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      07-26-2013, 11:39 AM   #1
greg2step
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Time for new tires - Pirelli vs Others and where to buy?

My 2011 X3 35i is going to need tires in the next 2 months or less. Lots of discussion here on ditching runflats but the lack of a spare has me unlikely to do that.

So assuming I want to buy 4 new tires - should I stick w/ Pirelli or switch to another RFT alternative? Looks like there are a few versions of the Pirelli RFT - Cinturato P7 vs P Zero vs alternatives from Goodyear and Bridgestone

Also where to buy? BMW service center quoted me a price I consider high $456/tire for Pirelli's mounted, balanced, but not inc alignment- My X3 has 18" not 19"

Not overly thrilled w/ the wear on the Pirelli's but alot of that could be my lead footed driving in sport mode and almost all city.

Last question - when I bought the X3 I bought a tire package to cover tires and wheels - if I get tires from say a local tire shop - or Tirerack paired w/ a local installer how is this affected?

Thanks for any help.

Greg
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      07-27-2013, 10:52 AM   #2
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hopefully someone else who has needed to replace 4 tires due to wear has some insight on buying other than at the dealership - or do you all just go there?
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      07-27-2013, 04:04 PM   #3
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At 23K miles we're down to 4/32" at the centers, a bit less on outer edges of fronts. Haven't decided yet.
Here's our estimate from Discount Tire to replace in kind:

Order Date: 07/12/2013
Product Information:
4 (41952) Pirelli
245/50R18 100WRF BMW
Cinturato P7 Run Flat
4 (80017-41952) CERTIFICATES FOR REPAIR, REFUND OR REPLACEMENT
4 (98207) TPMS REBUILD #20036 TQ-40 RED
Total Price: $1,944.19

Vehicle Information:
2011 BMW X3 F25 18"BASE 3.5I AWD (TPMS)

.
And Tirerack link for same-same:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....FTV2&tab=Sizes
.
Might try these for comparison:
4 Bridgestone Potenza RE960 AS Pole Position Run Flat
(14833)
245/50R18 100WRF BW
$230.00 $920.00
Tire Disposal Fee Valve Stems, Lifetime Rotations Installation & Lifetime Spin Balancing $16.00 $64.00 $1.25 $5.00 FREE
$10.00 $40.00
Subtotal $1,029.00
NM 7.00% Sales Tax $72.03
Total "Out the Door" Price $1,101.03

Last edited by 96_Impreza; 07-27-2013 at 10:54 PM.. Reason: Bridgestones added, again.
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      07-28-2013, 06:41 AM   #4
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Did you have pzero or p7?
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      07-28-2013, 07:16 AM   #5
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I like Tirerack's pricing, and my local Tirerack installer is my local BMW indy shop.

I have Pirelli snows, which I may be replacing for next Winter - my indy says "they're still good, but they're worn to the point that they're only as good as all-seasons". Point taken. Trusting soul that I am, I'll still put a meter on them.

I'm probably looking at replacing my all-seasons next Spring. I'll look at Tirerack.

My only concern is that my indy doesn't have the equipment to do Road Force Balancing.

As to tire and wheel insurance, which I now regret purchasing, the F&I guy assured me that it would cover my aftermarket Winter wheels and tires too. However, his lips were moving, so I'm not sure what the truth is. (Note that his lips were also moving when he stated that there was no longer a Road Hazard Warranty on the factory tires. Bullshit.)
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      07-28-2013, 02:20 PM   #6
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Thanks 96_Impreza that post is just what I am looking for. Also, yikes on $1944 for 4 @ P7 Cinturato's topped my dealer by over $100 - or did that include an alignment? I was quoted $456 x 4 = $1824 + alignment They have coupon specials on alignments at $170 - was hoping there was some room to get a bit more discount we'll see.

pokerface my X3 came w/ P7 and dealer quoted replacement is P7

02320x3 - i sort of regret tire package on this, mainly because the X3 w/ the 18" wheels is alot tougher than my 328 was - so far it has been able to handle many of the area's fine selection of potholes, frost heaves, and poorly maintained roads.

