My 2012 z4 tires are bald, and I'm in need of some peer pressure. Do I ditch the run flats and get the Pilot Super Sports? I definitely enjoy this car, but I wouldn't say I'm as spirited as some people. I don't have a heavy foot ALL the time. I keep reading people saying how ditching the run flats increases the performance of the car, but will someone like me notice?

I'm on the fence about whether a little extra performance is worth giving up the piece of mind of the run flats.

i put pilot super sports on my 528i recently.

the performance, tire communication, predictability is astounding. its a very smooth and comfortable riding tire as well.

strongly recommend them.

 

I'm doing it. I've decided to go with the new generation of super sports, the 4S. They seem pretty awesome. Guess I'll be picking up some fix-a-flat, too, just in case.

 

I heard the new one is even better. Although the pss 3's I have right now are already plenty good of a performance tire

 

My 2012 z4 tires are bald, and I'm in need of some peer pressure. Do I ditch the run flats and get the Pilot Super Sports? I definitely enjoy this car, but I wouldn't say I'm as spirited as some people. I don't have a heavy foot ALL the time. I keep reading people saying how ditching the run flats increases the performance of the car, but will someone like me notice?

I'm on the fence about whether a little extra performance is worth giving up the piece of mind of the run flats.

I've just had new rubber put on today. I have the 19's and went for slightly wider tyres than the runflat potenzas BMW put on it.

I went for the Pilot Super Sports.
Front 235 /35 R19 ( previous 225/25)
Rear 265 / 30 R19 (previous 255/30)

I can't comment on how they really feel because the only distance I drove was from the tyre shop to home (literally five mins). They did seem a lot smoother, less rigid and a bit quieter but that's my only assessment so far. I need to experiment with tyre pressures and push it into some corners before I know what they can do. So far, all I know is that they look awesome ha ha. I'll let you know in about a week how they perform.

 

Easy for the first 500 miles. Nothing aggressive.

 

When I read all the reviews about how ditching the run-flats makes the ride so much smoother, I kept thinking "I have a roadster. There's no way the ride can be THAT much smoother."

Well, I was wrong. The 4S tires are absolutely incredible. I never in a million years imagined a ride in a roadster could be so smooth. I haven't pushed them yet because, as F10 said above, I was advised to take it easy for the first few hundred miles. But man, so far, so good!

 

Hey jman

After doing about 300km's on the Pilots and experimenting with various tyre pressures, it's like night and day. I went for 33 psi in the front and 39 psi in the rear, that is after trying every pressure in the range of 36-33 psi up front and 42-38 psi in the rear. 33 up front seemed to give the best result for turn-in and 39 in the rear brings the tail around nicely without it ever feeling like it is going to step out.

This is all safe and legal street driving, so anywhere between 40-100kmph in a shared environment. That being said, there are some amazing bends and corners near my home and even in sports + with the traction control off (by holding DSC button down for 10 seconds) I can take the bends at full speed and there isn't even the slightest feeling that it is going to lose traction.

My car only has about 15,000kms on it (so the runflat tyres still had decent tread on them) but I wish I had replaced them sooner, it feels like a totally different car.

 

Bigger Tire (or Tyre)

Hey jman

After doing about 300km's on the Pilots and experimenting with various tyre pressures, it's like night and day. I went for 33 psi in the front and 39 psi in the rear, that is after trying every pressure in the range of 36-33 psi up front and 42-38 psi in the rear. 33 up front seemed to give the best result for turn-in and 39 in the rear brings the tail around nicely without it ever feeling like it is going to step out.
This is all safe and legal street driving, so anywhere between 40-100kmph in a shared environment. That being said, there are some amazing bends and corners near my home and even in sports + with the traction control off (by holding DSC button down for 10 seconds) I can take the bends at full speed and there isn't even the slightest feeling that it is going to lose traction.
My car only has about 15,000kms on it (so the runflat tyres still had decent tread on them) but I wish I had replaced them sooner, it feels like a totally different car.

I see you went up in size to 235 and 265. I just got a 2016 35is with 19's and have to replace the run-flats. I'm going All-Season, since this is my daily driver, and I MUST step in size.

