I have Conti's, Mounted 305/30-19 on rear-Pics

[Harveyd396]

Just got my re-delivery of my M3 last week. I was stuck with Conti's so I gave them a chance to prove if good tires or not. I have been a fan of Michelin SS for many years and was not happy to receive my new car with Conti's. Tirerack was clearing the Conti 305/30-19 at $255 per tire so I thought I would try moving the 275's to the front and mounting the 305's on the rear. I have asked the question for many weeks if the 305 can be mounted on stock 10in wide wheels and how would the car react with this combination, I got no results, so I decided to try this combo myself, see what happens. My car is stock, no spacers or lowered suspension. I realize the 305's are a little too wide for the rims, but I have tried this before on my 335i and it worked just fine. I mounted 275's in place of a 255.

Here's my results:
My car looks great, from the side hardly noticeable.
From the back, looks amazing.
Handles incredibly well, almost impossible to break loose in city driving.
No noticeable difference in heavy rain aquaplaning.
Protects my rims from curbing.
Very cheap combination compared to Michelin equivalent.
Excellent straight line traction, I'm pushing 500+hp. MT 6 speed
I honestly can't tell any difference in ride quality vs the Michelin
No problems with DSC.
I'm sold, I like the Conti's
Here's some pics

[larryn]

Gotta say - looks great. Nice work pioneering for those with Contis.

[catch]

I thought these would look WAY too wide for the 10" rear. They dont look bad at all, looks nice and meaty.

You may have inspired me to try this to hold me over until the CND dollar goes back closer to par with the USD and I can buy wheels

[hecho.in.626]

🤔
Might have to try this too.

[JoeFromPA]

Wow, I have to say - that looks great. If my math is right you lost 5mm of sidewall height in the rear with this setup and gained about 7mm of sidewall height in the front. Does that sound right? I'm exhausted right now and can't trust my reasoning.

I don't think I want to squeeze that much tire on that rear rim, but man - well done.

[Amgeater2]

This looks good in pictures but no so great in person IMO, I saw a local car with the 275/35/19 on the front and it look like a tractor.. Great traction I bet but so tractor look a like that I almost bought him a 4x4 sticker

[Harveyd396]

Update to my original post:
It's been 2 weeks since my delivery in the USA and mounting the 305's on the rear. I'm still very happy with the Conti's except 3 days ago I reached 1,200 miles and did the first service. My dealer told me that they released the beast and expect more power. Wow, what a surprise!!! I have been use to high horsepower cars all my life but this is amazing how much power this car has. I turned on the Dinan stage 2 also. This is what I discovered:
First gear is almost useless, tires break loose right to red line.
2nd gear tires still spinning and car is sideways burning up my 305's !
I am curious if the Michelin SS would be the same at this point?
3rd gear starts with spinning tires and then hookup, big lunge forward and a blast of speed to 100 mph.
4th gear is amazing, no tire spin and speedo climbing like crazy, pinned in my seat.
I backed off at 130 mph, 6th gear, took a deep breath, slowed down with a huge smile.
Love this car.

[M4 CSL]

I have been running 305/30/19 MPSC2 on the stock rear 10's for months now.

I had originally moved the rear 275/35/19 MPSS to the front 9 inch rim.

It was ok. But I have since sprung for 265/35/19 MPSC2 for the front now.

I wanted 275/30/19 but they don't make that size.

I never really thought I would notice the difference changing the front, but its better.

Smoother and everything seems effortless now.

When I get new rims thinking 10 x19 front and 11 x 20 rear. Cheers.

[sknobs]

Those fit without issue? Looks good. Tirerack shows 10.5 as the minimum rim width.

[yellowssm]

Originally Posted by Harveyd396

Update to my original post:
It's been 2 weeks since my delivery in the USA and mounting the 305's on the rear. I'm still very happy with the Conti's except 3 days ago I reached 1,200 miles and did the first service. My dealer told me that they released the beast and expect more power. Wow, what a surprise!!! I have been use to high horsepower cars all my life but this is amazing how much power this car has. I turned on the Dinan stage 2 also. This is what I discovered:
First gear is almost useless, tires break loose right to red line.
2nd gear tires still spinning and car is sideways burning up my 305's !
I am curious if the Michelin SS would be the same at this point?
3rd gear starts with spinning tires and then hookup, big lunge forward and a blast of speed to 100 mph.
4th gear is amazing, no tire spin and speedo climbing like crazy, pinned in my seat.
I backed off at 130 mph, 6th gear, took a deep breath, slowed down with a huge smile.
Love this car.

