Tyre recommendations for old BMW 5 series

Deliberator

Hi,

Anyone have any tyre recommendations for an old ('99) BMW 5 series (225 / 60 R15)? I rang an Advance Pitstop and was told that it's not a common size and they do not stock them, so they are to come back with a price.

Any 5 Series owners have any advice on brands or indeed fitters, that don't break the bank?

cheers

Andrewf20

Theres loads if good tyres on the market, traditionally from the big name brands. Just looking at eiretyres.com, Continetal premium contact 2's would be a safe bet at 130euro per corner excluding fitting, or Bridgestone Turanza ER300's at 111 per corner.

Peoples opinions about tyres can be subjective and vary greatly, but you can get bulk opinions of tyres here: http://www.1010tires.com/tires.asp

I traditionally buy my tyres form eiretyres.com and get them fitted in a place behind the Esso station beside Kart city in Santry and 10euro per corner.

Seth Brundle

The E39 can also take 205/65/15 if you are replacing all four.

sundodger5

the 205/65 15 will fit but they will have a larger rolling circumference. this will make your speedo more inaccurate and inaccurate the wrong way. as you will now be covering more ground for the same engine rpm/ stick with the original size.

colm_mcm

205/65 will actually have a slightly SMALLER rolling circum than the originals, (1975 vs 1986mm)
nothing to worry about speedo wide, as the speedo is already overstating speed.

Fey!

My e39 520 had 15" wheels originally, with Dunlop tyres. Can't remember the size, but the recommended size will be on the drivers door pillar, or in the owners manual. The tyres that were on the car may not be the recommended size; they may have been changed by a previous owner.

unkel

As Colm said, the 205/65 will have a smaller circumference. Not sure about Colm's figures - if you use this tyre calculator, you'll get:

225/60/15 - 2045mm
205/65/15 - 2034mm

Seth Brundle

sundodger5 wrote: »

the 205/65 15 will fit but they will have a larger rolling circumference. this will make your speedo more inaccurate and inaccurate the wrong way. as you will now be covering more ground for the same engine rpm/ stick with the original size.

colm_mcm wrote: »

205/65 will actually have a slightly SMALLER rolling circum than the originals, (1975 vs 1986mm)
nothing to worry about speedo wide, as the speedo is already overstating speed.

unkel wrote: »

As Colm said, the 205/65 will have a smaller circumference. Not sure about Colm's figures - if you use this tyre calculator, you'll get:

225/60/15 - 2045mm
205/65/15 - 2034mm

The sticker inside the drivers door of the E39 mentions the both sizes that I referred to. References to the speedo underestimating the speed may not be correct as the 205 tyre may be the one aligned to the speedo!

unkel

The difference in circumference between the two is so small (0.5%), that it is negligible compared to the inherent inaccuracy in the speedo (up to 10% or more) anyway. Or thread left on the tyre for that matter (a couple of percent)

Deliberator

Thanks. I will be staying with the same size.

I only need to change the one tyre in the short term. I would like to buy a decent tyre and then potentially a further four more over the coming months / year to keep them the same, if possible...

Deliberator

Looks like I'll be heading in to AC Car Sales. I've used them a couple of times now for other work and they were great. I thought I'd contact them to see if they'd be interested in this sort of work, and they came back with competitive prices on brand names.

This suits me as I want to get some other work done there.

(Thanks to the guys here who recommended AC Car Sales a few months ago. Much appreciated!)