Only issue w/ tires is wear - i am at 20400mi - outer edge on left is done, outer right not much better. rears are worn in the middle. definite case for rotating the next set at 10k mile

anyone else try the bridgestones? what about the X3's that came from the factory w/ Goodyears?

hoping for more insightful posts, i have a month a so before I need to replace them. also hoping one of the local BMW service centers posts a tire sale for Aug or Sept

Thanks

Greg
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      07-28-2013, 02:33 PM   #7
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I would avoid the Bridgestones - had the RE050's on my 335i and they were junk, replaced at 10k miles due to noise and cupping. My X5 had Bridgestone Duellers and they also were cupped and noisy by 10k, wore poorly and only last 15k miles.

I have not heard a lot of good things about the GoodYears that my X3 has, we will see. Only tire I have been really happy with are the Michelin PSS's that I have on the 335i now - they are awsome!
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      07-28-2013, 02:44 PM   #8
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I'm just under 32k miles on the 18" Goodyears. I might replace with the same at around $350 or so each. However, my wife's '08 Volvo C70 does not have a spare just the compressor and bottle of Volvo slime. With the TPMS this has not been a problem. Both times we had flats due to nails we first noticed that we would lose maybe 5 psi a week. I'd refill the tire go another week to be sure and then have the tire repaired. Not really much of an issue and not sure how much better a RFT experience would be. Might just go with good NRF tires.
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      07-28-2013, 02:50 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 02420X3 View Post
I like Tirerack's pricing, and my local Tirerack installer is my local BMW indy shop.

I have Pirelli snows, which I may be replacing for next Winter - my indy says "they're still good, but they're worn to the point that they're only as good as all-seasons". Point taken. Trusting soul that I am, I'll still put a meter on them.

I'm probably looking at replacing my all-seasons next Spring. I'll look at Tirerack.

My only concern is that my indy doesn't have the equipment to do Road Force Balancing.

As to tire and wheel insurance, which I now regret purchasing, the F&I guy assured me that it would cover my aftermarket Winter wheels and tires too. However, his lips were moving, so I'm not sure what the truth is. (Note that his lips were also moving when he stated that there was no longer a Road Hazard Warranty on the factory tires. Bullshit.)
FWIW, I bought the last 5 sets of tires for my various cars over the last 6 years from tires-easy.com. This is a german company based out of Hannover but with distribution centers in the US and they consistently beat tire-rack and other internet retailer prices. The RFT Pirelli P7 Cinturato for my 2011 X3 3.5 18" is $347 + $18 S&H per tire to Florida. Tires usually get to me within 2-3 days as they use a distribution center in Orlando.

