BMW Suspension

Initial Review, 38,000 Miles on Tires
April 01, 2013

I live in Florida, where the roads are pretty good.

At 38,000 miles, my back tires are nearly done, near the wear marks. Front tires still have the "DW" mark. Overall, I'm very happy with the treadlife; I've done suspension mods recently, driven the car hard and treadlife is still good.

For a summer performance tire, DWs are a nice balance of price, ride quality, traction, tread life, and wet performance.

When pushed hard, my car has plenty of grip and everything is predictable. Car feels very composed in the rain and we get plenty of rain here in Tampa.

I'm looking to buy replacement tires now and DWs are on my short list. Only reason I might pass on them would be to splurge on something finer like Michelin PSS.

***UPDATE - just bought them again today. They're just a great value with many good qualities. Mich PSS may have better responsiveness and traction but the DW's have longer UTOG, lighter weight and cost 25%+ less.

Initial Review, 3,000 Miles on Tires
March 05, 2013

I have this tire on a BMW Z4 so it is hard to evaluate. Z4 steering is as vague as a Honda so I wanted every advantage I could get. Steering is still vague. The back end does not kick out any more, can not make it do so. Rears stick like glue. These tires do not get caught in road ruts like other run flats. When warm they ride well, pretty harsh when cold. I do get road noise from the rear tires, but this Z4 is a hardtop coupe and they seem to funnel noise into the cockpit from the rear of the car. Never hear the front tires. Driver's seat is near the rear axle. I will not spend this much money on a tire again. Just put Defenders on my Suburu and they are terrific, for $600. I do not know how to rate this tire as I can not separate it from the Z4 steering, suspension and chasis, all of which are flawed. Far better the the OEM Potenzas, but they were --- awful.

Initial Review, 25,000 Miles on Tires
March 06, 2013

The only reason I would possibly buy these again is because I believe the performance is worth the extra money on the Blizzaks. These tires, though, are impressive in their own right as they have worn EXTREMELY well. I have had these exact tires mounted on a '95 //M3 as well as this '98 323 for most of the use. Believe it or not, the difference in suspension setups still provided for similar commentary:
These tires are quite noisy (expected with winter tires) but corner extremely well. They ride quite harshly as compared to a more pricey Blizzak or Vatiiva, but for the extended wear I'll take it! All in all, I still have about 6/32 of tread after literally 6 seasons of use. This is with SPIRITED driving style. The tires have shown some rot along the sidewalls, so it is now time to replace. Overall I am happy with these considering the money spent. If you have some more cash to lay down, I would recommend some Blizzaks. Beware more frequent replacement however.

Initial Review, 100 Miles on Tires
January 04, 2013

Just got these on my 2008 328xi to replace the stock Continentals. Honestly wish I would have done this sooner. The Conti's are very hard and rough in comparison. Since the car has sport suspension I know I'll still feel every bump in the road, but at least now on the big potholes jar your teeth lose. And as anyone in Denver will attest there are plenty of potholes to test this out on. The ride is also a lot quieter now as well. I'll update again once I get more miles on it, but for now they seem great. Hats off to Southeast Auto for the great install job!

Initial Review, 8,500 Miles on Tires
January 21, 2013

Great tire. I have had Toyos, Yokohama, and Generals on this car. (Daily Driven)
I have moded this car with suspension change, springs, shocks, sway bar, and alignment. Oh yeah, the power is up another 60+ hp
Previous tires just did not work as well, These Michelin's are wonderful on this car. Grippy, predictable, reasonably quiet, they hold the road. I have tried them, more than once in the mountains of Georgia, Tenn, and the Carolinas. Jan 2013 Here in North Bama we had 7" of rain and 3" of snow. I put on ~250 miles and not a problem, went through some serious standing water and slushy roads. Wear is great, much better than previous tires. If I had to find a fault is the ride comfort is not like your 15 inch tires. But they are pretty darned good for a performance tire.

