Re: [E36] Tire Recommenation

[Dave Turnblom <DETurnblom@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

You specify all season (and implied touring) tires and have a .ca (interpreted as
Canada) domain.  You may intend to run year round or just on occasional snow to
narrow snow tire window, dunno.  I've had Turanza's on a Civic Si, have P6000SV on
Taurus wagon, and have MXV4 on my E34 535.  My personal experience and opinions
follow.  Keep in mind opinions vary...

When choosing tires for the wagon I concluded that the P6000SV and MXV4 were quite
similar.  Both had silica compounds which I figure makes tires adapt well to snow- the
P6000SV's did fine in light snow/ice, not really tested in the 535.  Turanza's did not fair
well in snow.  P6000SV's are OK in rain, but worse than the others. None are loud.

The P6KSV's handle well- a bit too well for the wagon in comfort terms.  No same car
comparo was experienced but I'll guess the MXV4 handles a bit less well and is a bit
more comfortable.  Turanza's less handling/maybe more comfort than MXV4's.  Price diff
on a set of tires is minor compared to having to live with a less than ideal choice for
~60K miles in my mind.  Consider time, mounting cost etc. to gauge relative impact of $.

If you value an incremental increase in handling over good comfort the P6000SV's are
for you.  If you want reasonable handling and good comfort, the others may be better
choices. I would not consider any to be bad choices- all qualify as touring level handling
and comfort.  I'd also consider Conti Tourings or some Yoko's BTW.   All last long as far
as I know.  The silica compounds may improve gas mileage.

Tire Rack provided the advice and P6000SV's on Mama's wagon- wrong choice for that
application.  While thier advice is only as good as the input the customer provides, it is
worth considering.  It's possible to find someone there that has run each tire on the
same car.  Find a -recommended- shop to mount/balance the new tires.  I find MOST
shops screw it up.

Enjoy (then report),  Dave Turnblom    '90 535 5sp blk/blk  deturnblom@domain.elided