Tyres.??? Opinions PLEASE...

[Nine468]

Hi folks.
Yes its that old chestnut ,, tyres....

Ive got the Bridgestone rft,s fitted at present in 20" rim size.
BUT im going to be needing some new ones soon, and thought ide try a set of NON rft,s.
Anybody out there have any recomendations,, good or bad on them,
What makes do you recomend ?
Anybody know what the Falken FK453,s are like.
I had numerous sets of the Falken FK452,s on my old car, E46 Touring, and found them great value for money tyres...

[kjb1]

I can highly recommend Kuhmo for tyres.  Had them on my previous e46 M3 in ecesta le sport guise and they were fantastic! plus were A rated tyre for noise and wrt grip etc.  Great value.  Im currently on Bridgestone duellers on 20"s and as soon as they have had it I'm going with Kumhos again.

[pcdee]

I read somewhere that changing to Non-RFT on 20" wheels will hardly make a difference.

[Nat]

Hi,

I would stick with the original run flats. I don't think there will be any noticeable difference between run flats and non run flats on 20" wheels.
Also run flat ubber convenient..........

There again I am biased , have an SE with M sport suspension delete for a reason.

Just my humble opinion.

Regards,

Nat.

[kjb1]

An Se with M sport suspension delete? hows that working then? assume you have dynamic pack.  Regarding run flats, Ive had more punctures on run flats than ever before!! swear they are more susceptible to punctures.  I cant wait to switch, bound to be a difference in ride.  Tyre walls on RF's are rockhard.

[Nat]

Yes..............If you want 20" you need to have the dynamic pack, but within that you can select M sport suspension delete.

Thats the way it works.

Regards,

Nat.

[535dboy]

I agree with Nat, just replace with same.

[Nine468]

Its just the NON rft,s are cheaper.
And apparently they are a big improvement on the 5 series.
Just thought theyde help smoooooooth out the ride on the E70....

Anybody else have any thoughts on the RFT v,s NON-RFT,s debate.. And makes of tyre.?

[martin33100]

I priced up a set of FK453's today and a full set fitted is around £700 a set so a masive saving over the run flats.
I know they make quite a difference on the 3 and 5 series so I was hoping for the same on the E70.
I know some people say it wont make any difference with 20's but the E70 doesn't run super low profiles like a 3/5 series, 315 35 20 on an E70 gives a profile of 110mm and 255 35 18 on a 3/5 series gives a profile of 89mm.

[kjb1]

I had an e60 on genuine 18"  m alloys with runflats on.  Bought an original set of spyder alloy wheels in 19" for the e60 which did not come with runflats as standard ( BMW knew it would crack wheels ) and ride was far far better!! and that was even going up 1" in alloy size!! my advice, ditch em!

[99ron]

Just put a set of Falken 453s on a 3.0SD M-Sport 7st (air rear) 2008. I'm on 19s so it was a more reasonable £600 for 4.  Turn in still feels sharp. Ride a little better vs RFTs - you don't bounce off the bumps as much but still a terrible terrible bumpy ride on anything other than a smooth surface. My 535d M-Sport on 19s feels much smoother. I also drove a 2007 X5 SE on non-RFTs before buying the M-Sport and that was much smoother than my 535d. It was advertised as having sport suspension.

The X5 M-sport was on 20s when I bought the X5 but found the rears had been welded when I went for new tyres -(3 times on one side - thanks to the cock I bought it off), so I bought a set of refurbished 19s which came with almost new RFTs to see if that would improve the ride. It didn't so thought I'd try non RFTs when they wore out - which was last week! I usually stick with top brands but the Falken seemed to have the best wet weather rating (B) vs everything else for sale so worth a try. Time will tell what the wear will be like.

My brother had just fitted a set to his f01 730d (on 20s) and is very pleased with them having also ditched RFTs so that helped sway me.

[martin33100]

[quote="99ron"]
Just put a set of Falken 453s on a 3.0SD M-Sport 7st (air rear) 2008. I'm on 19s so it was a more reasonable £600 for 4.  Turn in still feels sharp. Ride a little better vs RFTs - you don't bounce off the bumps as much but still a terrible terrible bumpy ride on anything other than a smooth surface. My 535d M-Sport on 19s feels much smoother. I also drove a 2007 X5 SE on non-RFTs before buying the M-Sport and that was much smoother than my 535d. It was advertised as having sport suspension.

The X5 M-sport was on 20s when I bought the X5 but found the rears had been welded when I went for new tyres -(3 times on one side - thanks to the cock I bought it off), so I bought a set of refurbished 19s which came with almost new RFTs to see if that would improve the ride. It didn't so thought I'd try non RFTs when they wore out - which was last week! I usually stick with top brands but the Falken seemed to have the best wet weather rating (B) vs everything else for sale so worth a try. Time will tell what the wear will be like.

My brother had just fitted a set to his f01 730d (on 20s) and is very pleased with them having also ditched RFTs so that helped sway me.
[/quote]Are you still happy with the Falken 453's?

[99ron]

Absolutely. Put about 800 miles on them now and driven everything from single track to fast motorway. No noticeable difference to the runflats except a less harsh ride and £400 cheaper for a set. Two cans of goo in the boot (two for 1 deal at Halfrauds) and an AA membership that I will hopefully never need.

[martin33100]

[quote="99ron"]
Absolutely. Put about 800 miles on them now and driven everything from single track to fast motorway. No noticeable difference to the runflats except a less harsh ride and £400 cheaper for a set. Two cans of goo in the boot (two for 1 deal at Halfrauds) and an AA membership that I will hopefully never need.
[/quote]I used a Conti comfort kit in our E91 when I fitted the standard tyres.
The unit is made by Continental and it's a pump and repair liquid in one unit.

[99ron]

[quote="99ron"]
Just put a set of Falken 453s on a 3.0SD M-Sport 7st (air rear) 2008. I'm on 19s so it was a more reasonable £600 for 4.  Turn in still feels sharp. Ride a little better vs RFTs - you don't bounce off the bumps as much but still a terrible terrible bumpy ride on anything other than a smooth surface.[/quote]

Just had it MOT'd and have advisory for "slight free play in the steering" and  "play in front lower suspension arm ball joint" which I'm guessing is the control arms? The ride feels very jolty still like it's trying to throw me out of the seat sometimes and snaps back level quite violently sometimes when hitting cambers in the road. The comfort seats make it just about bearable. I'm thinking BMW can't really have sold a car that behaves like this as normal. Yes the ride is firm but I think there must be something wrong with mine. Will get the mot advisory's sorted and get all the bushes checked while they are in there.