These are with out a doubt the best tire I have owned. Yes I have had several Cars prior to the MSM, Porsche, BMW, Mazda

Initial Review, 16,000 Miles on Tires
January 24, 2013

Just had service done to my car and was told that the inside of my current Hankook Ventus rear tires are worn to the belts after 16K miles. Absolutely not surprised considering the low tread rating and the excessive camber of the BMW's sport suspension setup. Front tires still have enough life left to probably last as long as the 2 new rears. Performance-wise, these tires are outstanding. Very quiet ride and they provide very good feedback. The soft compound really does strike a good balance between a compliant ride with a low profile, quite operation, and fantastic grip, unfortunately at the expense of tire wear. I plan on adjusting out some of the camber to as neutral as possible but still within spec for my replacement tires and I should see an improvement in tire life. Otherwise, you can't beat this tire for the price. I may try something different next time (Continental or Michelin, both with better treadwear ratings and equal performance, but more $$), but I'll always keep these as an option.

Initial Review, 6,000 Miles on Tires
January 12, 2013

I have used these tires over 3 seasons driving around Vancouver, and to whistler. Here is what you need to know: dry, wet, light snow at temperatures between -10 and +7 these are fantastic. However, because of the temperature here, rear tread wear is the worst I have ever experienced on any tire summer or winter, and the worst of any Pirelli winter tire I have used. The problem is exacerbated by the suspension design and the fact that wear occurs primarilly at the location of the two vertical grooves leaving you with little or no traction in the rear of the car during winter conditions.
On the front of the car, the grip and precision is excellent, as is the wear.
I will be replacing the rear tires with sotto zero series ones which have a harder compound, and only one grove. I am assuming this should balance out tire wear, and improve long term t.raction in the rear. My previous experience with these out here was good, and sadly Pirellis advice to change to the newer softer tire was not well thought out.
If you reside in a place with real winter, cold temps for several months, these tires could be an excellent choice. However, if you are on the west coast where the weather typically provides above zero temps, and a bit below zero in the mountains, tread wear will be a significant problem on the rear of a rear drive car. The tires are useless in winter conditions when they are at 4 mm or 40%. Rear tires previously typically lasted 2 winters and when worn, front tires are moved to the back (last one season) and new rubber goes on the front to maintain maximum grip on the front of the car. Sotto 2s last 1 1/4 on the back if you are lucky here. That's 20 round trips per season to whistler and some limited local driving, or 40% less than series 1 in my experience. Or in real money terms: these tires have added 1000 dollars of additional expense to replace due wear in the last 3 years.

Initial Review, 500 Miles on Tires
December 30, 2012

These tires really livened up my car's responsiveness. Not only do they corner nicely, but the car feels quicker accelerating as well. These are as quiet as the OEM Dunlop run-flats, but handle better. They really complement the 328's suspension. I was somewhat taking a leap of faith buying these as I havent had Goodyears for 20 years, but so far I am happy with them... will update when I get more miles on them.

Initial Review, 10,000 Miles on Tires
November 09, 2012

my 2011 335d w/sports pkg shipped with Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 ZP rft summer tires, an amazing tire (my favorite rft for summer) but harsh on the ride quality in terms of impact when hitting bumps and such. it was time for new tires and i wanted an all-season tire that i could use in cold conditions (35F-60F), rain, and possibly light snow. i also needed an rft tire as my car does not have room for a spare. i got very frustrated in my search and was close to just buying non-rft tires, Continental ExtremeContact DWS to be exact, because i couldn't find any high performance all-season rfts that had a softer ride and positive reviews. the only tire i could find were the Bridgestone Potenza RE050A RFT, which i read had harsh ride quality and they were not all-season.

i hesitantly ordered these Bridgestone Potenza RE960AS Pole Position RFT tires hoping that i would not have wasted $1200. they were very new and i couldn't find any specific reviews concerning these tires on an E90 335d. boy was i pleasantly surprised when i drove away with these tires. they honestly feel/act like non-rft tires!! the ride is just perfect, not too soft, not too harsh. with the Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 ZP, every time i hit a bump, i clenched my teeth and my body would tense up because of the impact on my car...i felt like every bump was damaging my rims or suspension...i hated it.

i have driven in rain and cold ( 34F-104F wet and dry) at both city and highway speeds, and these tires have done great. i don't feel like i have compromised the awesome performance characteristics of my car, yet i get a little bit softer rft ride quality. honestly, these tires don't ride like other rfts. again, they ride like non-rft tires. i gotta hand it to Bridgestone….fantastic engineering with these tires. the only thing i have not done is drive in snow with the new tires, and i'm not sure i feel safe doing so with 425 lb of torque at the rear wheels. i highly recommend.