I run the 295/35/19 MPSS and have the same traction issues so don't think the Michelins are a better choice. I have JB4 and downpipes btw

[RussianPete]

You think this would work fine with 275 pss on the front and 305 conti on the rear

[Ian1973]

Why would you mix and match tires on a 70,000 dollar car?

I'll never understand why people do that, it makes the car feel like a big POS.

[yellowssm]

Originally Posted by Ian1973

Why would you mix and match tires on a 70,000 dollar car?

I'll never understand why people do that, it makes the car feel like a big POS.

well a lot of people just like me are cheap. I for one did it on my E46 m3 and plan on doing it on my m4 when the rears wear out before the fronts. I plan on going to bridgestone and i am not going to just toss out the front michelins if they have thread. for daily driving it is not going to matter.

[evanescent03]

Originally Posted by Ian1973

Why would you mix and match tires on a 70,000 dollar car?

I'll never understand why people do that, it makes the car feel like a big POS.

I am due for new rear tires .. MPSS are out of stock for months so I may run different types for a while to use up the front tires then get some to match the rears.. it's not just about being cheap, but about not being wasteful. granted it looks a little low-brow on a pretty nice car, but it's not quite like putting a donut spare from a Honda civic on.

[Ian1973]

Personally I have driven many cars with mix matched tires, they drive like crap, handle like crap... I get them to the dealer, slap a set of matched tires on them and they are like a totally different car after.

I would never do that on a performance car. Of course I wouldn't own this car just to get back and forth to work. When the time comes to go and have some fun, you have handicapped yourself with different brands.

It's like having different speaker brands in a home system. Yuck.

[evanescent03]

Originally Posted by Ian1973

Personally I have driven many cars with mix matched tires, they drive like crap, handle like crap... I get them to the dealer, slap a set of matched tires on them and they are like a totally different car after.

I would never do that on a performance car. Of course I wouldn't own this car just to get back and forth to work. When the time comes to go and have some fun, you have handicapped yourself with different brands.

It's like having different speaker brands in a home system. Yuck.

I've never experienced mis-matched tires so I trust your experience. I wonder if certain parameters match up if it's not so bad? I think I'll shoot for a matching set because I think I don't like the idea of mismatching but I was considering saving some $ and prolonging the life of my fronts. I'll probably bite the bullet despite some grief from my wife with new stage 1, track days, etc planned. I at least considered it! ian, you talked some sense into me.

[W///]

Originally Posted by evanescent03

I've never experienced mis-matched tires so I trust your experience. I wonder if certain parameters match up if it's not so bad? I think I'll shoot for a matching set because I think I don't like the idea of mismatching but I was considering saving some $ and prolonging the life of my fronts. I'll probably bite the bullet despite some grief from my wife with new stage 1, track days, etc planned. I at least considered it! ian, you talked some sense into me.

The car just doesn't drive right. I guess I could deal with it for a bit, but I'm talking a couple of weeks or something. How long were you planning to extend the front?

[evanescent03]

Originally Posted by W///

The car just doesn't drive right. I guess I could deal with it for a bit, but I'm talking a couple of weeks or something. How long were you planning to extend the front?

I would have to measure them but I bet they are at like 5 or 6/32 still. maybe I'll just get a full set of conti DW or bridgestone S-04 PP and try to sell the front MPSS.

now just to decide if I want stock fitment or 275/35/19 & 305/30/19 .. and Bridgestone or contis.

[evanescent03]

got DWs in the same sizes ordered .. should go on next week. Thanks for the confidence to go with this setup!

[Thurman Murch]

PS2s are more sticky than PSS

You will need to go trofeo/ad08/sport cup

I couldn't get good traction with PSS - dsc light always blinking

[BeamerandBimmer]

Originally Posted by evanescent03

got DWs in the same sizes ordered .. should go on next week. Thanks for the confidence to go with this setup!

Be prepared to be VERY disappointed. I put a set on my M4 and can't wait to get them off. I've picked up a set of RE-71r to put on a set of 513s that I picked up for AX. Just have to wait for the temps to come up before I switch.

[larryn]

Originally Posted by BeamerandBimmer

Be prepared to be VERY disappointed. I put a set on my M4 and can't wait to get them off. I've picked up a set of RE-71r to put on a set of 513s that I picked up for AX. Just have to wait for the temps to come up before I switch.

So, evanescent03 says he just spent a bunch of cash on new tires, and you tell him he made a big mistake and walk away.

Disappointed how? AX, winter traction. What makes you say this? Did you mix tire brands? Did you only try them in colder weather? Did you wear past the initial slippery coating?