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[Yeineken]

well my run flats lasted a total of 6 months. Need new rears and the front two have wear and one is bubbling. So time to upgrade! But im looking for tires that ill need to switch out a year so from now. Im not happy about buying tires twice a year. I have a long commute so i rack on the miles. Any suggestions? Just looking for best tire life / comfort.

[JimD]

Continental makes some "extreme" sport tires that have good tread wear ratings. PSS tires aren't bad. If you need all seasons, Conti has them.

[Kgolf31]

If you are wearing through tires, you need to check alignment.

Cheaping out on tires is not the solution since you're compromising braking, wet traction...etc

[gregthegr8]

I'd recommend the michelin pilot sport a/s 3's which are just the all-season variety of the pilot super sports and have a much higher treadwear rating, so should last pretty long and give you some added benefits living in northern VA.

[Yeineken]

Originally Posted by Kgolf31

If you are wearing through tires, you need to check alignment.

Cheaping out on tires is not the solution since you're compromising braking, wet traction...etc

I just had everything checked out. The Potenza RE050A RFT's are just extremely horrible on tread life. And Im dealing with DC area roads which are always shitty with pot holes(bubble in tire).

So thinking of going with Potenza RE-11

Anyone know if I can run these on the stock 135i M Sport Rim?

215/45R18 XL
245/40R18 XL

[Yeineken]

Originally Posted by gregthegr8

I'd recommend the michelin pilot sport a/s 3's which are just the all-season variety of the pilot super sports and have a much higher treadwear rating, so should last pretty long and give you some added benefits living in northern VA.

Thanks, I may go this route!

[amyracecar]

Conti DWS are pretty sweet - have been happy w/ treadwear [better than any other tire, Pontenza included, on the BMWs in my house by far] sticky in rain and i could even drive in the snow last winter surprsingly well
[we don't get that much ice/snow down here - but i had to try it out and it worked better than expected]

[Freon]

Keep in mind tread wear is inversely proportional to grip, at least generally speaking. The factory runflats seem to have a very poor envelope of grip and treadwear to start, besides being incredibly expensive and having a crappy ride.

Michelon PSS is a pretty decent summer grippy tire that has more reasonable treadwear compared to the factory RE050 or other typical summer performance tires. I went this route myself to balance grip with having to replace the tires every year. Without autocrossing it's looking like I'll get a good 30-35k out of these compared to 15-20k with the runflats or Dunlop Z1 (both 140TW).

Going all the way to a 500 TW all-season might be taking it too far and you may be disappointed in the drastic reduction in performance.

Also worth noting there's no real standard for TW, so take it with a grain of salt when comparing across brands. It should at least be very roughly informative, though, and a 500TW tire is going to last a lot longer than a 140TW tire, even from different brands. If a Dunlop says 200 and a Goodyear says 140 it's probably a crapshoot.

[128Convertibleguy]

Originally Posted by Freon

Going all the way to a 500 TW all-season might be taking it too far and you may be disappointed in the drastic reduction in performance.

Also worth noting there's no real standard for TW, so take it with a grain of salt when comparing across brands. It should at least be very roughly informative, though, and a 500TW tire is going to last a lot longer than a 140TW tire, even from different brands. If a Dunlop says 200 and a Goodyear says 140 it's probably a crapshoot.

Depends on how close you come to the limit on the street. As a former racer, I don't push it that hard- no point for me. The 500 all-season (if "high performance") could well have better wet traction, too. Or even on dry pavement, if it's cold out.

Bottom line. In my amateur opinion, I think the versatility of high performance all seasons make better sense as the three season tire (along with dedicated winter tires) for most people who live in a four seasons climate. Substantially less tread wear, traction that's comparable to many high performance summer tires in adverse conditions. In good conditions, on the street, the difference between 0.85g and 0.95g shouldn't be a big deal for anyone who drives sanely. I suppose you could come up with an accident avoidance scenario where it does, but there's the adverse conditions advantage of the all seasons to consider. Tradeoffs.

If you autocross/track your car things are different.

+1 on the degree of uncertainty about the tire wear rating.

[josemh23]

I have toyo sports, driving in horrible roads they lasted only 10 months! Is this normal? I don't drive that hard..

[Iron Man]

Well the rears on my 128i look like they will be lucky to last 12,000 miles. Crappy Goodyear NCT5 tires. I drive pretty spirited sometimes, but I definitely don't push them that hard.

Debating about whether to replace them with the same (since fronts are not worn out), or get new wheels/tires all around (like I planned to do next year) for a square set-up.

[Gary@TireRack]

If just replacing two tires, it is best to match to the two good tires that you're keeping.

[Olgeezer1]

Got pretty good mileage out of the Bridgestone RF's but couldn't stand the ride. Kept the staggered 263 wheels and squared up w/ 225/40/18's. Didn't want the expense of new wheels & 225's are the only size that work for 7 1/2 and 8 1/2" wheels. Anyhow, huge improvement in ride and much more fun at autoX. Went with Sumitomo HTRZ3's. Good wear rating(remains to be seen) Max Perf.summer tire. Saved $100./tire over Michelin's, ride and handling is great. Lots of reviews on Tire Rack.