Rft

[Silver320]

Just repalced Michelin tyres for my other car, and got a free gift, a 4 in 1 digital pressure gauge. Very good and handy unit, with LEF lights, sharp steel hammer to break glass window and a cutter to cut the seat belt during emergency. I find the hammer is good for our BMW with Winguard tinted film as this film is claimed unbreakable, it is dangerous when accident happens.

Also managed to ask for prices of RFT 225 45 R17, Michelin RM1280, Conti RM1310.

 

[Schwepps]

Thanks for the tip Silver. I was just about to order Pirelli P7s for the W211 and will now go back to Michelin. The power of marketing!

Interesting prices for the RFTs. What range of tyres were the Michelins and Contis? Each range has different characteristics. Also what countries were they made in, do you know? I have some doubts about the raw material QC of tires made in certain regional countries. Always important to know the origin of one's tires.

 

[Silver320]

Schwepps, the model for the conti is CSC2, while not too sure of the Michelin as the salesperson just wrote p/primcy. Anyway, my tyre is long to due, done only 3500 km after 2.5 months.

I believed branded tyres demand certain QC standard regardless of country of made. Just like many people thought that CBU BMW is better quality than our CKD, but we still buy it. I wonder whether other countries ever import Malaysia CKD BMW to their countries, just like those who bought the Japan or England specs, if so, will the buyers from other country think that Malaysian's assembled BMW is lower quality than other countries...

 

[Schwepps]

Oooo! That would be Michelin Pilot Primacy in the Pilot range. A pretty good tire with AA-rated traction and 240 wear rating. Good price la!

You're probably right about the branded tire QC. It's just that I met a tire raw material supplier in a certain regional country and what he told me about how he lowers costs was worrying. However, I don't know what brands he supplies to. It happens. Who would imagine decent human beings would add industrial melamine to milk just to make more money? Now melamine has been discovered even in branded chocolates as of today. Listen to the news tonight.

 

[danc]

Guys,

I beg to differ. There are loads of reports on the difference of Goodyear F1 tires made in Germany Vs Thailand. Trust me you don't want to touch the Thai ones.

 

[Schwepps]

I didn't want to be as direct as Danc, but he IS talking about a regional country isn't he? Sad to say, manufacturing feedstock tampering in Asia is more rampant than we know. The current melamine scandal is the proverbial tip of the iceberg. Sometimes there are good reasons for thinking that things made in the west are better.

 

[Silver320]

Oops, my new Michelin is made in Thailand ! But the ride is good lah. Hope this feeling last long.

 

[Schwepps]

Silver, don't worry. I've used Thai Michelins before with no problems.

 

[peanut]

Pilot sport

This past weekend I found that one of my original E90 325i sports Bridgestone RFTs had a bulging problem. Apparently, the outer edge of the tire hit/rub against a pothole when I drive along Sg Buloh to Monterez club road. My rim were not damaged or scratched at all! I had to make an unplanned trip to my tire shop.

Since it was hard to find RFT on late Sat, I decided to change all four to non RFT Michellin PS2. May be the tires have not "broken in", my initial impression is that PS2 does not feel any "softer" or more comfortable than Bridgestone RE050 RFT. Well, I guess I will wait for a while for the new set to settle in first.

BTW, my 18" PS2 were made in Brazil instead of France.

 

[bimmerdude]

This past weekend I found that one of my original E90 325i sports Bridgestone RFTs had a bulging problem. Apparently, the outer edge of the tire hit/rub against a pothole when I drive along Sg Buloh to Monterez club road. My rim were not damaged or scratched at all! I had to make an unplanned trip to my tire shop.

Since it was hard to find RFT on late Sat, I decided to change all four to non RFT Michellin PS2. May be the tires have not "broken in", my initial impression is that PS2 does not feel any "softer" or more comfortable than Bridgestone RE050 RFT. Well, I guess I will wait for a while for the new set to settle in first.

BTW, my 18" PS2 were made in Brazil instead of France.

i believe the RE050s are made in Japan. my original rfts are made in japan.

 

[Schwepps]

Greetings peanut. If the pothole was bad enough to damage your tire, it's a good chance that your rim was also dented. A dented rim doesn't necessarily mean visible dents and scratches on the sides, but more importantly whether it was knocked out of true round. The tire shop will be able to tell when balancing the wheel. One of my wheels was dented by a pothole recently, although I was only going about 40kmh, and my tire wasn't damaged. I just didn't see it! It's still okay for use of course, but damn irritating as I love my 193s. Our road surface integrity is jerry-rig engineering ranking with the worst in the world.

Your unit is about a year old right? Out of interest, how worn were your RE050As and that's after how many km? Michelin PS2s are very good tires, rated AA for traction and 220 for threadwear. AA is even higher than the RE050As. But I wouldn't expect non-RFTs to feel more comfortable than RFTs. IMHO, it's more a psychological than a physical expectation.

