Best Tires for the BMW E38 7 Series

As I write this - I have just contacted Continental Malaysia and Continental Singapore for assistance to check my 3 weeks old tires, I am using UC7 at the moment and the aquaplanning is very bad, light wet conditions at 60km/h to 70km/h. It "floats" around all over and this is not an exaggeration as I doubt it performs this bad. I hope Continental will assist me with this matter.

Riken UHP-on my heavy Bmw E38 this tires performs very well,good grip wet and dry.I'm done it one trip from Bristol to London in a heavy rain,BRILLIANT!I've been very confident with this tires,realy recommended.Cheap,good performance,good handling,low noise

I driven my Bmw 728i already 500 miles,absolutly amazing this tires.185 quid all 4 tires is not bad and rain or dry,this tires are realy very good.And handling and brake and noise,everything feels very well!RECOMMENDED TYRES.Buy with confidence.Don't listen are not safe or made in China,bla bla bla.Nowadays life is changed ridicolous,is the time and for others to be in pole position,not only the big brands.Try them!!! Brilliant

I don't know where Wanli tires should be classified, because they are budget friendly tires, but they also perform really well. This tread design has very good grip on both dry and wet roads and makes a great comfortable ride. I can have both affordability and quality in Wanli tires. I will definitely buy again.

I was really excited about these as I've had the Nokian Hakka's which make you feel like a king in Winter blowing my SUV's like they're standing still in aweful conditions. However, six pounds per tire heavier in my size for my BMW means an additional 25% tire weight per corner vs the Michelins I'm considering. The reviewer that said his car felt like it lost 20HP raised a red flag and compelled me to check the specifications on the Nokian website. My BMW won't be getting these any time soon. More weight means slower steering response, worse acceleration, ride, handling, braking, fuel mileage etc. I've been down this road before. Unsprung weight is an item you really want to work to minimize and I have with 20 pound 18" wheels. Disappointed but thank you reviewers. Check the specs in your size on the Nokian website, it didn't appear that all sizes were over weight, but mine was.

Not a bad tire for the price, certainly better than the Avons they replaced. Good in snow when quite new and quiet on the motorway. Just about made 20000 miles, about 7000 of that towing a car trailer to meetings. They have been driven hard and I have no real complaints. That said however I am due to replace them and on recommendation I am opting for the Nokian Z G2.

Fantastic tires, fitted the Sportmaxx RT to the rear of my BMW 728i after coming from a set of cheapo Wanli's, and the difference is night and day.

Dry grip is excellent, wet grip so much better that I now no longer need to nervously take a bend with sweaty palms waiting for the back end to slide out. The best thing about these tires however has been the noise, or rather lack of it. They are just so quiet at motorway speeds, the car is now a pleasure to drive.

I can't comment on wear as I am only 1,000 miles in but so far no apparent scrubbing or undue wear.

These came with the 7 Series when I bought it, the first time I took the car out in the wet I lost the rear on a roundabout and ever since then I have been scared of these tires.

They are frightening on wet roads, I've managed to recover some rear end slides at very low speeds but that is how I have had to drive my car with them. Any quicker i'd be a goner. In the dry they are fine, but I have no clue why anyone would buy these tires for a RWD car considering the lack of grip they provide.

I have now replaced these tires.

I am a professional driver, with over 1,7 Million Miles of driving experience primarily in heavy, powerful rear wheel drive vehicles, such as the Mercedes S430, BMW 740i Euro, BMW 540i, and most notably the BMW M5.
During my driving experience, I have learned several things about tires, which I could share with you.

a)I am a very, very demanding driver - I am able to discern a difference in ‘cut in' during a high powered turn instantly
b)I can usually tell, knock on wood, exactly where the breaking point is when a tire is just about to lose grip from the asphalt during high powered activities
c)I can very well tell the difference between tires, and I don't “forget” what tires feel like, I still to this day remember the characteristics of one of my favorite tires ever, the Potenza S03 which is now unfortunately out of production.

