Gary: Help with 19" tires for 2008 X3 Sport

2007 x3 sport. I put these on about 7 months ago, Pirelli Scorpion Zero Asimmetrico 245/40/19 all around. About 10,000 miles and one side to side rotation later and I'm still happy with them. They handle well in every condition I've put them through all over Pennsylvania in rain and snow. They seem to be wearing pretty evenly too. Hope to get another 10-20k miles out of them. Just don't rotate front to back.

Hi all - looking to pick up a used 08 X3 MSport with 19" rims

However, I guess the tires were rotated, back to front, and the current owner didn't know. He says he was waiting for the tires to be replaced before switching it back and apologized that due to the fact, it did not ride perfect straight. Tires would need to be replaced if I bought this car and I just had a few questions. I'm a total car noob...

1) Does that sound right? (Would moving back to front cause the car to not ride in a perfect straight line?)
2) Would the improper switch from the size of wheels, affect the transmission, shifting (auto ecu) at all? My friend wasn't sure if BMW's had any fancyness with this. It has been ~10-15k miles so far. Car has 40k miles so far.
3) Michelin Sport A/S seems to be Gary's pick....where's the cheapest place I can get these? And how much does installation, balance, rotation usually cost?

Thanks!

Michelle

Originally Posted by umicheng

Hi all - looking to pick up a used 08 X3 MSport with 19" rims

However, I guess the tires were rotated, back to front, and the current owner didn't know. He says he was waiting for the tires to be replaced before switching it back and apologized that due to the fact, it did not ride perfect straight. Tires would need to be replaced if I bought this car and I just had a few questions. I'm a total car noob...

1) Does that sound right? (Would moving back to front cause the car to not ride in a perfect straight line?)
2) Would the improper switch from the size of wheels, affect the transmission, shifting (auto ecu) at all? My friend wasn't sure if BMW's had any fancyness with this. It has been ~10-15k miles so far. Car has 40k miles so far.
3) Michelin Sport A/S seems to be Gary's pick....where's the cheapest place I can get these? And how much does installation, balance, rotation usually cost?

Thanks!

Michelle

(1) Could be. BMW does not recommend tire rotation for this reason -- the fronts and the rear wear differently. That said, some folks rotate anyway but you wouldn't want to go too long before doing that, so yeah you could have some oddness there.
(2) No. Swapping the wide wheels & tires to the front and the narrower to the back looks odd, but should not damage anything. The overall diameter of the fronts and rears (the number of revs per mile) are the same front and rear.
(3) Michelin Pilot Sport A/S Plus is a great tire. This is sort of Gary's forum, so how about this: Go to www.tirerack.com and find a Tire Rack installer near you. Find out what they charge for mount/balance/disposal etc. (it is there on the Tire Rack web site) and then price the tires on Tire Rack shipped either to you or the installer. That will be your target price. You can sometimes beat the Tire Rack price with some kind of special deal or something, but generally TR is going to be about as low as it gets. If you do buy from TR, my suggestion would be to call the local installer first just to confirm all the pricing and make sure they have no problem with shipping the tires directly to them.

Gary,

I have a 2007 X3 with the 19" stock Y spokes. I live in Austin Texas, so NO Snow and very few cold days, and honest rain is not that much of an issue. I love the Pirellis as much as I can love the only tires I have ever had, but need new ones and want to look at my options. Local tires shops are no help, just not enough detail and thought.

I need new tires, but do not want to pay the $1500 for the Pirelli Rosso's only to buy again in 20K miles. If I were to choose the 4 x 245/45/19W what would you recommend? Do you recommend the Bridgestone Potenza S-04 Pole Position? 9.1 user rating is hard to ignore.

I like performance, but the wife and baby would appreciate a smoother ride with 45 profile.... Should I just bit the bullet and get the stock Pirellis or go with the Bridgestone? Do you have another recommendation? The matching staggered Yokohama at the same price as Pirelli?

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/TireSe...tpackage=false

Thanks in advance for your help!

What is your opinion of the BFGoodrich g-Force Sport COMP-2 ??

For a slightly better ride, I would suggest the 245/45R19. Top choices for what you're looking for in the 245/45R19 would be the Bridgestone S04 Pole Position and Continental Extreme Contact DW. While I like the Sport Comp2, I felt it was a bit harsher riding.

Tires http://www.tirerack.com/a.jsp?a=AB2&...ires/index.jsp

Originally Posted by Russell W

Gary , Thanks for posting so fast , are you saying, I could put 225 45 R19 on the front of my X3 (useing the OME 19" front wheels) and put 255 40 R19 on the back and be OK? If that is the case I have alot more tires I can look at.

Thanks Russ

Moved to Prescott, AZ from Phoenix recently, will need to have all season or snow tires to navigate this winter up here. I already have two Pirelli Sottozero snows in 255 40 19 for the rears, but they don't make these in 235 45 19s for the front. And Pirelli evidently makes no tires at all in 225 45 19.
Any suggestions on what to put on the front to go with the rear Pirelli Sottozeros?

So I see that 245/45/19 is acceptable for all around. I've also seen it suggested we could go with 245/45 front and 275/40 rear. Gary what do you think about that setup?

Both 245/45R19 and 275/40R19 tires sizes have the same overall diameter, so there would be no problem with DSC or ABS, but be sure that you have enough clearance in the rear to run that wide of a size. We have not tried it so I am not sure that it would fit.

Is there any way this could be calculated? I'd hate to have tires shipped, installed and then find they aren't proper fit.

But assuming they did fit, is there any benefit/loss over buying the non-staggered setup?

There are so many fitment variables that the only way to tell for sure is to test fit, sorry.

The advantage of a stagger on this vehicle would be primarily about cosmetic appearance. Most feel that a non staggered setup on this vehicle offers more neutral handling.

I have used this thread to make my decision on my tire purchase, so I figured I'd join and thank you all for the information thus far, I just got the 245-45-19 Pirelli PZero Nero All-Season set of 4 tires for the 2008 x3 I own, let's see what happens, I currently have the standard Pirelli Rosso's on both the front and back in the staggard size... my back tires are bald in the middle, I assume due to some overinflation at times, but my front are still fine, i think... would it be alright to change my back tires from the 255/40/19 setup to the new 245-45-19 tires for awhile, while I keep the 235/45/19 in the front until they show some more wear, then replace the new NERO's slightly worn tires from the back to the front replacing the old ROSSO's, and put the brand new NERO's on the back? At the end I would have all four tires with the 245-45-19 setup, but for awhile I would have the 235-45-19 in front and 245-45-19 in the back, any suggestions, comments, or help? tires should arrive in 1-3days from tirebuyer....

I went with the 245/45/19 Continental Extreme DW on all four, and the X3 seems to really like them. It seems the handling is just a touch less sharp than with the Pirelli 40 series tire, but the ride is very good. My fuel mileage seems to have increased a bit as well.

Only time will tell how they wear.