 

[Silver320]

Hi, peanut, since your rft had replaced with non-rft, do you keep any spare tyre ? IF so, you should have bought 5 new tyres + additional 1 18" rim.

 

[bimmerdude]

or buy a mobility kit.

 

[peanut]

Greetings peanut. If the pothole was bad enough to damage your tire, it's a good chance that your rim was also dented. A dented rim doesn't necessarily mean visible dents and scratches on the sides, but more importantly whether it was knocked out of true round. The tire shop will be able to tell when balancing the wheel. One of my wheels was dented by a pothole recently, although I was only going about 40kmh, and my tire wasn't damaged. I just didn't see it! It's still okay for use of course, but damn irritating as I love my 193s. Our road surface integrity is jerry-rig engineering ranking with the worst in the world.

Your unit is about a year old right? Out of interest, how worn were your RE050As and that's after how many km? Michelin PS2s are very good tires, rated AA for traction and 220 for threadwear. AA is even higher than the RE050As. But I wouldn't expect non-RFTs to feel more comfortable than RFTs. IMHO, it's more a psychological than a physical expectation.

Schwepps, yes I did ask the tire shop to do a thorough check on all the rims. The tire shop is my trusted shop - Consistent Distinction (or Ah Wah) at Taman Maju Jaya. I was sort of "lucky" that the hit was exactly at one of the spoke (the strongest area). So no damage at all at that wheel. I must say that I am very impressed with the toughness of the 193s. I have been thinking about changing to 19" but the original 193s are so practical and tough that I just could not do it

Yes, my unit is slightly more than 1 year with only about 27k km only. My affected tire was the front tire and my front actually still have about 25-30% left. However, the back tires have only 15% left and hence the whole set swap. Must be too much 0-100 sprints just to hear the sound of my Remus exhaust. :driver:
Since it rained earlier today, I feel the PS2 is much better in wet than RE050A. Of course, since I am in breaking in period for the tires, strictly no high speed corning yet :burnout:

 

[peanut]

Tire pressure

... since I just did the autopsy on my damaged front tire, I discovered two things:

1. It is possible to have damage without any apparent direct hit into the pothole. In my case, it is the outside edge (the corner where the side wall and base) hit against uneven surface and there was an internal crack and caused the bulge. There was no external damage and no tire pressure drop at all. Luckily, I was at my friend's Raya open house and we just hanged around the car and someone spotted it. Otherwise, it could be very dangerous later on! Moral of the story: do check your tires regularly.

2. I also noticed that my RFTs show sign of under inflation as there were minor internal edge wear on my front tires. This seems to indicate wear due to under inflation of tire. This is interesting as I put 34psi and 37psi front and back respectively and I thought there were on the high side.

 

[Schwepps]

Yes, lucky it was spotted peanut or you could have had a blowout while running at high speed. Perish the thought!

The PS2s would definitely be better both in the wet and dry than the RE050As. If your RE050As were maintained at 34 and 37 psi, they wouldn't have been under-inflated. But it's just as important to check regularly. I checked mine today and they'd all lost 1 psi each in one week!

BTW, did you get the free digital pressure gauge that Michelin is offering right now for a full set of tires? I cancelled my order for a set of Pirellis and ordered a set of Michelins (for my W211) just because of that.

 

[peanut]

BTW, did you get the free digital pressure gauge that Michelin is offering right now for a full set of tires? I cancelled my order for a set of Pirellis and ordered a set of Michelins (for my W211) just because of that.

No, I was aware. Got to check with the shop tomorrow. Anyway, I have the analog Michelin tire pressure gauge that serves me well for many years - very accurate and consistent.

 

[mummygohan]

any damaged sidewall pics of your RFT, peanut??

 

[peanut]

any damaged sidewall pics of your RFT, peanut??

Unfortunately, no. I should have but was too distressed to remember that I have a phone that can take the pictures of the damaged tires!

 

[E46Fanatic]

Since it was hard to find RFT on late Sat, I decided to change all four to non RFT Michellin PS2. May be the tires have not "broken in", my initial impression is that PS2 does not feel any "softer" or more comfortable than Bridgestone RE050 RFT. Well, I guess I will wait for a while for the new set to settle in first.

BTW, my 18" PS2 were made in Brazil instead of France.

Yeah so is mine. The France batch feel better from my experience, more gluey, softer and supple compared to the Brazil batch. But regardless, they are still great tyres IMHO. t2ribena got France batch PS2's for his E60 Sports, so its still in the market here in KL. Just have to shop around a bit to get the France batch.

Overall going to 18's PS2 non-RFTs from 17's RE050A RFTs were significantly more comfy in my case. What tyre pressures are you running now for your PS2s?