Help choosing tyres on 325 convertible

[masd]

Hi all,

Lovely new forum!

I have been reading and reading but really just need to choose some tyres now, so hoping you can help guide me.

The Uniroyal Rainsport 3's have come up a lot but I can't seem to find these anymore. A lot of the tyres recommended on the Wiki seem difficult to get hold off, but after doing some reading I have whittled the list down, and will call the garage tomorrow to see if I can get any.

Any advice / recommendations:

- Bridgestone Protenza RE02 / 03
- Kumho Ecsta Sport (KU31)
- Toyo Proxes T1-R
- Yokohama S-Drive

Probably difference in prices, with Bridgestone being more premium, but tyres are dead, and just want to get good all round tyres.

Thanks

[BenHar]

https://www.oponeo.co.uk/tyre-finder/s= ... 205-55-r15

Either of them.

Ben

[BMW_E30vert]

Uniroyals available from camskill below-

https://www.camskill.co.uk/m53b0s289p18 ... se%3A_71dB

[Tzantushka]

For our market & my 320i convertible the fitment is 195/65R 14.
Also recently found a very limited selection - especially with 14" rims.

I had Kumho Ecsta Sport (KU31) on the car originally - 14".
They were OK and did the job but sold the bottle cap rims & tyres.

Long story cut short, ended up changing to Falken ZIEX ZE912 (195/65 14).

Found them to be very good and they saved my bacon when an idiot pulled out in front of me under very heavy braking.

[twenty]

I went with Falken (https://www.falkentyre.com/en/tyres/car ... tail/40535) at the end. It was a close call between this and the Uniroyal Rainsport 5.

The annoying thing is that manufacturers are charging a premium for 15” tyres these days. An equivalent 16” tyre for example is almost 25% cheaper.

Anyway, so far so good.

[orangecurry]

I went through this a while back. I chose 205/50 because there was more choice in that size.

I chose Vredestein Sportrac 5, as they were the best reviewd in that size at the time. Since then, they have released the Hankook Ventus Prime 3, and I've had that on a Fiat 500 and a MINI Cooper.

Hankook are OE on Mercedees. Vredestein are a premium brand without the premium price. I think Camskill are the cheapest for Vredestein, but do the usual searches - oponeo, tyreleader etc etc.

You can get the Hankook in 205/55 and 205/50, and the Vredestein only in /50. Either would be a very good tyre,

Here is where you can get all of the tyre testing results in one place: https://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/

I found past Uniroyals to have too soft sidewalls. They are on v5 now.... dunno what the sidewalls are like.

85 GBP for the Uniroyals vs 65 for the Hankooks is a no-brainer. Hankooks are better.

https://www.oponeo.co.uk/tyre-finder/s= ... 205-50-r15

[orangecurry]

oh.... you didn't say if you have 14s or 15s

[paultv]

I've always liked Hankook Ventus Prime 3 - definately a good all rounder - Continental eco contact 6 are also good - but way pricy.

Paul

[masd]

Thanks for all your responses everyone.

Twenty, as you say the 15"s are more expensive than the equivalent 16" now - not so much choice on the 205/55/15s either.

After some deliberating went for the Uni Royal Rainsport 5s, based off the 3s being highly recommended on the E30 Wiki.

£90 fitted - not cheap, but do-able. With the amount I drive these will definitely last me a few years.

Just been away to Devon where it mostly rained and the tyres performed well, so happy with them.

Thanks

[Brianmoooore]

I found past Uniroyals to have too soft sidewalls. They are on v5 now.... dunno what the sidewalls are like.

Mounted a pair last week. Sidewalls are much stiffer than the threes, but it's still easy enough to push them over the rim with just a slight bit of hep from a tyre lever. Still nothing like as stiff as the Falkens I used previously.

[rix313]

T1-R's are toilet. Buy the best you can afford and do not buy an unknown spurious cheap brand. Tyres are the most important part of a car in my opinion.