After 21000 miles on my orginal Contis (one tire had uneven outside wear that started to cause a rotational thumping noise), I got 195/60R-15 Michelin Pilot Exalto A/S tires from Tirerack installed today by Great Bear Tires in Queens. I chose the place based on Tirerack reviews. Well my experience concurred with the general consensus. No issues.

Luckily my '07 R56 had rubber valves, so I could install an aftermarket TPMS set from Portal Media without much hassle. It's got an usb interface and nice plug-ins for Centrafuse or Riderunner (software frontends for carpcs). I've been using Centrafuse now.

I also got my tires aligned. The rear right tire's toe was especially off and I think that caused the thumping noise that I noticed after I recently rotated that tire up to the front. I'm going to be better now avoiding potholes here in NYC. Probably should get yearly alignments from now on.

The tires are quieter and more comfortable than my oem worn Contis. I'll see how they perform once I break them in.

Alignment:


New TPMS metal valve:


Centrafuse plug-in software (Those pressures were right out of the shop. They're now all obsessive-compulsively 33 psi.):