Initial Review, 500 Miles on Tires
November 05, 2012

I recently traded a '10 335i xDrive for an '11 328i Touring (M-sport, 6MT), and needed a winter tire/wheel combo. I have the Dunlop Winter Sport 3Ds on a Saab 9-5 Aero wagon and have put 5k miles on them, the 3Ds are a fantastic compromise between dry handling and winter traction. I live in Seattle, where the temperatures at sea level don't really dictate the need for winter tires, but the surrounding mountainous terrain is usually snow-covered for most of the winter - having winter tires on my vehicles means I don't have to think about going to the mountains, it's also nice to have the security of having winter tires fitted in case the temps drop at home. On the Saab the 3Ds are brilliant, very good traction on cold and snow, better than my 335i xDrive with all-seasons - even on hills.

On the Saab I went down a size for the winter set (215/55/16), but for the e91 BMW I wanted to emulate my summer wheel/tire combo as much as possible as I love the feel of the RWD/sport suspension/manual combo. My M-sport has 225/40/18s F and 255/35/18s R, for the winter set I went with a square system of 18" O.Z. Ultraleggeras (ET35) and 225/40/18 WS 4Ds so I could rotate.

There is a bit less rear traction while cornering with the square 4Ds fitted as compared to the 255 width summer Bridgestone RE050 runflats, but the ride has improved and the car is still very well planted in high speed corners. These WS 4Ds are quieter than the Bridgestones (that have 9k on them), and I'm amazed at the steering feel and tracking ability of these winter tires. I know the size choice has something do to with that, but my reasoning was that I'd be on snow 4% of the time and needed a tire that was capable in the dry as well. I have not had a chance to see how these perform in the snow, it's supposed to snow in the passes this weekend so I'll endeavor to get up there to see how they do.

Overall, I'm very impressed by these tires in the dry, and they're a great combo for the O.Z's on a 328 w/ZSP.

Initial Review, 10,000 Miles on Tires
October 21, 2012

When new, the tire appeared to be just as described by the ratings, however once the miles piled up, the noise began to kick in. Very loud especially when rolling to a stop.You may have to inflate to just about max to cut down the noise. This car has the sport suspension, so it may require a more premium tire, next time.

Initial Review, 25,000 Miles on Tires
October 18, 2012

This is a great tire, I'm on my 2nd set and having historically only run Michelin, I'm totally sold on these DWS. I'm a retired racing driver and drive my 4.8is very hard, regularly in the triple digits and weekly back road poundings. Its on HR sports over Bilstein HD, custom bars, 2.5 deg camber on all 4 corners, stoptech drilled cryo rotors with ebc redstuff pads, custom intake/exhaust, its faster than it should be and I don't feel that I need more tire than the DWS in stock spec. There is a still some understeer, but a large improvement over the stock setup air suspension, but of course its not as smooth. In the dry its hard to break it loose, totally solid in heavy rains, only hydroplaning when I'm really pushing it, and handles the worst tahoe snow storms no prob. They're wide spec, so its no snow tire, but I would have a snow setup if I thought I needed it, the DWS is enough. I get 25k mls out of a set, but there's a lot of tahoe/bay area trips in that. Add in the price, and I'm very happy with these tires. The ride quality and noise is on par with Michelin Latitude, but the DWS produces significantly more grip in all conditions. The only weakness is when you're in the last 10% of wear they're not as quiet/smooth as the Michelin.

Initial Review, 1,000 Miles on Tires
September 27, 2012

After reading a lot of reviews I picked these tires for a couple of reasons, but being honest, one of the biggest was price. Here's a description of my driving: while I'm a fairly aggressive driver, the reality is that I live in San Francisco so going flat out just isn't possible. As a result, I wanted a tire that was grippy and could put the power down, resolved the woeful run-flat ride and got good wear.

I can't report on the treadwear since it's just too soon to tell. But what I can say is that on the first two fronts, the tires are a big success. They do have plenty and plenty of grip. It makes the car a lot more fun to drive since with the old stock tires, I never felt confident of what the rear was doing. Now, I know what the tires are doing and can predictably drive more aggressively.

They're also a lot more comfortable. Amazingly more comfortable. The car's suspension was really good at managed most road surfaces but anything that was too jarring (which is common around here) would really unsettle the ride. Driving around now, all the old expansion joints and pot holes I would have dove three lanes over to avoid don't break my spine. The car glides over them. As a bonus, these tires are amazingly quiet. So much so that driving on most freeways, you legitimately can't hear any road noise. Wind noise, yes, but not road and tire noise.

