E30 Zone

Evening guys,

My father needs some tyres for his E36 Touring, wheels are the stock BMW 16" alloys and the tyres fitted are 225-50-ZR16 92W

Handbook confirms above tyres are correct but would it be possible to use 225-50-R16 92W, are they the same?

Thanks

That's the speed rating.
Unless he's going to break the speed barrier, they'll be ok

Hi, thanks for the reply, its only a 318i so I don't think he'll be going for a speed record lol.

If both are 92W though does that mean they are the same or does ZR mean a different rating all together?

"W" is the speed rating.

Yea just the ZR confused me, thanks

Got this off a website:

Radial Vintage Tyres Speed Ratings

Speed ratings for radial tyres are given below. New speed ratings are currently being developed to subdivide the Z rating.
Speed
Rating mph Km/h
J ----------- 100
K ----------- 110
L ----------- 120
M ----------- 130
N ----------- 140
P ------93 -- 150
Q ----------- 160
R ----------- 170
S ------112 -180
T------ 118- 190
H------ 130- 210
V ------149- 240
W ----- ------270
Y ------------ 300
VR ----------- 210
ZR -----149 --240

Iirc W is for speeds over 149 mph or something like that, the same goes for the Y rating, ZR means that it is capable of handling speeds over 186 mph...

But I could be wrong

I thought that ZR rated tyres meant that they were 'directional',ie. they have to be fitted with the arrows on the sidewall facing in the direction of forward motion....

Definitely speed rating AFAIK

As Imy said, speed ratings, directional tyres have an arrow with the word "rotation" pointing in the direction the wheels should be travelling

cheers all