Good Day All,

I just picked up my new Countryman S ALL4 with 18" Wheels and am currently looking to switch out my Duelers for an All Weather Tire as I live in NY and need to deal with snow, etc. I will also be going to a non-runflat design.

I will likely be ordering from Tire Rack and was just looking for some opinions. I have looked at many posts on this most informative Forum and am more confused than ever, heheheh.

Here goes; I thought I had narrowed it down to the Continental Extreme Contact DWS and the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3 (H- or V-Speed Rated). Upon speaking with the shop who will be doing the installation, the Owner suggested that I also consider the Michelin Primacy MXM4 and the General AltiMAX RT43 (H- or V-Speed Rated). I know the crowd is fairly equally mixed on the first two but not sure about either of the others.

Also, he said I could consider putting on a 235/45 tire on my MINI. Has anyone tried that and what have been your findings.

Any insight/assistance you can provide a new Countryman Owner would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.........

DR.

 

I run michelin pilot super sports 225/50R18 summer tires and dunlop grandtrek sj6 205/70R16 winter tires on mini oem 16 inch alloy wheels I bought from ecstuning.com

neither are runflats and neither are a compromise ... the michelins are outstanding summer tires, wet or dry and the dunlops are excellent winter tires, especially on ice and in deep (12 inch) snow. they are 27.3 inch od vs the stock 25.9 od giving additional ground clearance

I use the 225/50 pss because it has a taller sidewall to protect the rims from potholes AND they cost $75 per tire less than yhe 225/45 size

 

Thanks for your input. On a side note, how do you account for the affect those different tire sizes have on your speedometer? Do you somehow have it re-calibrated each time you switch them out?

 

I checked the speedo accuracy when new using 2 methods, a stopwatch on the I-state and my aviation gps that reports speed to the nearest 0.1 mph.

I had a co-driver operate the stopwatch, gps and record tines and speeds.

using the stopwatch I tested at 5 mph intervals from 40 mph to 80 mph uding cruise on the I-state.

using the gps I tested the same as the stopwatch AND on rural roads up to 120 mph im 10 mph steps again on cruise.

I found via stopwatch thst the speedo was 2 mph faster than actual speed and then using the gps that it was 1.9 mph faster than actual.

after install of the 205/70R16 winters (btw, the largest od tire that fit with no mods and no rubbing), I repeated the gps test and found the speedo to be 0.6 mph UNDER actual speed. a 2.5 mph change from the stock tire size.

after install of the 225/50R18 summers and repesting the tests, results were the speedo is spot on ... less than 0.1 mph error.

most interesting is that in all cases, the error between the speedo and measured speed was CONSTANT ... this leads me to believe the car knows how fast it is going and the reported speed is manipulated. this has been reported elsewhere as true because of an EU law requiring new cars NEVER display a speed less than the actual speed.

 

I also used a tire pyrometer to set tire pressures

with the oem pirelli p7 summer rfs, that was 42 psi front, 37 psi rear

with the dunlop winters, 40 psi front and 35 psi rear

with the michelin pss, 44 psi front and 38 psi rear

all set with full fuel and 2 front seat passengers, empty rear sests and empty boot

 

bmwr606......Thanks for the info.

After doing quite a bit of reading, I have decided to go with the 225/45ZR-18 Continental ExtremeContact DWS tires for now. Having them installed Friday.

Now I just have to come up with an alternative for a spare tire.........

 

I put a contential conticomfort kit in the Countryman instead of hauling around a spare. It's a compressor along with a can of fix a flat. I bought it from Tirerack for $79.

Another choice is a tire repair kit with rubber patches you put in the hole and re- inflate the tire. I've seen them for sale on extremeoutback.com

A roof rack to carry a space saver spare is another option. Expensive tire, wheel, jack combo, roof rack and carrier. Gets expensive real quick. I just sold the space saver spare kit I bought for a X5. Original cost was $385 shipped.

Run flats have caused a lot of thought for folks who want to give them up, but want to be able to get themselves going again, quickly.

Even run flats can not be driven on if the blow out was bad enough to take a sidewall or a wheel down. Then you're stuck.

 

Thanks for all the replies.

Just a quick update, I went ahead and purchased the "Slime 70004 Power Spair 48 Piece Tire Repair Kit" from Amazon.com for $62 yesterday. From everything I've read, it should do the trick.

One last question for anyone running the Continental Extreme Contact DWS tires on their R60, what tire pressures do you have them set at? My installer said 35psi should be fine, I just want to get the opinion of some others. I know bmwr606 indicated in his above response what he's running at, but they are not the same type of tire.

Have a great day!!

 

Update: I increased PSI today to 38 all around.. Rides just fine, we'll see how it goes. Anyone running these tires with higher/lower PSI?