So would I prefer a tire with more response? Yes. They do have soft sidewalls and you can feel it if you start sawing at the wheel. The reality though is that I'm never really driving much any more for this to be a problem. I still get good initial steering response and good steering feel which to me is one of the most important aspects of a tire.

What this tire is a great, affordable GT tire. Not something to take to the track and, truthfully, calling it a "max performance tire" is pretty dishonest. It's just not what it's for. It's for sporty, comfortable driving. For the price, it's hard to beat.

Initial Review, 6,000 Miles on Tires
September 17, 2010

Prior to this tire, I had Continental ContisportContacts. Those tires were getting to the wear indicators but I didn't notice any drop in performance. I had excellent, very crisp feel with those tires. I have Bilstein Sport shocks & struts and H&R Sport springs. The ContisportContacts are a very good tire for on Bilstein Sports.



Moving to the V12 K110's, it was immediately obvious that responsiveness was not as good. This gave the handling characteristics a "rubbery" feeling. Transitioning in turns really brings out this negative characteristic for this tire, in this size, on this suspension.



That said, the overall dry grip is very good. Wet grip is completely acceptable, but I definitely could feel some hydroplaning in heavy rain. They are more comfortable and much quieter than the Conti's (I don't recall how comfortable/quiet the Conti's were when new).



Due to the rubbery response I now have, I won't get these tires again. Other than that, the price was great, they have great traction, and they're comfortable and quiet.

Initial Review, 8,000 Miles on Tires
September 16, 2012

I bought these tires and a set of wheels to replace the OEM run-flats. In case you did not know, due to the rigidity of the sidewall that allows them to stay 'up' even without air pressure, run-flats tend to ride noticeably firmer and are noisier than conventional tires. My car came from the factory with a firmer-than-standard suspension and I am unwilling to put up with the harsh ride and noise of the OEM tires on the daily commute. These Michelins have been great. The ride is more comfortable and the noise is significantly reduced, while retaining the best characteristics of my car's handling. Unless run-flat technology greatly improves in the next 2 - 3 years, I will definitely consider these tires when this set wears out.

Initial Review, 18,000 Miles on Tires
July 17, 2012

I have own my car for 9 years and have gone thru 7 sets of summer tires while living abroad. When I moved back to the states, I decided to go with an all season tire because of the lower speed limits. I tried one from Goodyear and Bridgestone; however, neither stacked up to these Continentals. They are very quiet, soaks up bumps very well, even with the M3's firm suspension. I recommend for anyone that doesn't care about breaking speed limits and live where with four seasons.

Initial Review, 3,000 Miles on Tires
July 17, 2012

I have about 300 miles on this tire on my daily driver 2003 BMW 325i sedan with stock suspension. So far I have been impressed with this tire - it was inexpensive, it has much better dry grip than I was expecting and the wet traction in corners is also surprisingly better than I expected. The tire is not a load that I notice, but it does tend to slightly follow irregularities occasionally. (Such as heavy highway wear grooves). I haven;t driven the tire yet in very heavy rain (hence the N/A rating for hydroplaning), but the tread pattern looks sufficient for proper water evacuation. I haven't tried autocrossing on this tire yet, but it was made clear to me that this tire in not intended to be a top-tier competitive autocross tire (which would be a 10 on grip for me), it is ideally suited for performance sports sedans on a regular basis allowing spirited driving with good feel and control and wear. I would say so far this tire has met those expectations.

Initial Review, 8,000 Miles on Tires
June 11, 2012

Astounding tire. My car has a modified suspension (m3 suspension arms and bushings, kwv3 coilovers), so my car has none of the standard runflat slop that's built into the stock subframe and control arm bushings. Because of this my car is much more sensitive to tire changes than a standard 335. I got these tires put on and was immediately amazed at how they rode compared to the PS2s (still great tires) I had on it before. The ride was smoother, and bumps made less noise. I have since done 3 autocrosses and two track days along with 8,000 of the hardest street miles you could imagine and the tires have few signs of wear. Very impressive. I used to blow through a set of PS2s every summer (lots of long distance driving + autocrossing), and I think that these might have the treadwear to finally extend my tire usage into the next year. If I were to increase my amount of HDPE I would probably have gotten direzza z1 star specs, but given that I often place among people with this tire (extreme performance), I believe that the performance of this tires is closer to an extreme than a max performance tire.