The last time I had to change a tire on one of my cars, it was when I took the GT3 in for servicing back in 2019. The service advisor informed me the rear tires were worn down to the cords. I had no choice but to accept a direct replacement tire from the dealership: a Michel Pilot Sport Cup 2 tire. One, because dealerships do not replace parts with ones that didn’t come with the car from the factory. Two, because the GT3 is fitted with the totally stupid center-locking hubs.
Good luck finding a third-party tire shop with necessary tools.
With the BMW M2, I was able to plan out the tire replacement. After four years since I bought the car new, the rear Michelin Pilot Super Sport tires were on their last millimeters of useable life. At a little over 20,000 miles, I can’t really ask for more mileage out of a set of summer performance tires.
Expectedly, tire technology has improved since the F87 generation M2’s introduction. The current crown of the Michelin line is the Pilot Sport 4S. The original plan was to make the upgrade to that tire when the Pilot Super Sport set wears out. I rapidly deviated from that plan soon as I saw the price: a set of Pilot Sport 4S tires is $1,620 installed at America’s tire.
To be clear, I can easily afford that price. However, the high inflation coming out of the pandemic has me looking for as much ways to save money as possible. The M2 mostly gets driven around town. The utmost in tire adhesive performance is nice, but not necessary. In an ideal world I would plop down the credit card for the Pilot Sport 4S tires immediately. In this economic world, I seek a better price to performance ratio.
In the various automotive podcasts and YouTube channels I consume, Vredestein tires is a frequent sponsor. By many accounts, the company’s summer performance tire - Ultrac Pro - offers excellent performance for a fraction of the costs for a set of Michelin. If it’s good enough for Jason Cammisa, it’s good enough for me. A set of Ultra Pro tires for the BMW is $1,132 at the same America’s Tire. An almost $500 difference is not insignificant in this economy.
But there’s a problem. In my sleuthing of the BMW forums, I was reminded the original Pilot Super Sport tires on the M2 were specified bespoke for BMW, by Michelin. (Colloquially known as star-spec.) The kinematics of the car were wholly developed with that particular spec of tires. This YouTube video shows that it is better for a BMW M car to be fitted with a star-spec set of Michelin tires than the non-specific counterpart.
So it’s back to Pilot Super Sports I go? Not quite. A set of those tires is none cheaper than the Pilot Sport 4S set.
The key here for M car owners looking to switch tire brands is to match (as close as possible) the size specification of the original equipment tire. The star-spec Pilot Super Sport for the BMW M2 is a wider than typical tire. For example: the front 245 section tire has a tread-width of 8.8 inches. That same 245/35/19 size for the Vredestein Ultrac Pro is a relatively measly 8.1 inches. Purchasing the Vredestein set - at the same factory size numbers - would mean giving up traction. For a car that’s already traction limited at the rear at times, that would not be ideal.
The Ultrac Pro at 255/35/19 (one size up on the width) is a better match at 8.7 inches of tread-width. But there’s another problem: the Ultra Pro does not come in 275/35/19 size, which would be one size up on the factory 265/35/19 rear Michelin tires.
Onto another tire brand, then.
After much additional research on the Internet, I settled on a set of Yokohama Advan Apex V601 tires. Like the Vredestein tires, the V601 needs one size up in width to match the Pilot Super Sport’s dimensions. And thanks to probably a depressed Japanese yen (Made in Japan, obviously), America’s Tire sold me a set of the Yokohama for $1,216. Not as economical as the Vredestein tires, but still leagues below a set of Michelin tires.
Because the factory set of Pilot Super Sport was so worn at the time of change, I cannot give you a comparison at all between it and the Advan V601. (I am not rich enough to swap tires before a set is used up completely.) Any random brand new set of summer tires will certainly perform better than a worn set, even if the worn set is best of the best available.
The immediate sensation with a new set of tires is the dramatic improvement in stopping distance. I didn’t realize how bad it was on the old set! The M2 can now once again can stop as violently as my body can tolerate. Those six-piston front, four-piston rear, 400mm front, 380mm rear, brakes are as ridiculous as ever for a car this small in size. Of course, my wallet will be singing a different tune when the time comes to service those unnecessarily large brakes.
At least it should be easier than compared to finding a suitable set of tires. The pro tip here is: BMW M car owners looking to switch away from the factory tire need to pay attention to the actual sizing specification of the original. Merely matching the numbers on the sidewall may not cut it, as it was the case with my BMW M2.