[Burrcold]

Originally Posted by thielepr

It seems that you’re starting from the point of a non believer thinking this is just a merkrting scheme.

I can tell you first hand it’s not. Every corvette model, civic Type R, BMW M, Ford Mustang GTD, Hyundai N, AMG and so on with Michelin spec tires are tailor to the specific model. The Michelin process is unique and only 3 facilities of all Michelin can do it. The hours of engineering dedication from both sides in significant. I can walk around my site and tell what tires are what spec from a distance even when over 70% of our Production are Pilot 4S

I couldn’t find a BMW video but this Porsche one explain the process in detail.

PCA spec tires

I said this above, but how can a manufacturer work with 2 (or more) tire manufacturers on star spec tires, but end up being so different?

I'm not doubting in any way that lots of money and research goes into the star spec development. However, it's confusing that they land on multiple star specs with multiple vendors without any explanation to the customer other than the star spec is designed specifically for that exact car.

[thielepr]

I can’t speak for other brands but I would expect they start with the retail version and BMW tell them what they are looking for and then they would come back with a tire that meet the BMW requirements.

[Vindicator3]

I appreciate your insider POV, but a lot of the discussion so far seems to focus on advantages to track performance in dry conditions using summer tires.

Would you attribute the same advantages to all-season star tires (vs all-season non-star tires) for those looking for reasonable performance balanced with ride comfort, wet/snow traction, fuel economy, and tread life? Or are the model-specific engineering advantages of star tires all geared to track performance?

[RockCrusher]

Originally Posted by Vindicator3

I appreciate your insider POV, but a lot of the discussion so far seems to focus on advantages to track performance in dry conditions using summer tires.

Would you attribute the same advantages to all-season star tires (vs all-season non-star tires) for those looking for reasonable performance balanced with ride comfort, wet/snow traction, fuel economy, and tread life? Or are the model-specific engineering advantages of star tires all geared to track performance?

I would offer BMW Start tires are geared to offer the best tire experience with the least amount of risk of issues arising from tire differences/quality variation.

As I may have mentioned I put 467,000 miles on my Boxster and 996 Turbo. All I used were Porsche Nx tires ("N0", "N1", and so on.)

At 20K miles rear tire life -- with a proper alignment and me behaving myself -- and 40K mile front tire life I went through a lot of tires. All marked with the 'N' (N0, N1, N2...) and used Pirelli and Michelin tires on the Boxster and Continental and Bridgestone tires on the 996 and set after set the tires had no surprises. As per Porsche I didn't mix N numbers. Nor did I mix tire brands. Tire life, grip, road manners, you name it, were consistent drive after drive tire set after tire set.

This over 16 years in the Boxster and 9 years in the Turbo.

Based on my experience with my Porsche cars I'm going to stick with BMW Star tires. I probably won't fit all season tires on my M8 -- I have the luxury of in bad weather leaving the M8 in its garage and driving another vehicle (Honda Ridgeline at the moment) -- but when the time comes to replace the tires on the M8 I'll stick with the proper summer/high performance tires.

[pbonsalb]

Interestingly, BMW specified either Pirelli or Michelin for the F90 M5, but at its performance center driving schools, it runs Continental. Non star spec can’t be that bad if BMW is using them on the track.

I run Continental EC Sport 02 on my 2018 M5, in place of the Michelin PS4 star spec. Both tires are good. Can’t tell much difference. The Continental do feel more comfortable and that probably means they aren’t quite as stiff. Have never tracked so I have no lap times to compare. What percentage of BMW owners take their cars to the track? 1%?

[ShocknAwe]

Originally Posted by pbonsalb

Interestingly, BMW specified either Pirelli or Michelin for the F90 M5, but at its performance center driving schools, it runs Continental. Non star spec can’t be that bad if BMW is using them on the track.

I run Continental EC Sport 02 on my 2018 M5, in place of the Michelin PS4 star spec. Both tires are good. Can’t tell much difference. The Continental do feel more comfortable and that probably means they aren’t quite as stiff. Have never tracked so I have no lap times to compare. What percentage of BMW owners take their cars to the track? 1%?

Yep.

Michelin isn't currently top of the pack in terms of summer or performance tires. This is one of the limiting ideas of "star spec". It's a factory tire recommendation. Of course they put tons of R&D hours into making sure it's perfect for the car they sell it on... To think otherwise would be absurd

I do like Mich tires, have them on 2/3 of my cars. I buy sizes that fit my custom setups and firmly believe that independent testing is the key to success. I also like certain tires from kook, pirelli, conti, yoko, Bridgestone etc.

It's all a balancing act for your local driving environmental conditions and purported use.

[JABCAT]

Originally Posted by thielepr

I can tell you first hand it’s not. Every corvette model, civic Type R, BMW M, Ford Mustang GTD, Hyundai N, AMG and so on with Michelin spec tires are tailor to the specific model. The Michelin process is unique and only 3 facilities of all Michelin can do it. The hours of engineering dedication from both sides in significant.

So with this logic, to get the best performance out of my 2011 Z06/Z07, I should only use the Michelin tires that were designed for that car 15 years ago?