So I discovered on my car (RWD, Rft):

RH Front : Bridgestone S001 -6mm
RH Rear: Bridgestone S001 -6mm
LH Front: Pirelli P Zero – 7mm
RH Rear: Bridgestone RE050 -6mm

FFS. Now, because it’s a BMW the front/rears cannot be interchanged. That RE050 is worn in the centre, to the point that of the two radial bands either side of the centre band which should have sipes, they almost don’t. Yet the wear indicators show about 6mm to go and the shoulders are good. So:

A) will i die?
B) what to do?

A) Yes
B) Buy new tyres and a pressure gauge

Tyres to me are about the most important part of your car, maybe more important than brakes

I’d be throwing away 4 good tyres… And they aren’t cheap.

If you cannot swap front and rear. you cannot get a match on each axle.

Premium tyres so not a horror story

What is the spare? (does it have a full size tyre)

Change the rears first when circumstance permits

I would drive it about and decide if it matters. Basically if the tyres perform pretty similiarly. I like matched pairs but I’m a nerd.

Course, you don’t need to throw away good tyres even if you decide to swap, sounds like the RE is past its prime but if the others are good you could swap one tyre and store the other, then reuse it later.

What is the spare? (does it have a full size tyre)

None, they are run flats.

I was er, aggressive with them in the wet the other day 10 degrees, wet and winding county roads then a tad more than 70 on the motorway on very heavy rains and didn’t get a twitch out of the TC.

Ok so I will die but not quite yet due to tyres. I checked £484 for some Conti sport contact 5’S all around.

are those more run flats?

That RE050 is worn in the centre, to the point that of the two radial bands either side of the centre band which should have sipes, they almost don’t. Yet the wear indicators show about 6mm to go and the shoulders are good.

Sounds like it’s over-inflated.

Basil – yes. Cougar it may have been, I’m the second owner – the first thing I did after collection was to check all the air pressures on the way home.

I’m firmly in the camp that your tyres are the most important contact patch between you and staying on the road……do you compromise on your bikes tyres for performance? You’re only risking your health on a bike so why risk yours and some poor other unsuspecting member of the public with your cars tyres not being at their prime if you are going to drive spiritedly. It’s part of the costs of driving an premium car brand.
And yes all my cars/vanstyres get checked once a week for pressure/abnormalities/wear pattern and rotated every 4K miles on the car with 4motion (front to rear only on the 4motion as per manufacturers recommendation) and replaced when down to 3mm!

Like I said, my idea of spirited driving didn’t get the traction control on using 380nm on 245’s RWD in the wet. I’ll be ok on my usual pootle.

In others news, some googling reveals all tyre labels to be the same, so there shouldn’t be too much variation.

Having had run flat RE050s on my 3 series, I’d say you’ll be doing yourself a favour by getting shot of them. Nasty horrible uncomfortable noisy things

At one point I did end up with a mix of tyres on mine. It didn’t drive quite as straight as it does now with matching tyres all round on, but it certainly wasn’t bad enough to ditch them straight away. It made far less difference than getting a decent 4 wheel alignment did.

Most tyres seem to have a variety of different height sipes these days, so some will wear out quicker than others. So long as the depth of all the big deep circumferential grooves is about the same I wouldn’t be too worried. My summer Goodyears which I’ve just taken off I’ve almost worn off some of the shallower sipes off, but the main trenches have still got 5mm+ left across the full width.

Suggsey – Member

You’re only risking your health on a bike so why risk yours and some poor other unsuspecting member of the public with your cars tyres not being at their prime if you are going to drive spiritedly.

All based on the assumption that it’s putting anyone at risk. As long as the car remains stable etc (ie, there’s not one side that grips much harder than the other or responds differently to bad surfaces, etc) then 2 mismatched premium tyres will still perform well- much better than many perfectly legal, matched pairs.

The worn tyre is probably the bigger concern here, siping etc really comes into its own in winter.

Do some emergency stops on a quiet wet road and see what happens. If you dare see what it does in a wet turn on the limit. See how the traction control behaves when accelerating isn’t telling you much regarding avoiding accidents.

Can you not just buy a couple of Bridgestones with 6mm tread on eBay? Sell the ones you take off, and overall it should cost you little more than the price of fitting.

Oh good call Butcher. Seems there are a load on eBay. Avoiding the punctured repaired ones, a pair would cost me approx £80 delivered. Nice.

Make sure there is a valid reason for them to be removed and is from a legitimate source. It’s the tyre fitters health (and face) that is at risk if it turns out it was removed due a defect/damage that is hard to spot.

Northwind my comments were based on tread depth/water dispersion/aqua planing aspect. 😉

Take it to a decent tyre place for a second opinion.

All 4 of my tyres were low so I bought a tyre depth gauge and I always check tyre pressure once a month.

Tyre garage just confirmed my tyres had 2-3K left but that was in summer.

Changed my tyres and yes it cost a bit but the week after; there were heavy downpours and I’m glad I swapped!

I didn’t buy Conti’s again as they get too hard under 12C.