http://www2.tires-easy.com/cgi-bin/r...ahrzeugart=PKW
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      09-16-2013, 03:29 PM   #10
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anyone put Bridgestone Potenza RE960A/S RFT's on their X3? they are alot cheaper than the Pirelli's and GY's and Tirerack has a rebate as well thru Sept.
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      09-16-2013, 08:32 PM   #11
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Been running Pirellis on multiple BMWs for about a decade now. Big fan. My X3 with 19's came with Contis. Terrible ride, terrible wear, terrible traction. Now have Pzeros and Sottozero IIs for Winter. Very happy with both. Would love to have the PZero Neros we ran on previous 3er sedans, but not available.
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      09-17-2013, 08:52 AM   #12
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My 2012 X3 with M package 245/45R19 I had the Goodyear LS2's got about 13,000 miles. Put on the Bridgestone Potenza RE960AS and all I can say is the ride is so much nicer, smooth and very quiet. So far I am very pleased and would say they are a step up from the Goodyears. Total bill from my local dealer was 1478.00 with a 4 wheel alignment.
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      09-18-2013, 07:11 AM   #13
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I have been thru the P7's on my 2011, they became noisy and were removed with 4 mm tread remaining at 26k miles. Put on Stones 960 RFTs, which now have12K on them. So far they are superior to the P7s, I had several conversations with Pirelli Customer Service about the poor life of the P7s (which have a tread life warrantee of 40K for non OEM purchases). Bottom line you need to prove rotations every 7.5K, annual alignments and even tread wear (tyre pressures) in order for them to consider replacement.
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      09-18-2013, 07:32 AM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by vrrooom View Post
Bottom line you need to prove rotations every 7.5K, annual alignments and even tread wear (tyre pressures) in order for them to consider replacement.
How do you do that when BMW doesnt recommand tire rotations?
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      09-18-2013, 10:10 AM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by The X Men
Quote:
Originally Posted by vrrooom View Post
Bottom line you need to prove rotations every 7.5K, annual alignments and even tread wear (tyre pressures) in order for them to consider replacement.
How do you do that when BMW doesnt recommand tire rotations?
Now you see the box, BMW does not recommend rotation or alignment but does not warrantee the tyres, Pirelli who warren tees the tyres insists on it. This is a financial decision by BMW, as part of their free maintenance plan. If you factor in two sets of tyres in 50K, maintenance costs are very high for the run fart equipped cars.
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      09-18-2013, 12:13 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by vrrooom View Post
Now you see the box, BMW does not recommend rotation or alignment but does not warrantee the tyres, Pirelli who warren tees the tyres insists on it. This is a financial decision by BMW, as part of their free maintenance plan. If you factor in two sets of tyres in 50K, maintenance costs are very high for the run fart equipped cars.
I dont think BMW recommand against wheel alignment, wheel aglignmnet is more of an corrective maintenance rather than routine maintenance. I dont believe any car manufacturer recommand a wheel alignment on a regular basis. Also, BMW recommanded against tire rotation before this whole free maintenance program came about, so its not a financial decision rather than a iddue with the camber angle where BMW want a full tire contact patch on the road for max. traction.
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      09-18-2013, 03:20 PM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by vrrooom View Post
Now you see the box, BMW does not recommend rotation or alignment but does not warrantee the tyres, Pirelli who warren tees the tyres insists on it. This is a financial decision by BMW, as part of their free maintenance plan. If you factor in two sets of tyres in 50K, maintenance costs are very high for the run fart equipped cars.
I'm willing to pay higher maintenance costs for a run fart car
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      09-18-2013, 04:28 PM   #18
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I haven't decided rather my next set of tire will be run flats or not, but as far as my wife's X3, it will be runflat for safety reason and the fact that the X3 doesn't come with a spare tire.
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      09-19-2013, 10:18 AM   #19
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GBMW6612 and vrrooom thanks for the feedback on the Bridgestone RE960A/S just what I needed probably the direction I am going with the next set

as for tire rotation - I have been told by several BMW service center advisors that rotation is ok as long as the BMW has the same size front and rear - on some of the M's they are not the same so rotation is out. on my X3 they are the same, i probably could have rotated for another 4000 miles or so on this set... maybe the next set...
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      09-20-2013, 01:55 AM   #20
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I don't have any experience with RFTs but 2k for what are essentially crappy handling tires?

You can almost get two sets of decent track tires for that much.

For those that are afraid to switch to regular tires, how many times in your life have you actually been in a situation where you were stranded because of a flat tire?
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      09-20-2013, 06:22 AM   #21
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Stranded, one time. Usually it's a nail or screw that gets picked up and found the next day while the car is sitting in the garage. Earlier this year I pulled my wife's car out of the garage to have the TPMS go off before I had gone 100 yards down the street.
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      09-20-2013, 02:28 PM   #22
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Yah, it COULD happen but from my experience its quite rare. I've got plenty of nails in my tires over the years but those were all slow leaks. The only time i've had a real issue was when one of my tires blew out on the freeway in my old mercedes.

Assuming you don't travel to the middle of nowhere on a regular basis I think regular tires would be fine. Just call AAA in the rare situation where you are stranded. And for the times when you do travel to the middle of nowhere just bring an extra wheel with you.
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