[bri1042]

I'm not sure how many folk will have personal experiences to add, but I'm looking for input from anyone that has some to give:

I got my Frog on March 10th, still well within the Portland Metro "winter" rain period. My first two months of driving the car involved a LOT of rain driving, and at the time I fully agreed with the positive TireRack wet driving review for the P-Zero's. They were dandy. My gut feeling during the summer was that the PS4S's would have been a bit better, but during those first rainy months I had zero complaints.

Fast forward 7 months and we're back in the Portland-constantly-pisses-on-us season. I had another stupid busy summer so I've only managed to put 4k miles on the car. My tires are about half worn, front and rear, maybe a bit less than half-worn. I'm not terribly happy with how far they've worn down in only 4k miles, but they aren't trashed yet.

I would now classify their rain performance as barely acceptable at the recommended tire pressures.

I've played with the tire pressures to see if I could generate different behavior, and I found that they are less unacceptable with two pounds of pressure added to all 4 corners above the standard pressure. But they still don't generate a lot of confidence. Any more than 2lbs up and everything felt "off".

So: While I'm not disagreeing with the tests done by TireRack and a few other tire reviewers, I am flat out stating that the tests aren't accurate once the PZ's are well into their service life.

I haven't yet decided what to do for the winter this year. I'm not one to risk running summer tires all year, despite the advantage of telework and not actually having to leave the house until later in the day when the world has warmed up. The lack of wheel choices is annoying the heck out of me.

Has anyone experienced the same effect? Or had a different experience? Anyone with PS4S's able to add their "not-new anymore" impressions in wet weather?

[Ximian]

There are a few things that will make things difficult to compare. Before anything, comparing tires across different car models is nearly useless. How some tire felt on a different car doesn't necessarily transfer over so compare only against the same car model.

First, the BMW Star spec P Zero tire is a bit different than the regular P Zero tested by Tire Rack. The tread design is similar for both for water clearance, but they likely behave differently at cooler temperatures. The same applies for the PS4S and the Star spec PS4s tires.

Second, the tread depth on the Star spec P Zero tires differs between the front and rear axle. Front tires have less tread when new so if they're wearing evenly, half worn front tires have much less tread than half worn rear tires. At half wear, they're going to have much less aquaplaning resistance in standing water which you'll definitely notice. The Star Spec PS4S have equal tread depth front and rear.

Finally, tires in the rain in 50F weather are going to feel different than the same tires in the rain at 70F. Without tracking all of this, it's hard to have any useful information.

For reference, tread depth for the Star spec P Zero on the front 275/35/19 is 6.3 mm and rear 285/30/20 is 8 mm. Tread depth on the Star spec PS4S is 7.5 mm front and rear.

[Draper]

I've had P Zeros on a few different cars. My impression is they are great when new, but wear poorly and get noisy before they are actually worn out. I'm in Denver, so I can't comment too much on wet performance since we don't see much rain.

If given a choice, I'd go with Michelins any day of the week.

[Chad11491]

I can't speak to star spec tires, other than my car currently has PZ tires, but my mustang came with P Zeros and I got barely 7k miles out of them. I put PSS (before PS4S was out) on the car and it was better in every way and I got just over 30k miles out of them with a 275 square setup. While I don't dislike the Pirellis, I will be moving to the Michelins without a doubt once these are worn out.

[beachBmmr]

Originally Posted by Chad11491

I can't speak to star spec tires, other than my car currently has PZ tires, but my mustang came with P Zeros and I got barely 7k miles out of them. I put PSS (before PS4S was out) on the car and it was better in every way and I got just over 30k miles out of them with a 275 square setup. While I don't dislike the Pirellis, I will be moving to the Michelins without a doubt once these are worn out.

Pzeros are garbage.

I just replaced them on my Mercedes gls after cording them at 11k miles. They were Horrible in the rain even new.

Put ps4s on like my g82 has, about 100 more per tire, but worth lt

[Forzanerazzurri]

That's like saying the losing team in the super bowl is garbage. You know what's garbage? The tyre debates and opinions on this board.

[Draper]

Except P Zeros are garbage.

