What a difference good rubber makes..

R

RJS-Z4

Senior member
 SE London/Kent
Hi all, been a while!

This weekend I finally bit the bullet and decided the 224's needed some new rubber. I've been surviving on the rather old potenza's that I picked them up with almost 18 months ago, and whilst they've done the job fine, the inside edge of the rears had seen better days!

So, thankfully I already had two tyres, a lovely chap off here, Andy, sold me two near enough new contisportcontact 3's a fair while ago, and they were laying in the garage.. so it made my decision for the rears rather easy.

Unfortunately not researching first, I went for //M sized rear tyres (like for like replacement) and paid £160 a corner, if I'd been wiser and gone for standard sizes I'd have saved £40 a side! (note for next time).

Anyway, after a brief period of scrubbing it (reads as "dicking around") I cannot honestly believe the difference these tyres have made. Confidence inspiring to say the least, I can carry so much more speed into roundabouts/corners, it's hilarious fun!

So, anyone considering saving £50 or something similar by going for mid range tyres over premiums, don't bother. I'd forgotten myself just how good these cars can be when on the right rubber, and I won't be making that mistake again :driving: :driving: :driving:
 
I've said this to mates for years buddy
Glad you found it:)

I haven't and never will put cheap tyres on any of my cars EVER

People forget the ONLY contact your car has to the road , cornering, braking, flexing, high speed, hot, cold, rain, ice, load and weight bearing as people also forget your wheels don't take car weight the tyres do

And each corner only has a footprint of less than one of your own shoe, and you want to trust this to a cheap tyre?
Not a chance

Massive difference I hope you found in grip, into, during and esp coming out of a corner

Plus a nicer ride as more flexi and better braking and pulling away:)

Enjoy !!
 
Ps also do yourself a favour buddy

Go get that air out and fill with nitrogen:)

Tyre shall run flatter and not distort upon fast use and inert gas plus better wear and tyre pressure stay constant for sake of £5
 
D4dawg said:
Ps also do yourself a favour buddy

Go get that air out and fill with nitrogen:)

Tyre shall run flatter and not distort upon fast use and inert gas plus better wear and tyre pressure stay constant for sake of £5
Click to expand...
[sarcasm]
G7tJm3ot.gif

Really?

...and don't forget to recline you seats as much as possible to aid your centre of gravity/aerodynamics :poke:
[/sarcasm]
 
Haha love that pic !;)

Yeah seriously buddy
With my cars and high speed the air inside heats and reacts as gases react to heat and expand

Therefore increasing pressure inside tyre and give a wear pattern of the central strip of tyre with excessive wear

As nitrogen is inert and doesn't react and molecules are larger so didn't escape through tyre wall and hold pressure far better:)

Honest:)
Hence race cars and high end cars only use it
 
A quick link without it going into too much science

:)http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/how-to/a3894/4302788/
 
Sorry D4dawg, but this nitrogen inflation is just more snake oil.

I posted the whoosh parrot as I thought you were on the wind-up.

Yes, 100% nitrogen CAN help in extreme conditions, such as plane tyres (where the range from -50 to +100c in seconds), or in race cars where a predictable pressure/heat ratio can be calculated and used as part of their very accurate tyre models.

Nitrogen DOES expand, and does migrate through the tyre - just not as much as oxygen.

However, most nitrogen filling in the UK is 95% pure, so you're only getting 17% more nitrogen than standard air. This is assuming that the garage is actually maintaining their nitrogen inflation system correctly and you're not just paying for air. (see the Watchdog programme from last year - as it shows about 70% of the places advertising/charging for nitrogen inflation were just filling with air).

If you were worried about the moisture in the 'air' destroying the inside of your tyres, then you need to start worrying more about the atmosphere that's affecting the OUTSIDE of your tyres all the time.

Even for die-hard track day users who use tyre pyrometers and constantly check/adjust their pressures, you'd be hard pushed to find any of them that top up with nitrogen before every lap/session.

If it's free, then take it, but don't pay £5 for it!
 
Good choice of tyres, BUT nitrogen filling? Don't waste your money... It has been proven time and time again to only benefit the people selling/promoting it.. AND, unless the fitter vacuums out all of the air inside, which would probably cause tyre damage and/or it to pop off the sealing beads, there will always be some "normal" air in there. Fifth gear did a controlled test that showed the nitrogen filled tyre actually heated up more than a normally filled tyre; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmnZ4-EUbIk

Mike
 
£5 is hardly bank breaking stuff

But in my own experience it works for me
Maserati 420
Maserati spyder
159 alpha
TT 225 and my M now all have it in them:)

Maseratis always ran out centre of tyres
Yet once used nitro they never did

Each to own in my world:)

But for as £5 it's not going to kill anyone
 
Can't say I agree with the 'premium' tyre propaganda. I've had decent budget tyres on all my cars recently, Volvo 2.5 turbo sport, BMW 330d tourer and now my z4 3.0si. Before these i had a saab running pirrelis, i changed when 2 of them got wrecked on a pot hole and put 4 budgets on, never noticed a bit of difference!

I've only had the z4 for 1 month and had the run flats off in the first 2 days (quite how BMW engineers passed these tyres as being safe is beyond me) and put on a set of accelera ph2 tyres.

Apart from anything else, the ride is now far superior and I have no concerns about grip or stoppage after hard braking.

h8
 
I agree 100% about the benefits of decent make tyres on all cars. When buying a car with Chinese Ditchfinders on, I can't help but wonder what else the owner has skimped on....

Wasn't it Kwik Fit who were recently fined for charging punters for filling their tyres with nitrogen but had in fact just filled them with bog-standard air? :lol:
 
TR4man said:
D4dawg said:
159 alpha
Click to expand...

A what??

It's an AlFa for gawd's sake!
Click to expand...

Nah dude you don't get it: its an Alpha version of the Alfa. There's also the Alpaca luxury version of the 159 (the one with the huge rear wing covered in Mohair (apologies something funny in my tea...)

Nah seriously good tyre make a huge difference. Bought a lardy A8 TDI 2 yrs ago that was running Dunlops (that's giving jams to pigs on those lovely forged Fuch 19" rims) and was shocked how bad they were. But they did last a bloody long time despite me trying my best to wreck them. I'm still running PS2's on the Z4 (MPSS were not out in the right size for me at the time) and I do hugely appreciate the difference with the old Contis. great road tyre, OK on track if you don't let them get too hot.

Nitrowhat in tyre??? Seriously for a 20mins race session during a track day? I though they only used that on endurance racing...
 
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