Any problems with the larger size tire/tyre?

 

On my lease I never used the runflats except to drive it home. I used a square set of 245mm r18 PSS.

When messing with wheel changes I have put back the OEM crap several times. I cannot even make it out of the garage without noticing the difference. The combination of runflats (I have the bridgestones), which are also heavier, and the heavy wheels is just choking the car.

If you want a tip for good driving, at least if you have the adaptive M suspension I would go for low-sidewall tires, such as 19", or even 20". The suspension settings available in a stock e89 seem to be designed to make good for the runflats, and they feel a bit too soft with 18" PSS tires.

 

Replaced Run-Flats

Just took off (and stored to put back on at lease end) the RTFs and put on Continental ExtremeContact DWS06 A/S, which are the only tires which would fit (and still had to go up one size front and back). RTFs are in storage for the next two years of lease, when they will go back on for lease return (only have 6k miles on them).

After about a week of driving:

1. More compliant sidewall makes potholes, manhole (is that the wrong term nowadays?) covers, etc., much less jarring; still know I went over it because of the 19" wheels, just not up through the spine giving me a headache. Real bad holes/bumps tend to make you feel like you're being moved a couple of inches at most to one side or the other, but not enough movement to make you feel like you're losing any traction or control. RTF hops have moved me in the past several FEET, even into the other lane on the highway at 60+mph...scary!

2. Very comfortable and quiet highway ride, even with top down, unless road is old with aggregate showing...but that's really to be expected with this car and wheels.

3. Less precise than Max Summer RTFs for turn in on harder cornering and wander a touch when cornering; again to be expected with all the sipping on All Seasons. Actually not as bad as I had expected; feel confident driving on twisty Oregon coastal highway.

4. Good in the rain, even hard rain. Felt a touch light in hard rain with water on roadway, but still turned precisely.

Overall, I'm REALLY pleased with the change over, esp., since I know from experience with RTFs that they just get harder and harder after 5-10k miles and thus more and more uncomfortable and less reliable for harder driving because of their unpredictability over bumps, etc.

One other note: On such a small, light, low to the ground car like the Z4is, 19" wheels are overkill to me. They aren't going to give the car a huge traction boost on the road (at the track that might be a different story) and whatever benefit one gets from the potentially wider tire, is offset by the fact that they have to be very low profile tires and thus are going to be unnecessarily harsh during normal driving due to the extremely small sidewall (I don't know if the very high air pressure in the tire helps the ride or makes it more harsh). I'd say that good 18" wheels would be better for a daily driver like mine is. IMHO

 

Been running continental Extreme contacts 18” and LOVE them. Excellent behavior year round and I drive 160 miles round trip to work in all weather including snow and just love this car more and more every time I drive it 119,000 miles and counting. 09 35i, deep sea blue


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I’m about getting tires and thinking of not getting the run flats oem (mainly due to cost). I am considering getting the Pirelli zero gt max summer tires
Getting them installed for $780-$70 rebate (includes 3 year discount tire protection) vs $1300-1500 for OEM run flats

Any advise. Also considering hankook v12 ($80 less than Pirelli ) Goodyear eagles asymmetric ($100 more )



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I just replaced the OEM Bridgestone run flats (17") with Michelin PS4 non-run flat summer tires. I only drive the Z4 in warm weather and mostly on highways, so I chose to go with non-RFT summer tires. Not much drive time yet due to the never ending winter weather, but so far, these are a huge improvement! :thumbup:

 

Thanks. Looking at 4s and also considering Pirelli p zero GT
Also noticed on tire rack they have deal on Firestone firehawk indy 500 for under $400 for all 4 shipped (after rebate)


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Update on non-RTFs

The one issue I had with the Continental ExtremeContact DWS06 A/S I put on to replace the OEM RTFs, which was the feeling of a touch of slipperiness, went away after a couple of weeks. Some other posts have indicated that new tires have a coating on them that wears off after a while. Well, it seems to have worn off, because they are very grippy now.

 

Ended up with Pirelli zero Nero GT. Still backordered but for the price and quality combination it was hard to find a better deal I think . Hoping will be a good decision


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