I was surprised to see the first post in this thread comparing different brands rather than star to non-star tires from the same brand.
I can't say if it's still relevant today but years ago when the E34 was the current 5-series, a good customer came to me after replacing his original Michelin MXV-4s with the "same" tire without the star from the local Michelin dealer. He was complaining about the change in handling and so we compared the still-original BMW spare tire with the new store-bought Micheins. Right there on the sidewall showed the non-star tire was constructed with two-fewer plies in its carcass than the OE star version. Obviously there was a noticeable difference in sidewall flex which resulted in a larger slip angle. And these tires, other than the star, were the same spec, brand, and model.
