Tyre advice

[Cliveost]

Hi I’m after some advice on tyres for my x1 23d x drive. My car runs 225-45 r 18 on the front and 255-40 r 18 on the rear. Currently have Pirelli all round. I have replaced them all in the last 12 months. When I serviced the car at the weekend I noticed the rears are nearly on the wear markers. I have done around 12000 miles on them. They have worn perfectly square and have no tracking issues. This doesn’t seem particularly good mileage for tyres that were £250 each fitted. I don’t drive particularly hard. The fronts are still like new!

Does this seem normal in your experience?

Is there any issue with replacing the rears with a different brand?

I have been looking at Michelin, Bridgestone, Continental etc. Is there any I should avoid?

I am sticking with the run flats and am not interested in the non run flats argument. Cost is not a major issue but would like to get more than 12 months out of them if possible.

Thanks in advance for your help.

[sapphireblack]

General thinking and advice is all matching treads with minimal tread depth differences. Depends on the model now but iirc 3mm maximum on the same axle and between front and rear axles. BMW may have advanced X drive but its twitchy and will cause financial grief if its not happy. Basically the transfer box will fail, in the extreme.

[Leslie]

12k sounds not far off for a set of tyres these days just surprised the fronts are still like new on an x drive did you replace them all at the same time or a good bit apart despite all being in the last 12 months ?

[Cliveost]

Thanks for the replies. I replaced the fronts probably 3 months after the rears. If 12000 is ok then so be it. I will buy Pirelli again for the rear just to be safe. I got 40000 out of a set of continentals on my Mercedes so thought 12000 wasn’t a lot.

[Leslie]

It's not great but it seems common enough , that was impressive in the merc but a lot of it is down to driving style and the more power you have the less tyres tend to last Performance tyres tend to not be that long lasting as compromises have to be made to get the grip
By comparison the rears on my x5 e70 lasted 15k but the fronts were worn bald on the outer edges by not much more than 5k (underinflation as I used the recommended pressure for runflats on ordinary tyres which was far too low )

[Cliveost]

I don’t drive particularly hard and have more power/torque than in my Mercedes. I just thought a premium tyre should last more than 12 months. I guess I will be having new rear tyres every year!

[sapphireblack]

In a conversation with Camskill (wholesalers) i queried the apparent fast wearing of Continental SSRs on my X6.

To my surprise and dismay i was told they're only designed for 10k miles. Sobering and expensive.

They're a harder riding tyre but I'll revert to Bridgestone Duellers when appropriate.

[X5Sport]

I’ve got Conti’s on mine too (and the E46) so a 10k wear life is not good news given a set costs the thick end of £900. The OEM fitted Dunlop’s weren’t much better though. Back to Bridgestone then…