wet they're okay, sometimes a bit slippery or very long braking distances
In the snow / ice, absolute rubbish.
SO. I've decided to find my own replacement tyres. My question is on sizing.
Currently, my tyre sizes are as follows:
Front: 245/45 R20 103W XL runflat
Rear: 275/40 R20 106W XL runflat
Finding a tyre that reviews well AND comes in the sizes above AND comes in a runflat variant has proven impossible.
My question is this:
Is it safe to change all four tyres to 255/45? That works out to a sidewall of ~114mm, up from the ~110mm from the Alenza's.
I’m hoping to get a set of all seasons – looking at the Hankook Kinergy 4S2 or Michelin Cross Climate 2s.
Cheers
EDIT:
1
So, just to give some context. I drive 6000-8000 miles a year, on motorways and tarmac roads in and around Edinburgh. I very rarely go above 85mph, on average probably 80mph (on motorways, of course).
Occasionally I'll go on country lanes and B roads to get to Skye, Aviemore, Loch Lomand etc, and that would be around 40-60mph. No more than 500-600 miles a year on these trips, combined.
2
I keep referring to 2mm “cutoff” because I’ve been repeatedly told that anything below this needs to be replaced in order to pass MOT – so I assumed it was the minimum legal requirement, but based on the responses below, this is clearly not true!
Edit: Updated above to include information from posts I have made further down.
I have a BMW X3 M40i (G01) that I bought brand new in 2018.
Every year I have taken this car in for service to be told that my tread is just above the 2mm cut-off. And every year I've had to replace them. I've always let my local BMW dealership sort it out (Edinburgh).
The car came with Bridgestone Alenza 001, and the same tyre has been used for each replacement. That's 3 sets of 4 tyres, each time costing me around £1200.
My car had its first MOT last month and surprise surprise the tyres are at the 2mm cutoff.
For the first time I looked online and found that A LOT of people rate these tyres as rubbish, with a common complaint being they wear away very fast. I wouldn't mind this so much if they performed well but...
In the dry they're fine (for me)
In the wet they're okay, sometimes a bit slippery or very long braking distances
In the snow / ice, absolute rubbish.
SO. I've decided to find my own replacement tyres. My question is on sizing.
Currently, my tyre sizes are as follows:
Front: 245/45 R20 103W XL runflat
Rear: 275/40 R20 106W XL runflat
Finding a tyre that reviews well AND comes in the sizes above AND comes in a runflat variant has proven impossible.
My question is this:
Is it safe to change all four tyres to 255/45? That works out to a sidewall of ~114mm, up from the ~110mm from the Alenza's.
I’m hoping to get a set of all seasons – looking at the Hankook Kinergy 4S2 or Michelin Cross Climate 2s.
Cheers
EDIT:
1
So, just to give some context. I drive 6000-8000 miles a year, on motorways and tarmac roads in and around Edinburgh. I very rarely go above 85mph, on average probably 80mph (on motorways, of course).
Occasionally I'll go on country lanes and B roads to get to Skye, Aviemore, Loch Lomand etc, and that would be around 40-60mph. No more than 500-600 miles a year on these trips, combined.
2
I keep referring to 2mm “cutoff” because I’ve been repeatedly told that anything below this needs to be replaced in order to pass MOT – so I assumed it was the minimum legal requirement, but based on the responses below, this is clearly not true!
Edit: Updated above to include information from posts I have made further down.
Edited by indiglo on Sunday 2nd October 09:29
So, just to give some context. I drive 6000-8000 miles a year, on motorways and tarmac roads in and around Edinburgh. I very rarely go above 85mph, on average probably 80mph (on motorways, of course).
Occasionally I'll go on country lanes and B roads to get to Skye, Aviemore, Loch Lomand etc, and that would be around 40-60mph. No more than 500-600 miles a year on these trips, combined.
Occasionally I'll go on country lanes and B roads to get to Skye, Aviemore, Loch Lomand etc, and that would be around 40-60mph. No more than 500-600 miles a year on these trips, combined.
You don’t say what rim diameter, and what load or speed rating.
Also, do you want an XL load?, do you want a summer tyre, all season, or do you want a winter set and a summer set? Do you want full off-road capability?
As for me, I have a 335d x-drive on 18” Goodyear EfficientGrip runflats, very comfortable, and low-ish noise. 14k miles and easily less than half worn. I would expect at least 30k miles out of them.
Bridgestones would not be top of my list.
Do they wear down to 2mm in a year? What annual mileage? What is your driving style?
Also, do you want an XL load?, do you want a summer tyre, all season, or do you want a winter set and a summer set? Do you want full off-road capability?
As for me, I have a 335d x-drive on 18” Goodyear EfficientGrip runflats, very comfortable, and low-ish noise. 14k miles and easily less than half worn. I would expect at least 30k miles out of them.
Bridgestones would not be top of my list.
Do they wear down to 2mm in a year? What annual mileage? What is your driving style?
Luis Nazario said:
On the tyres, this might be a very stupid question, but if you went from 275 down to 245, wouldn’t you need to buy narrower wheels, too?
There's a range (limited) of width of tyre that will fit a certain size rim. 30mm less would fit but may look a little stretched that's all..stevieturbo said:
Vipers said:
If the legal limit is 1.6 why do you have to replace them if they are above 2mm? Just intrigued.
Because some people care about wet weather safety, standing water etc etc.1.6mm is an absolute minimum, some other countries theirs is much higher.
If your car is eating a full set of tyres in 6-8000 miles surely there's something wrong. BMWs do have a nasty habit of wearing the inside edges much faster than the rest of the tyres, but I'd be seriously considering getting a proper alignment done, at the rate you're going it might save you a fortune.
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