Possibility of being too stiff?

Well since this thread is going to be talking a lot about stiffness, I figured Id get the joke out of the way in the title. Im searching for a new set of summer tires for my e36. The current size on it are 225/50-16's. Id like to keep them the same size, so I dont have to get new wheels. With the larger sidewall I was trying to find the stiffest sidewall tire figuring that would help responsiveness. Specifically I was looking at the hankook rs3's. Does anybody have any reccomendations for tires with a harder sidewall? Its my understanding it will help me gain some of the steering response Im trying to gain. Thanks for any reccomendations.

I believe the Falken Azenis is actually made of reinforced concrete.

That's what she said.

are they really? i run darn near 40 psi in them on my miata to get it the way i want.

if you want to move to 17s.. pick up some M3 take offs.. plenty of people "upgrade to 18s or just same size aftermarket and sell off the M3 rims for cheap. I got the DS1s on my ti for 500 with good tyres

Ive been going back and forth on 17's. If I do go that direction, Id probably pick up some k1's to try to save some weight. I really like the way style 68's look though. They just never seem to pop up in the Jersey area.

Im kind of leaning toward the Bridgestone re760's or the new BF Goodrich Comp 2's. They'd be occasionally auto crossed, but nothing too extreme. Im still a beginner, so I figured I'd stick with more street oriented tire for the time being.

Autocrossing might not be kind to RE760s or the Comp 2s. The past few events I've been running a used set of 225/50R16 Kumho XSes. There were doing fine, but the fronts overheated and got greasy yesterday (93*F 2 drivers, nearly back to back runs). I might replace the extremely worn front pair with a pair of the R-S3s. One problem with the 16" tires is finding wide enough rim width. Yes, 16x7 with 225/50R16 was the stock 95+ sport package sizes. I am using 16x8 stock E38 rims on the front and 16x7.5s on the back, but the tires could use more rim width.

You can definitely find 17" wheels cheaply. I bought a set of 17x7.5 AT Italia M Contour replicas for $115 and have a set of 215/45R17 Sumitomos HTRZIIIs on them for street tires. I know of another person trying to sell the 17x8.5 version of the same wheels for $250. I doubt they worth that much. An OEM M3 set of forged 17x8.5s would be nice.

Star Specs? RE-11?

belteshazzar wrote: are they really? i run darn near 40 psi in them on my miata to get it the way i want.

My 14" RT215s had a stiffer ride than my 17" Kumho street tires the same pressure. 1.5" more sidewall and a lighter wheel, and they rode like crap. My current RT615s are stiffer than RA1s with the same sidewall.

Recommend the BFG Sport Comp-2 tires. Stiff sidewalls with great response. Excellent grip. Good tread wear. Affordable pricing.