X5 NEW TIRES: Michelin vs Bridgestone

[phastphil]

15,000 on my original Bridgestone Dueler 400 tires....and have elected to stay with RunFlats. The Bridgestone's are getting a bit noisy, but handle fairly well considering the bulk of the vehicle.

Any advice on:

Michelin Latitude Touring HP ZP all season tire
or
Michelin Latitude Alpin HP ZP (says made especially for BMW xDrive SAV) this is rated summer/winter/snow/ice tire
or
Bridgestone Dueler H/L 400 All Season

Michelin's about $100 more PER tire over the Dueler 400, but if they reduce the road noise and improve handling - I'm in!

NOTE my location: Ft Lauderdale, The only snow/ice we get is in our freezer! So a summer tire would be OK.
I prefer to buy at Costco - so these are my two alternatives.

[watrob]

Originally Posted by phastphil

15,000 on my original Bridgestone Dueler 400 tires....and have elected to stay with RunFlats. The Bridgestone's are getting a bit noisy, but handle fairly well considering the bulk of the vehicle.

Any advice on:

Michelin Latitude Touring HP ZP all season tire
or
Michelin Latitude Alpin HP ZP (says made especially for BMW xDrive SAV) this is rated summer/winter/snow/ice tire
or
Bridgestone Dueler H/L 400 All Season

Michelin's about $100 more PER tire over the Dueler 400, but if they reduce the road noise and improve handling - I'm in!

NOTE my location: Ft Lauderdale, The only snow/ice we get is in our freezer! So a summer tire would be OK.
I prefer to buy at Costco - so these are my two alternatives.

Get the Dunlops, I have had 4 X5's and the Dunlops handle better, I have Bridgestones's at the moment on my new M50d and they don't handle as well as the Dunlops. They let go under heavy cornering.

[dkreidel]

Originally Posted by watrob

Get the Dunlops, I have had 4 X5's and the Dunlops handle better, I have Bridgestones's at the moment on my new M50d and they don't handle as well as the Dunlops. They let go under heavy cornering.

Agreed - Dunlops are the best RFT's on the planet right now.

Dick

[phastphil]

Thanks for the recommendations....I assume the Dunlap's are the SP Sport 01 DSST ?

My only problem is Costco carries only Michelin and Bridgestone.....the local tire shops have terrible customer service and always try to hit you up for a alignment even if there are NO signs of needing one. They use the SCARE tactic: if you don't align, we won't warrant the tires. Such B.S. I just hate handing over my $55K vehicle to a shop of hacks. (IMHO).

I'm leaning toward Michelins, but would be grateful if anyone with first hand experience with the Michelin's would mention their experience. I'm not sure if these were OE tires?

Thanks in advance...
Phil

[chiplee]

Originally Posted by phastphil

Thanks for the recommendations....I assume the Dunlap's are the SP Sport 01 DSST ?

My only problem is Costco carries only Michelin and Bridgestone.....the local tire shops have terrible customer service and always try to hit you up for a alignment even if there are NO signs of needing one. They use the SCARE tactic: if you don't align, we won't warrant the tires. Such B.S. I just hate handing over my $55K vehicle to a shop of hacks. (IMHO).

I'm leaning toward Michelins, but would be grateful if anyone with first hand experience with the Michelin's would mention their experience. I'm not sure if these were OE tires?

Thanks in advance...
Phil

Yeah I would be hesitant to hand it over to those guys as well. I don't think I've ever used a local tire shop (or any shop that does mostly tires including costco/walmart etc) without getting some new scratch or 160ft/lbs of torque on my lug studs.

I've found my local BMW dealer (autobahn in Fort Worth) to be outstanding. I recommend checking with a dealer near you. I was so sure they'd be overpriced for mount/balance work I almost didn't check with them. Turned out they road force balanced the tires that I brought in for $25/tire. My experience with road force balancing is pretty extensive, and it's always been closer to $50/wheel and that's "if" you buy them there. This gives you the latitude to switch to any tire you want and probably get a better price by mail order.

Why are you set on RFTs? The Dunlops ride like cinder blocks, wear like pencil erasers and cost an arm and a leg. I pulled them off for Conti Extreme Contact DWS non-RFT's and have been in love ever since. Half the price, twice the tread life and awesome ride quality. Can't beat it.

[phastphil]

Originally Posted by chiplee

Yeah I would be hesitant to hand it over to those guys as well. I don't think I've ever used a local tire shop (or any shop that does mostly tires including costco/walmart etc) without getting some new scratch or 160ft/lbs of torque on my lug studs.

I've found my local BMW dealer (autobahn in Fort Worth) to be outstanding. I recommend checking with a dealer near you. I was so sure they'd be overpriced for mount/balance work I almost didn't check with them. Turned out they road force balanced the tires that I brought in for $25/tire. My experience with road force balancing is pretty extensive, and it's always been closer to $50/wheel and that's "if" you buy them there. This gives you the latitude to switch to any tire you want and probably get a better price by mail order.

Why are you set on RFTs? The Dunlops ride like cinder blocks, wear like pencil erasers and cost an arm and a leg. I pulled them off for Conti Extreme Contact DWS non-RFT's and have been in love ever since. Half the price, twice the tread life and awesome ride quality. Can't beat it.

Thanks greatly for the reply. I thought I was the ONLY person paranoid about the local tire shops. The Costco guys do a pretty good job IMHO. But, I didn't really consider the local BMW dealer. However, when my wife's tires needed replacement, I asked the MB dealer for a price. Although completive, I asked them how long it would take? They said they send the tires/wheels to a local tire shop which takes just a day, but knowing they farm it out left me COLD. I took it to Costco and was very satisfied with their work. They even knew the correct settings for torquing the wheel lugs and used a torque wrench. The MB dealer charged for flats, rebalancing and didn't offer hazard warranty. Costco just a few miles from my home, the MB dealer 15 miles on the other end of town.

I see a lot of guys (maybe even some girls LOL) have converted over to conventional tires and seem to like the switch. But, one needs to address the spare tire issue. Either a can of tire fixit or a compact spare. However, I bought into the RUN FLAT WARRANTY when i purchased the car new, so I've got a bunch of $$ invested in the run flat warranty. I gambled I would have a problem, but up until now, not even a slow leak.

We have a new 2013 328i on it's way from the factory, and it has run flats. I really like the added safety for my wife (this will be her first BMW - finally waving goodbye to the MB star). Knowing she can drive safely for a short distance without worrying about changing the tire is a huge advantage. Someone in another thread mentioned that the factory tunes the suspension for run flats which would make me wonder if the handling changed adversely with conventional tires???

Still wondering if anyone has first hand experience with the Michelin's???