Need a bit of advice on tyres for a BMW X3

Barack Obama

Time to get some new tyres for the ol' chariot!! I've been looking around and am a bit confused so I'm hoping that someone can give me a bit of advice. I have a 2011 X-Drive X3 with 225/60 R17 tyres and there is only 18,000 miles on the car and already the tyres need replacing. I take it that this is low mileage for a new set of tyres??

The tyres that came fitted are Pirelli Cinturato P7 runflats. Now, I've done some reading and runflats seem to be more expensive to buy, less economical to run and perform worse than normal tyres. Even the standard Pirelli Cinturato P7's are €40 less each to begin with...

The thing is that the roll resistance and noise ratings are not great for these and can be beaten by the one's below for the same price.

Michelin PRIMACY 3
Continental ContiPremiumContact 5 SUV

Can I just go with either of these two on an X3? At least the Continentals have 'SUV' in the title. Any advice greatly appreciated

Cerco

Barack Obama wrote: »

Time to get some new tyres for the ol' chariot!! I've been looking around and am a bit confused so I'm hoping that someone can give me a bit of advice. I have a 2011 X-Drive X3 with 225/60 R17 tyres and there is only 18,000 miles on the car and already the tyres need replacing. I take it that this is low mileage for a new set of tyres??

The tyres that came fitted are Pirelli Cinturato P7 runflats. Now, I've done some reading and runflats seem to be more expensive to buy, less economical to run and perform worse than normal tyres. Even the standard Pirelli Cinturato P7's are €40 less each to begin with...

The thing is that the roll resistance and noise ratings are not great for these and can be beaten by the one's below for the same price.

Michelin PRIMACY 3
Continental ContiPremiumContact 5 SUV

Can I just go with either of these two on an X3? At least the Continentals have 'SUV' in the title. Any advice greatly appreciated

If you decide to switch from run flats you will need to organise a spare wheel . Do you have a bay for storing a spare on this model?

Zubeneschamali

Cerco wrote: »

If you decide to switch from run flats you will need to organise a spare wheel .

Neither of our cars has run-flats or a spare, from new.

Cerco

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

Neither of our cars has run-flats or a spare, from new.

So what do you do if you get puncture?
The spray repair cans are okay for a nail etc. but if you get a tear then you are up **** creek. Wet windy night at the edge of your bog?

Gumbo

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

Neither of our cars has run-flats or a spare, from new.

Any RFT car ive had, ive repaced with standard tyres and sourced a space saver for the boot. I think it would be madness to not have a spare with you.

Zubeneschamali

Cerco wrote: »

So what do you do if you get puncture?

Try the gunk, then call for assistance. Hasn't happened in 6 years.

But last time I tries to get a wheel off the Mini (to rotate them in the driveway) I physically couldn't get one of them loose anyhow. Herself would have had no chance, so it'd be call for assistance either way.

Zubeneschamali

kceire wrote: »

Any RFT car ive had, ive repaced with standard tyres and sourced a space saver for the boot.

I don't mean I changed run-flats, I mean that as sold by Mini and Ford, our Cooper and S-Max did not have run-flats or a spare when new, from the dealer.

Caliden

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

I don't mean I changed run-flats, I mean that as sold by Mini and Ford, our Cooper and S-Max did not have run-flats or a spare when new, from the dealer.

Seems to be the way some new cars are going. You get a can of tyre weld instead of a spare.

Barack Obama

Cerco wrote: »

So what do you do if you get puncture?
The spray repair cans are okay for a nail etc. but if you get a tear then you are up **** creek. Wet windy night at the edge of your bog?

Yes, spray repair is in the boot and have roadside assistance just in case. In all my many, many years of motoring, I've never had a tear so I'm happy with the gamble. The payoff is cheaper tyres that are more economical to run, last longer and handle better.

Zubeneschamali

OSI wrote: »

When did Minis stop coming with runflats?

I don't know - but if you head over to mini.ie, you'll see runflats are an option, and so is a space saver spare. Mine was sold in 06 in the UK, and doesn't even have a space for a space saver.

Same with the S-Max from launch - no run flats, nowhere to put a spare. Mines an 08.

Zubeneschamali

Barack Obama wrote: »

The payoff is cheaper tyres that are more economical to run, last longer and handle better.

The payoff for the car companies is a weight saving, helps with their CO2, and a packaging boost: space under the boot floor for cubbies and stuff.

Barack Obama

OSI wrote: »

As said, you can get the non-runflats alright. Just make sure you either have puncture repair spray or roadside assistance. Not sure you'd consider the X3 an SUV really though, would you?

Well, at a basic level it is a heavy car at the least and a 'small' SUV. I'm simply guessing that those tyres would be more suitable?

Alun

Our MX-5 comes with a can of gunk and a battery powered inflater as standard equipment from the factory, as there simply isn't any room for a spare of any size.

Alun

OSI wrote: »

Not sure you'd consider the X3 an SUV really though, would you?

My Qashqai isn't an SUV either, but the tyre size (215/65 R 16) is such that for some manufacturers it falls outside the normal size range for their car range, and into their range specifically made for SUV's and 4x4's.

Zubeneschamali

Alun wrote: »

range specifically made for SUV's and 4x4's.

Yes, and this doesn't mean special off-road mud-plugging tyres. The manufacturers aren't stupid, they know most SUV's don't go any further off-road than chewing up the grass outside the local primary school.

Barack Obama

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

Yes, and this doesn't mean special off-road mud-plugging tyres. The manufacturers aren't stupid, they know most SUV's don't go any further off-road than chewing up the grass outside the local primary school.

Does that mean that these are offroad tyres?

Continental ContiPremiumContact 5 SUV

Alun

Barack Obama wrote: »

Does that mean that these are offroad tyres?

Continental ContiPremiumContact 5 SUV

No not at all. Like I said, for some reason, some manufacturers have tyres that they target specifically at the SUV or 4x4 segment, some have (seemingly arbitrary) size ranges outside of which the only tyres are branded as 'SUV'. I've no idea if the tyres are any different in construction however.

Zubeneschamali

Barack Obama wrote: »

Does that mean that these are offroad tyres?

Continental ContiPremiumContact 5 SUV

On Continental's UK website ContiPremiumContact are road tyres.

Some ContiCrossContact, ContiTrac and Conti4x4Contact tyres are good for road and light offroad use, while ContiCrossContact AT seem to be the most off-road biased they have.

Marcusm

Barack Obama wrote: »

Does that mean that these are offroad tyres?

Continental ContiPremiumContact 5 SUV

No, it just mean that they've been designed for the extra weight - load rating would be higher than for a saloon.