Recently I was faced, once again, with the “tire purchase dilemma” - last year I went through the same thing, and purchased the highly recommended “Dunlop Sport SP9000”, in 235/50/18 + 255/45/18 for my BMW 740i. I was extremely disappointed, as I had just removed a set of worn out Continental ContiSport Contacts (original), and the difference was absolutely shocking. On the same exact route I took to the tire shop, and back, I noticed that in order to turn the vehicle at speed, 2-3 degrees more of turn on the steering wheel were required to accomplish the same turn I did hours earlier. I initially chalked it up to break in period, but, it never got better. I ended up wearing the tires out, and most definitely it was an uninspiring, slow, and rather unpleasant driving “year” for me.
After this, having lost all memory of the car's performance and handling capabilities, I reverted back to the 16” 235/60/16 16x8” wheels, and put a new set of Continental Premium Contact 2 tires on them. Review on this, 5/5, for a 235/60/16 tire, you can't get any better than this. This is a better tire by far than the previous top contender, the Michelin Pilot 235/60/16 100W, and it's also much better than the Pirelli P6000 100W, which I might add is a horrible tire in the dry, way too much screeching and not enough grip. Shameful.
A few months later, summer comes around, and I was looking at my 18” wheels which are idle in the garage, and decided to get some tires on them to enjoy the 18” wheels over the summer. I was faced with the following choices:

*Michelin Pilot Sport - discontinued
*Michelin Pilot Sport A/S- horrible reviews
*Goodyear Eagle F1 - done that in the past, WAY too much noise, and MUCH too poor grip
*Bridgestone Potenza S03 - probably the best tire I've ever owned, unfortunately discontinued now, so this is out of the question
*Continental ContiSport Contact 2, sure a good choice, and probably would have been excellent due to it's straight-line tread rather than these silly angled designs, but I skipped over this due to cost
*Dunlop - forget it - see above (if you want to have any semblance of straight tracking, forget about the SP9000)
*Nokian Z G2 - as soon as I saw this tire, I liked it - the straight tread pattern, the solid sidewall, and the high load capacity rating, not to mention the dozens of reviews of people using these tires on M5's and other powerful cars - made me put this on the top list

A week later, after literally flipping a coin between the ContiSport Contact 2, and the Nokian - I chose the Nokian Z G2.

These are solid tires, with a very firm sidewall, and most definitely give a “solid” feel from the first glance.
Fast Forward:
*Tires mounted on car
*Car driven so far 5700KM
*I immediately realized what I had been missing all these years, with the horrible Dunlop and Goodyear “NAME BRAND” tires I've been running

Pros:
*Cut in during turns - EXCELLENT, BEST EVER, maybe even BETTER than the legendary S03 Potenza
*Stopping response while straight and/or turning - EXCELLENT 10/10
*Road Noise - 8/10 - you can definitely hear them - but it's nothing like the roar of the Goodyear Eagle F1's I had (asymmetric)
*Starting traction - my car is heavily modified with 340 RWHP - it's very easy to break the tires loose especially on a 1st gear start, and during 1-2 shifts (3.15 LSD rear)
Guess what - these tires are the STICKIEST, tires I have __EVER__ used, even with 340 RWHP I can't get more than a chirp out of the right rear tire, and the 1-2 shift / 2-3 shift rear-end-sliding-around is gone. (that was fun, but it's unsafe esp. if it happens and you're not expecting it)

THEREFORE:

If you're one of those guys, like me, that likes to drive hard, solid, and you're not one of these guys that “has to show off” that he got the EAGLE F1 or the PIRELLI ... give these tires a shot.

You absolutely can't go wrong. After all, I love these tires so much that I spent the money to buy this domain, and the hosting, just to tell you and save you money and SUFFERING from buying some horrible Dunlop SP9000 like I did last year.

NOKIAN Z G2
My rating: 10/10
Cost: 70% of Dunlop cost
Performance: 300% better than everything else (except again, Potenza S03, but that's discontinued ;)
235/50/18
255/45/18
BMW 2001 740i Sport 6 speed Euro spec

Got them from e-bay brand new, and put them as rear wheels of my BMW 740i. The wear rate has been terrible, in just 200miles I have 2mm treading left.
I bought from e-bay also used partworn 7mm Goodyear F1 GDS3's on front wheels, and they are perfect with no wear at all.
I still cannot believe the wear rate. Could it be because the tire is made no more and could have expired? but then that particular brand of Goodyears are also not made anymore. I took my car to a garage and I have no problem with my rear axle or wheels, and the seller on e-bay cannot come up with explanation. I am definitely not using these or any bridgestones anymore. I am still in shock at the wear rate of my rear Bridgestone Potenza S02's compared to the Goodyear F1's in front, Can someone explain to me why the Bridgestones tires wore out so quickly. I need an answer!!!!