[vod74]

Originally Posted by doughboy

Sorry, I meant 'German' as in mullets and tight jeans are 'German'

We use loads of Swiss/German equipment at work and their manuals are just so overtly overly technical and unclear in this kind of way. It should be split into a front only section and a rear only section, mixing front and rear tyres in the same box, then giving font and rear pressures to the right is messy..

Tiny print and lots of figures. Hardly user friendly for the masses....

I suppose unless they made labels unique to each car, then its bound to be like this.

[creepy coupe]

Originally Posted by vod74

i am an idiot, of course the sticker it has my tyres, anyways here it is for reference:



but what are the tyres wth a star * ???

That's what I have on mine.

[simon909]

Originally Posted by creepy coupe

That's what I have on mine.

I have the same apart from the 3 bar at the rear. Mine says 2.9, wonder why that would change?

[toxicnerve]

Can someone clarify some for me please?

Would I be correct in saying that according to the above table (in the photos) if you were running 19" 225/255 (front/rear respectively) the correct pressures would be as follows:

2 people: Front 2.5Bar, Rear 3.0Bar

4 people (+luggage): Front 2.9Bar, Rear 3.4Bar

Is my interpretation of the table correct? If someone could confirm or correct me that would be much appreciated.

Cheers

[NFS]

Originally Posted by vod74

but what are the tyres wth a star * ???

There is a star symbol embossed on the side of BMW approved tyres.

Originally Posted by toxicnerve

Can someone clarify some for me please?

Would I be correct in saying that according to the above table (in the photos) if you were running 19" 225/255 (front/rear respectively) the correct pressures would be as follows:

2 people: Front 2.5Bar, Rear 3.0Bar

4 people (+luggage): Front 2.9Bar, Rear 3.4Bar

Is my interpretation of the table correct? If someone could confirm or correct me that would be much appreciated.

Cheers

For 19's this would be correct. I've always used the midpoint between the 2 loadings. So would go 2.7 front and 3.2 rear.

[toxicnerve]

Originally Posted by NFS

For 19's this would be correct. I've always used the midpoint between the 2 loadings. So would go 2.7 front and 3.2 rear.

Cool. I consider myself to be pretty astute but that chart (which is the same as the one on my 335d M-Sport I believe) threw me a little bit. It's a bit cryptic in layout but once you "get it" it becomes clear.

Regarding the pressures, there was a chap on PH saying he got much more even wear and his tyres lasted 24,000 miles (in his opinion) because he was running the max shown pressures (i.e. 4 people + luggage).

What are your thoughts on this? I have just got my car and the tyres are looking pretty healthy and I'd like to keep em that way for as long as possible. What kind of wear are you seeing your tyres? Any inside/outside edge problems?

[YvesD]

If you are on 'after market' tyres it would be a good idea to seek advice from the tyre manufacturer.

I contacted Vredestein regarding recommended pressures specifically for my car and what they advised bears no relation to any of the standard BMW pressures for 19 inch rims.

45psi front
47psi rear

Feels good on it I must say.

Yves

[a1reader]

Star does actually refer to RFTs approved by BMW

[NFS]

Originally Posted by toxicnerve

Cool. I consider myself to be pretty astute but that chart (which is the same as the one on my 335d M-Sport I believe) threw me a little bit. It's a bit cryptic in layout but once you "get it" it becomes clear.

Regarding the pressures, there was a chap on PH saying he got much more even wear and his tyres lasted 24,000 miles (in his opinion) because he was running the max shown pressures (i.e. 4 people + luggage).

What are your thoughts on this? I have just got my car and the tyres are looking pretty healthy and I'd like to keep em that way for as long as possible. What kind of wear are you seeing your tyres? Any inside/outside edge problems?

I had no premature wear problems in 3 yrs on the 330i. Typically I got £20k from the rears and a bit more from the fronts, depends on the type of driving you do though as you can rack up a lot of motorway miles with minimal wear.

So long as you are in the right 'range' of pressures I think it's down to preference. Main thing with RFT's is to check them regularly, because if they get low the sidewalls take serious wear.

The inner edge problem seems to be mainly on the coupes.

[toxicnerve]

Originally Posted by NFS

So long as you are in the right 'range' of pressures I think it's down to preference. Main thing with RFT's is to check them regularly, because if they get low the sidewalls take serious wear.

