E53 X5 Accelera Iota Tyres - any good??

[Richyroos]

When I got my car a few months ago, it was shod with Accelera Iota tyres - Ive never heard of them before, what do you chaps think of them? In particular how long they last, and wet performance - I do like cars to stop when you brake!!

Sadly a few weeks ago we were away in the wilds of Cornwall, and suffered a puncture, I believe it was a flint in the verge that took a slice out of the tyre in the sidewall, which of course wrote the tyre off - needless to say when the tyre went flat, it was on a particularly wet day, and I also discovered how crap the X5 jack is - or more particularly the jack winder handle, which I really struggled with. The upshot was that I was very limited as to where I could buy a new tyre, and they didn't supply Acceleras, so I had little choice but to get a Nexen Roadian as a replacement. I would have preferred to keep all the tyres the same make, despite not knowing anything about the Acceleras, I haven't had cause for complaint with them so far.

So depending on what you think of them, can you recommend any other decent makes which don't cost a fortune to replace? I have used Khumos a few times on other cars, and been pleased with them, but they didn't last that long, the other forums have not been very forthcoming when asked to recommend tyres for the X5's, so advice would be most welcome! Thanks!

[ttr]

Richyroos,

Eh - up, for what its worth you are probably going to get a lot of feedback as people tend to have personal preferences on tyres.

Summer - i run Coopers they are a budget price tyre and perform well on the whole
Winter - Pirelli Winter are a great tyre i swear by then for where i live, get you through the white stuff with ease even on 19 with staggered set up.

In the past ive run Khumo on my shogun but not great in my view as wet grip was poor and wear rate high, Continentals i think are too hard compound, Uniroyals are a good all round tyre and they make a good range of all season tyres now.

I buy through Openeo and Camskill both are great supplier with excellent pricing - just find a local ATS to fit.

HTH

[Richyroos]

Thanks HRH, I appreciate your opinion, I just cant justify the cost of Pirellis at the prices X5's tyre sizes are, I don't know anything about Coopers tyres, I will investigate them.

The Khumos I used were on a 5 series, and I found then absolutely fine in the wet and dry, but they did wear quickly - I was lucky to get 10k from the rears. Maybe the tyres on the Shogun were a different type of tyre for use on a 4x4.

[Sky Bear]

I have been running nexen for years on a variety of our cars.

They are currently on our S class merc and discovery 3. Were  on our corvette as well. Never had a problem give good mileage and for normal road use performance is excellent. They also come with a puncture warranty but that may just be our dealer.

When the current tyres need replacing on the X5 I will put nexen on there also in most likely hood.

I do go for dedicated winter tyres that are non nexen though on the discovery when summer is gone.

SB

[Colin]

I run Toyo Proxes Sport , my last set of 4 lasted 26000mls

[Richyroos]

Thanks guys for both those recommendations, I have seen a few good reports on the Toyo Proxes, they were on my list of "possibles"  and from what you say give quite respectable mileage. I may put another Nexen Roadian on the front to match the new one I had to fit, when the current tyre wears a bit more, there is still around 4mm of tread on the Accelera at the moment.

Rich

[kkx5]

....and save some ££££ for dif/transfer/gearbox repair. What an idea to run nexen/isota and other chinese crap on xdrive car...sorry......

[Richyroos]

Interesting comment kkx5 - but why do you say that? Have you had a bad experience with Nexen or Accelera?

Also, why do you say about saving up for transmission repairs? Forgive me, but not all of us can afford to buy premium tyres, which I guess is what you are hinting at, and frankly I would not want to do, unless there was a compelling reason to pay double the price for better tyres - like improved grip (I haven't had a problem at all) or greatly better mileage from them.

[henrym3]

Having read all this I can see both points of view, I would think kkkx5 point of view is the most valid in that although the car may be 14 odd years old some of the parts on it need replacing as was specked when new and were designed as such. The other side is not wanting to spend big money on premium tyres on an old car and I suppose people can't be talked into doing so until  the TC/diff gives up. It's probably why there are so many up for sale as Spares or Repair.

[Sky Bear]

I would not expect Nexen to have any higher risk of screwing your diff than any other tyre.

The Land Rover users also talk of diff issues different tread depths winding things up and so do XC90 users. Having run Nexens for years on all of these with no problems I will continue to.

Of course my X5 has a full Quaife set up on it so maybe you could simply buy some “cheap Chinese crap” and with the money you save upgrade to a Quaife ATB

https://quaife.co.uk/quaife-products/quaife-limited-slip-differential/

SB

[X5Sport]

[quote="Richyroos"]
Interesting comment kkx5 - but why do you say that? Have you had a bad experience with Nexen or Accelera?
[/quote]

Because what he does for a living is fix broken BMW transmissions where wrong tyre choice breaks diffs and transfer boxes.  He knows what can happen.

There is a significant and long debate on here about this.  The message pure and simple is that these are premium cars with premium running costs.  If you can’t afford one then don’t buy one.  If you don’t use ‘approved’ tyres then there is an increased risk (with staggered tyre set ups) of seriously damaging your transmission.  The BMW transmissions are not as strong as they should be.  It’s personal choice and down to personal risk appetite.

[kkx5]

X5Sport, You are the man

[sleepyfolk]

What wheels are you running with, is it a staggered set up is also a good point, it seems the suggestion about ruining transmission parts seems to relate more to the staggered set up, maybe kkx5 could correct me if I’m wrong there.
I thought long and hard when I got the 4.6is for 3k whether sticking £800 quids worth of rubber on it given the value seemed excessive but on balance the old star rated Michelin Diamaris had done over 35,000 miles and weren’t worn out, just cracked to hell with age. I have a square set up on 275’s so it seems to be quite easy on the tyre wear.

My main comparisons whilst thinking about premium tyres were my old A6 Quattro on which the Pirelli’s lasted ages longer than the cheap junk I put on one year, and the last two 4WD lease cars that have had Hankooks on (no choice in that decision) - over the past 6 years I’ve replaced more Hankooks than in the rest of my life, they rarely do more than 20k and seem to puncture if you run over a cotton bud

[kkx5]

You can put whatever you want on 4.6is. All pre LCI are not xdrive bmw's. Fixed transfer box ratio 38:62 not Electronically controlled.

[Richyroos]

Would that mean that my 2004 E53 3.0D is not xdrive, and has the fixed ratio transfer box??