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      12-04-2012, 12:18 PM   #46
ndabunka
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Drives: 2012 X5 35d Sport Black/Black
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Charlotte, NC

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Quote:
Originally Posted by sycd View Post
I did switch between summer runflats RFT to conti's all season non-RFT on a 335i a few years back, and it was a night and day difference. The conti's feel was terrible in that car, you could feel a difference every day, no need to go on a track. I went back to the runflats summer after a couple of thousand miles and never looked back. Granted it's not the same car, but the difference in tire feel was very noticeable, so with the higher power X5 I'm pretty sure it will be noticeable as well. I was also reading similar good reviews on the 3er forums about the conti's back then, but after this bad experience I'm now very skeptical of these types of reviews, and will stick with summer tires (RFTs if the car came with it) unless weather absolutely requires something else.
I actually use to track cars as well and one thing we all know is that individual tires are different based on platform. A 185/45-16 DWS is not the same as a 275/40-20 DWS that is used on these trucks. Read the TireRack reviews and you will see that for these SUV's, the DWS is one of the best out there.

The run flats that came on my X5 diesel were unnecessarily harsh and a bit noisy. The DWS's ride SIGNIFICANTLY smoother and a bit quieter. At speeds of 55MPH down an exit ramp there is some difference but since these are the exact same size & profile, it is minimal and well beyond the control and handling 95% of the population would require. I could probably have went 65MPH around that same exit ramp with the Run Flats but the reality is that few drivers are going to try and go 65MPH down a 35MPH markered exit ramp. Rather, most will probably drive it at 45MPH and still have a significant buffer.

If you are driving a X5M, I would say "stick with the RFT option" but for any other driver, the Conti DWS's are an exceptional tire regardless of summer or winter weather conditions.
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