Hi guys!

Well I just got a set of ///M contours, and I'm busy scraping off the paint and refinishing them. As I'm almost done with them (and boy do they look great), I'm definetly going to need some tires.

My question is, what tires should I look at? These are 17" wheels and I'm pretty sure they are 7.5" wide.

Ones I were looking at were Pirelli's P7000 and the Continental Sport Contacts.

I'm looking for a good tire that will last a long time (guess this will rule out the Continentals) and at the same time provide good performance, both in dry and wet conditions.

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Pilots

I had P7000 Super Sports on the car a while ago. Tire lasted pretty good, but was LOUD at the end of it's life - like loud like I was glad to get them off to put the snow tires on loud! I went to Bridgestone S-03 Pole Positions - better stick and much quieter - plus a better tire than the Pilots, for less money. If you are on a budget, get the Kumho's.

Hmm, thanks for the help.

I was also looking at the Dunlop SP9000 which I have heard are better than the Pilots. Anyone agree? Disagree?

Overall though I might go ahead with the P7000 for now and switch to something later. Still a bit undecided.

m3avrck, OT but, what paint have you been using to refinish your wheels? Are you just using that Audi write up with the Wurth paint? How well does it match the contours? I would like to fix the curb rash that the previous owner left on 3 out of 4 of my wheels.

edit - one more thing, are you just scraping the paint off the damaged area or repainting the entire wheel?

Originally posted by NiTE
m3avrck, OT but, what paint have you been using to refinish your wheels? Are you just using that Audi write up with the Wurth paint? How well does it match the contours? I would like to fix the curb rash that the previous owner left on 3 out of 4 of my wheels.

edit - one more thing, are you just scraping the paint off the damaged area or repainting the entire wheel?

Well I'm actually repainting the entire wheel. I haven't seen that Audi write up yet, but here is what I'm doing.

I'm using this Tal Strip II Aircraft Coating Remover (got it from a friend's shop) to remove all of the clear coat on the outer rim, along with a majority of the paint. Just at this step now.

Then I'm going to sand down some of the left over paint and smooth it out, and then use Wurth's Metallic Silver to paint over. I was told this will be pretty close to the original color, but I think it will be a tad bit lighter.

But if you are fixing just curb rash, you might not even need to paint. Along the outer rim if you can find some of that Aircraft Coating Remover (works great) or some other product to disolve the clear coat, that will take away all of your curb rash on that part. And then it will be smooth and polished metal underneath that you can re-clear coat.

Hope that helps.

Originally posted by m3avrck
Hmm, thanks for the help.

I was also looking at the Dunlop SP9000 which I have heard are better than the Pilots. Anyone agree? Disagree?

I know a few people that got the SP9000 as OEM on their M Roadsters. They were anxious to get them off, as a belt in them had slipped (on 4 of 12 tires - 3 diferent cars). They would thud down the road - they kiddingly refered to them as Dun-lop-lop-lop's. Don't know if Dunlop has fixed that yet. 2 of them went to Bridgestones, the other to Kumhos. All are happy now.

I have contours and am planning on getting Kumho MX's in about a month.

Yea just reading over the Kumho MX review at Tirerack and wow, these sound like great tires for an excellent price.

Think I might get a set of these, saving the $220 over the Bridgestones.

Anyone know how the treadlife on the Kumhos compares to the Bridgestones?

They have the same wear rating (220), this is a poor judge of tire wear, but it should help. If you have 7.5" all around, what size were you planning to get? The "correct" size is 235/40-17, but the MX is not available in that size. You could go with 225/40-17, I guess.... BTW, if it is an M3 and they are real contours, and it is not a 95 M3, the wheels are staggered (7.5 and 8.5)....

Oh, didn't even notice the size issue. Yes I was planning on the 235/40-17... bummer. Hmm, the 235/45-17 won't fit then? Didn't even realize that till now, as I didn't think the aspect ratio determined fit. Or does it?

No, not driving an M3 and the contours are all the same size that I got. Thanks though.

Its not that they wont fit, Kumho doesnt make the MX 235/40. 225/40 should be fine, I have a 99 M3 with the staggered setup and I'm runnning 225/40 on my front 7.5s and 245/40 on my rear 8.5s. Are your wheels all 7.5" wide? Or are they all 8.5"?

This may help....it has helped me lots of times

http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

Only problem is it does not tell you how wide a wheel you need for each tire. Nite has it hit on the head - 225's would be fine all around, but 235's would be better.

Just get 225/45/17 all around. 225/40/17 would be too short. and messup your speedometer.

Mine are staggered.

Originally posted by r6e36
Just get 225/45/17 all around. 225/40/17 would be too short. and messup your speedometer.

As compared to 235/40-17=
225/45-17 - will read 2.3% to slow
225/40-17 - will read 1.3% to fast

The error is less with the 40 series tires - you would mess up your spedo more with the 45 series.

Originally posted by NiTE
Its not that they wont fit, Kumho doesnt make the MX 235/40. 225/40 should be fine, I have a 99 M3 with the staggered setup and I'm runnning 225/40 on my front 7.5s and 245/40 on my rear 8.5s. Are your wheels all 7.5" wide? Or are they all 8.5"?

Well just looking on tirerack.com, they are listing kumho's in 235/45-17. However, this is not the 235/40-17... but my question is, does this make a huge difference when fitting the tires?

I believe they are all 7.5".

Originally posted by r6e36
Just get 225/45/17 all around. 225/40/17 would be too short. and messup your speedometer.

Why not get the 235/45 then? Digging through tirerack.com shows that do have these, in addition to the 225/45 for the kumhos.

Maybe this is a new size they are offering?

Well, after lot's of research, I think I might go with the Firehawk SZ50 EP tires.

They have gotten excellent reviews on TireRack: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Firestone&tireModel=Firehawk+SZ50+EP

So has anyone used these yet?

In addition, the closest tire size they have is 235/45-17 ... as oppossed to the 235/40-17 which would be best fit.

How much of a difference does this make?

Thanks.

A bit dated thread, but would like some more answers on the 235/45-17 fitment. Would like to throw some MXs on the front OEM rims.

How does the marginally taller tire (vs. 225/45) affect drivablity, handling, etc.?

I have sumitomos