Hrm, I checked my pressures this morning and they were much lower than I think they should have been so I've topped them up.

Originally Posted by NFS

The inner edge problem seems to be mainly on the coupes.

I'm in a coupe hence my concern over running the correct pressures.

[doughboy]

Originally Posted by YvesD

If you are on 'after market' tyres it would be a good idea to seek advice from the tyre manufacturer.

I contacted Vredestein regarding recommended pressures specifically for my car and what they advised bears no relation to any of the standard BMW pressures for 19 inch rims.

45psi front
47psi rear

Feels good on it I must say.

Yves

Blimey - they're almost pushbike pressures!!!

That's amazingly high, most car road tyres say 'max 50 psi' on them so at 47 cold you'll be at 55 on a hot day no problems.

They are soft though the vreds, so maybe its restoring some of the boneshaker RFT feel....

[toxicnerve]

I've put my E92 on 19" to the following:

Front 225/35/19: 2.9Bar
Rear 255/30/19: 3.4Bar

Going to see how it goes and keep an eye on them weekly.

Hrm,

The door sticket says 3.4 on the rears for a fully loaded car. That's near as damnit 50psi which is the rated max!!

[doughboy]

Originally Posted by toxicnerve

I've put my E92 on 19" to the following:

Front 225/35/19: 2.9Bar
Rear 255/30/19: 3.4Bar

Going to see how it goes and keep an eye on them weekly.

That's pretty high too - looks like fully loaded (5 persons and luggage) pressures?

Try lower too and see how it feels

[toxicnerve]

Originally Posted by doughboy

That's pretty high too - looks like fully loaded (5 persons and luggage) pressures?

Try lower too and see how it feels

Yeah, I'm going to drop them to 2.7 and 3.2 front/rear. 3.4Bar is way too close to the 50psi max, whihc as you say on a hot day will be exceeded, probably by some margin.

[Jules6]

I run 0.3 Bar above the standard pressures front and rear. Not only has this improved wear but comfort has been improved also. Mine is a September 2008 coupe by which time I think BMW had attemted to further optimise the suspension for use with RFT so it isn't too harsh a ride in any case IMHO. It is worth trying and adjusting to what suits you best. I'm much happier with the pressures now.

[RichJ]

I run 0.2 bar above recommended = 2.6bar front and 2.8 bar rear

[Matt2008]

Mine were set at 3.0 bar all round by dealer when they fitted them. I leave them at this so theres less comeback if any cracking issues.

One thing i have noticed about the runflats is they lose almost no pressure over time like you get with regular tires.

[zltm089]

Originally Posted by YvesD

If you are on 'after market' tyres it would be a good idea to seek advice from the tyre manufacturer.

I contacted Vredestein regarding recommended pressures specifically for my car and what they advised bears no relation to any of the standard BMW pressures for 19 inch rims.

45psi front
47psi rear

Feels good on it I must say.

Yves

damn!....thats quite high....welll....i'm on 40psi front and 42psi rear.....and i'm on 18inch wheels....

[toxicnerve]

I've changed to 2.7Bar and 3.2Bar front/rear. Went for a bit of thrash earlier this evening and it felt ok. I will have to see how it goes now. I need to get a tread depth gauge so I can monitor my wear rates too.

[YvesD]

Originally Posted by zltm089

damn!....thats quite high....welll....i'm on 40psi front and 42psi rear.....and i'm on 18inch wheels....

Yes it is but thats what the tyre manufacturer says so it must be OK. They know best.

Also, the pressure increase from cold is accounted for in their calcs, they wouldnt make such a fundamental mistake as giving a normal cold pressure close to 'max' knowing it will go over when they get hot. Thats just daft.

I will take it up with them though and see what they say.

Yves

[acerboo]

it doesnt matter what you put in them, if they wear prematurely on the insides bridgestone will blame you for running them below pressure!!

[YvesD]

Originally Posted by acerboo

it doesnt matter what you put in them, if they wear prematurely on the insides bridgestone will blame you for running them below pressure!!

As a matter of interest, just looking at my 18000 mile old Bridgestones recently taken off the car, no uneven wear, at least another 15k left on the front and probably 7.5-10k on the rear.

Stuck to the sticker pressures though and checked them regularly.

Yves