[beachBmmr]

Originally Posted by Forzanerazzurri

That's like saying the losing team in the super bowl is garbage. You know what's garbage? The tyre debates and opinions on this board.

Feel free to leave or stop reading any time bud. Your post history is nothing but one liner shit posts anyway. If you have a data based argument to make on the subject at hand wed love to hear it

[Hawkdog]

Originally Posted by beachBmmr

Pzeros are garbage.

I just replaced them on my Mercedes gls after cording them at 11k miles. They were Horrible in the rain even new.

Put ps4s on like my g82 has, about 100 more per tire, but worth lt

P-zeros on a GLS? Did it come with them? Those 6000+ lb tanks are brutal on tires. I used to own a GL450 and was lucky to get half the expcected tread life out of any tire I put on it. Not sure how it’s worth putting a summer tire on such a high COG beast, but to each his own.

[beachBmmr]

Originally Posted by Hawkdog

P-zeros on a GLS? Did it come with them? Those 6000+ lb tanks are brutal on tires. I used to own a GL450 and was lucky to get half the expcected tread life out of any tire I put on it. Not sure how it’s worth putting a summer tire on such a high COG beast, but to each his own.

Yep, thats how it came new

[bri1042]

Ximian - I'm comparing March vs October, same tires, same car. Outside temps are pretty much exactly what they were back in March. ..low 60's ambient temps during the afternoon.

The point was to see if anyone else was experiencing such a drastic decline in wet performance over so few miles.

[amzbimmer]

Originally Posted by Forzanerazzurri

That's like saying the losing team in the super bowl is garbage. You know what's garbage? The tyre debates and opinions on this board.

Disagree completely. Above posters are providing real world examples of how these tires hold up in the wild. As educated consumers, it's incumbent on us to use our shared experience to make future purchasing decisions, and hopefully re-direct the BMW brand to provide the best equipment possible from the factory. I for one have gained valuable insight from such debates. Although there has been some unnecessary P zero bashing in the past on the boards, above posters have real world data.

Reading reviews from magazines is one thing, but seeing the real world performance as it affects our individual driving climates is as if not more important. This is why reviewers say "your mileage may vary"...quite literally.

[///MeraldCity_G82]

I live North of you, it has been wet here lately and temps as low as mid 50's and switched out of my summer setup. I have around 4k as well on the Pirellis and have zero issues in the wet. Yes, the wheels will spin in certain modes and with a heavy foot. I do not feel unsafe at all driving this car. In fact the traction is impressive(probably due to the torque curve).

[bri1042]

Originally Posted by BSM_G808

I live North of you, it has been wet here lately and temps as low as mid 50's and switched out of my summer setup. I have around 4k as well on the Pirellis and have zero issues in the wet. Yes, the wheels will spin in certain modes and with a heavy foot. I do not feel unsafe at all driving this car. In fact the traction is impressive(probably due to the torque curve).

Thanks for the input. Very appreciated. I don't feel unsafe with them driving reasonably responsibly in the rain, and I've had a few more rain drives with the tires at 34f/35r cold, and that seems to work well for their current condition. The door card pressures brought out the worst of the tires' nature in the rain, I think.

[///MeraldCity_G82]

Originally Posted by bri1042

Thanks for the input. Very appreciated. I don't feel unsafe with them driving reasonably responsibly in the rain, and I've had a few more rain drives with the tires at 34f/35r cold, and that seems to work well for their current condition. The door card pressures brought out the worst of the tires' nature in the rain, I think.

To be clear I'd rather have the PS4S lol.

Any thoughts on switching to xDrive? I keep reading people getting more than what they paid for their car. Not sure about the PNW market, but sounds tempting if true.

[Draper]

Originally Posted by BSM_G808

Any thoughts on switching to xDrive? I keep reading people getting more than what they paid for their car. Not sure about the PNW market, but sounds tempting if true.

The only downside is open allocations don't exist, so you're waiting 6 mos (or more) for a new car.

[bri1042]

Originally Posted by BSM_G808

To be clear I'd rather have the PS4S lol.

Any thoughts on switching to xDrive? I keep reading people getting more than what they paid for their car. Not sure about the PNW market, but sounds tempting if true.

None at this point, but I have a 6MT base, not an auto comp, so the trade-offs are different.