Any wheel/tyre gurus? Another winter tyre question.
- Thread starter Scubaregs
- Start date
I will be swapping Vredsteins to Continentals soon. I think they were responsible for tramlining on European roads.
The one I got is Bridgestone LM005 for my family car (G31 520d). It’s not the best in snow according to multiple reviews but still miles ahead compared to summer or all season tyres. But its wet performance especially in low temperature is the best so far. I personally think this is a very good performance balance for uk weather
I'm having great difficulty sourcing winter tyres as whilst quite a few retailers sell suitable tyres for the front there seem to be hardly any suitable matching 255/40 ZR18 Winter tyres for the rear.
Continental do suitable sized rear tyres but they are run flats. Has anyone swapped "normal" tyres for run flats?
Continental do suitable sized rear tyres but they are run flats. Has anyone swapped "normal" tyres for run flats?
Ian, if you’re intending using the same wheels you can’t swap to run flats. I posted info from BMW somewhere on another thread saying that G29 wheels are not suitable for run flats
I'd be interested to know what makes the wheels unsuitable for run flats. The reason I ask is that shortly after buying my G29 I hit a pot hole which resulted in the usual bang\wince reaction. A few days later the car went into the BMW garage for another issue where they found that the wheel that had hit the pot hole was bent and cracked. I couldn't tell anything was wrong when driving the car so was surprised (the tyre was fine).
I've hit numerous pot holes over the years in all sorts of cars but never had a damaged wheel. Now, every time I hit a hole and feel the same level of impact, I wonder if I've knackered the wheel. I received an email from my local BMW garage the other day asking me if I wanted a free pot hole damage inspection. I'm tempted.
Do run flats need to be paired with 'tougher' wheels than the 19 inch G29 wheels?
bonzo said:Ian, if you’re intending using the same wheels you can’t swap to run flats. I posted info from BMW somewhere on another thread saying that G29 wheels are not suitable for run flats
I'd be interested to know what makes the wheels unsuitable for run flats. The reason I ask is that shortly after buying my G29 I hit a pot hole which resulted in the usual bang\wince reaction. A few days later the car went into the BMW garage for another issue where they found that the wheel that had hit the pot hole was bent and cracked. I couldn't tell anything was wrong when driving the car so was surprised (the tyre was fine).
I've hit numerous pot holes over the years in all sorts of cars but never had a damaged wheel. Now, every time I hit a hole and feel the same level of impact, I wonder if I've knackered the wheel. I received an email from my local BMW garage the other day asking me if I wanted a free pot hole damage inspection. I'm tempted.
Do run flats need to be paired with 'tougher' wheels than the 19 inch G29 wheels?
Bonzo, firstly I’ll make it quite clear I’m not an expert on this by any stretch of the imagination and hopefully someone will come along and give you a correct and definitive answer but My understanding is there’s a additional/revised lip or design inside wheels that take run flats, it’s something to do with the seating of the tyre inside the wheel.
I suspect BMW may have structural or other reasons to limit choice of tyres..
Technically all rims for the last n years (where n is a large positive integer) can use either run flats or non run flats..
Many entities explicitly state you should NOT fit runflats to their wheels due to the elevated risk of wheel cracking with run flats.
The reason being that runflats have an extra stiff / reinforced side wall (to support the tyre when deflated) and this extra stiffness transmits the shock of a pothole more directly to the rim, and hence may crack it.
Running 17” or 18” runflats instead of 19” runflats would help ..
Technically all rims for the last n years (where n is a large positive integer) can use either run flats or non run flats..
Many entities explicitly state you should NOT fit runflats to their wheels due to the elevated risk of wheel cracking with run flats.
The reason being that runflats have an extra stiff / reinforced side wall (to support the tyre when deflated) and this extra stiffness transmits the shock of a pothole more directly to the rim, and hence may crack it.
Running 17” or 18” runflats instead of 19” runflats would help ..
Goodyear state that you can fit their run flat tyres to any alloy, so long as you have TPMS fitted, if you’ve convinced yourself that it’s better to have them I would ask BMW directly, so not a dealer, if this is advisable. I personally wouldn’t fit them given your particular circumstance
Argyll Andy said:Ian, if you’re intending using the same wheels you can’t swap to run flats. I posted info from BMW somewhere on another thread saying that G29 wheels are not suitable for run flats
I spoke to Sytner this morning about Winter tyres and they said that you could fit run flats to the G29 and they quoted me £1,178 for a set of Continental Winter runflat tyres plus £100 for storage and re-fitting at the end of the season.
I spoke to ATS this afternoon who told me that the only Winter tyres that they could source were the very same Continental runflats but they would only charge me £799.90 plus £30 for a season's storage
Openeo have Continental WinterContacts in 255/40R18 @ £208 delivery in a few days or Demon-Tweeks have 255/40 R18 AllSeasonContacts @ £136, you can get them delivered to your tyre fitter then go and get them fitted,
I can thoroughly recommend the Continental AllSeasonContacts
I can thoroughly recommend the Continental AllSeasonContacts
Ian J said:Argyll Andy said:Ian, if you’re intending using the same wheels you can’t swap to run flats. I posted info from BMW somewhere on another thread saying that G29 wheels are not suitable for run flats
I spoke to Sytner this morning about Winter tyres and they said that you could fit run flats to the G29 and they quoted me £1,178 for a set of Continental Winter runflat tyres plus £100 for storage and re-fitting at the end of the season.
I spoke to ATS this afternoon who told me that the only Winter tyres that they could source were the very same Continental runflats but they would only charge me £799.90 plus £30 for a season's storage
Are Sytner saying that you can fit run flats on the G29 from 'it's a BMW approved fitting' viewpoint or are they saying that they fit OK but they've got no idea what the outcome may be? I wonder if someone is more interested in a £1.2k sale as opposed to knowing what should and shouldn't be fitted.
