Goodyear Eagle F1 all seasons for my 540iT?? (long)

[KeithS]

The car is a 540iT with sport suspension, brand new Koni FSD Shocks (yes they do fit with the air springs) and is currently running on 16" Conti touring contacts. The characteristics are:

Handles extremely well given only conti touring tires
Tires are lasting a real long time (but finally about worn out)
Rides a bit harsh on road imperfections (normal characteristic of the iT air suspension)
Looks stupid with 16" wheels


Would like to:

Move up to 17" wheels (crappy roads in NJ, worry about going any larger)
Improve handling/performance a bit
Achieve a slightly softer (on bumps) ride
Use the car in light to moderate snow without having to change tires


Thinking that new ASA AR1 wheels with the new Goodyear Eagle F1 all seasons (235/45-17) might be the ticket. However I currently have Goodyear GS-D3's on my other BMW (which shares the 'carbon fiber' sidewall technology with the AS) and while l like the tires in most ways, there are 2 things I do not like. Somewhat of a rubbery turn-in feeling and they are very sensitive to the flatness/pitch of the road (sort of like tramlining but not following grooves in the road, is following the pitch/dips of the road). You can always feel the wheel tugging left and right except for perfectly flat roads. Believe this is caused by the soft sidewall and the fact that the tread pattern is all ONLY diagonal.

Do the AS F1's share any of these characteristics of the GS-D3's I do not like? Any other recommendations to fill the bill?

Thanks!!

[KeithS]

Gary, Anyone???

[ultraman]

I bought them with a set of wheels. I got 225/45/17 for the front and 245/40/17 for the rear. I was hoping that they would fix the tramlining that I got with the stock sport package wheels (18 inch staggered Bridgestone runflats on Z4 coupe), but I still get just as much tramlining. In addition, I also get a small but noticible back and forth of the steering wheel on smooth surfaces (at least smooth enough to not cause the full tramlining effect) at all speeds. I also didn't notice any improvement in ride comfort which really suprised me. Maybe there is a very small improvement over smaller bumps, but I am hard pressed to say that there was any improvement in ride at all despite a higher profile and non-runflat design.

That said....I really like the grip of the tires.. I have mostly used them in the wet since I got them and the grip is awesome. They don't seem to be particularly quite at this point, but they are not that much worse than stock.

I think they are great all season tires. They probably have a stiffer sidewall than most non-runflat tires due to the kevlar built into the sidewall and this is what I am guessing is continuing the tramlining habits that I also experienced with the runflats. I am running them at the same pressures as the runflats 33 front, 39 rear.

[KeithS]

Sounds like there is no perfect tire for what I am looking for. As the touring has Recirc Ball steering it may mask the tendency of the feeling in the steering to want to follow the crown of the road. Amazing how much difference tires can make. On the 3, just switched to the winter tires (Dunlop M2's) and the tramlining/wheel pulling is 100% gone.

Anyone else?? Gary are you out there??

[DougG]

I have 225/45-17s on my E46 325i with Pirelli P-Zero Nero M+S (all season) tires and am very happy with them. They replaced the OEM 16" Goodyears that the car came with, and are on the wheels as shown in my sig-line photos. I kept the OEM wheels and just got a set of Dunlop WinterSport 3Ds on them, so I now have the perfect winter/summer packages for my driving style.

I have noticed only a little bit of tramlining with the Pirellis, but then again grooved pavement is rare around here, and it could also just be the effect of the added width. I can at least say that they are quiet, which is one of my main parameters.