Tyre choice time. Current favourites?
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mmm-five said:There's as much difference between a SportContact 5 and your SportContact M3 as there is between a SportContact M3 and a £30 Linglong Yungfook, so your OCD should also be stopping you considering a completely different Continental tyre on the back.Adam D said:What sizes are people going for on the stock M wheels, I need a couple of rears soon and would be nice to upgrade from the dated Contisport M3 but I cannot see the right fitment size in the new conti wonder tyres.
Michelin PSS's would be nice but OCD cannot allow conti's up front and michelins on the back
So to answer the question would you recommend an upsize to 265/40/18 to correct speedo accuracy and give greater choice of tyre. 255/40/18 seems to be an unpopular size.
Liverpool
There's only a runflat version of the 5P available at the moment in the EU.Adam D said:mmm-five said:I would, but I'm not unbiasedAdam D said:
Doesn't appear to be any contisport 5 or 5p that fit in 255 or 265 -only the older CS3 or the ancient CS M3, maybe they will make more sizes available later?
We're in the same situation with the PSS, as it's available in the US/Canada in 255/40/18 but not the EU :thumbsdown:
Even these stunning-looking tyres (available in Z4M sizes) are unavailable (without personal import) in the UK/EU...
The SuperSports are a great all around tyre, but I found that they don't stand up to a thrashing in autocross and the turn in is a bit soft compared with the Dunlop Star Specs I had on before. With 3 autocrosses this summer and the same number last year, I will manage 8,000km (4,800 miles) out of a set of SuperSports before they are worn below the 1.6mm minimum tread . I managed almost 10,000km (6,000 miles) last year on the Dunlops before they were worn below 1.6mm. In both cases I have run the same tyre size of 245/40-18 front, 275/35-18 rear.
The SuperSport are better than the Dunlops when the temperatures drop, but not as grippy when warm, the difference between a max and extreme performance tyre, most likely.
The SuperSport are better than the Dunlops when the temperatures drop, but not as grippy when warm, the difference between a max and extreme performance tyre, most likely.
I imagine autocross is going to kill most tyres pretty quickly. But it's not that popular in the uk, I guess we have more proper circuits within driving range for most people.
On the subject of mixing tyres, what would peoples advice be in the case of having two rear Michelin PS2s with plenty of tread but needing two new fronts. Go for more PS2s or go for the PSS and then use the same on the rear when they next get replaced. Which will obviously be well before the fronts....
On the subject of mixing tyres, what would peoples advice be in the case of having two rear Michelin PS2s with plenty of tread but needing two new fronts. Go for more PS2s or go for the PSS and then use the same on the rear when they next get replaced. Which will obviously be well before the fronts....
Autocross in the USA is something between Autosolo and Sprinting in the UK. As far as I can work out the circuits are not as tight as an Autotest/Autosolo but not as long as a Sprint.Herminator said:
Autocross in the UK is something that takes place on grass or stubble fields.
Vreds on my CSLs for the road, a little noisy and no rim protection but wear well and plenty of grip.
Currently my track wheels have PS2 on the front - they transform the front end grip compared with Contis and markedly reduce understeer with high speed turn in when cornering. I've just fitted GY F1 asymmetrics to the rears having worn a pair of Contis to the canvas on the inner edge on Friday. I'll report back in a couple of weeks when I've been back on track.
Currently my track wheels have PS2 on the front - they transform the front end grip compared with Contis and markedly reduce understeer with high speed turn in when cornering. I've just fitted GY F1 asymmetrics to the rears having worn a pair of Contis to the canvas on the inner edge on Friday. I'll report back in a couple of weeks when I've been back on track.
Correct, "autocross", "auto-x", "autoslalom" and "autosolo" are all used over here to describe basically the same type of event on tarmac. This is what it looked like from my son's car at the last event we did:carl said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owNW_x7kLP0
This course is a slow one due to restricted space, using only 1st and 2nd gear with maximum speeds of about 80km/h, some of the courses are more open aimed at 2nd and 3rd gear with speeds up to 140km/h
Typically 20 laps like this chews off about 2mm of tyre tread and pushes the tread temperature up to 50 to 60°C on each lap. The tuned (~360bhp) 135i in the video only lost about half the tread depth on it's Dunlop Star Spec extreme rated tyres, compared with my Z4M on SuperSport max rated tyres, with both cars lapping in about the same time and with similar amounts of wheelspin. In normal road use the SuperSports seem to wear at about 70% the rate of the Star Specs, so the wear situation is reversed.