Best Tires For BMW 3 Series - Complete Guide

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‍What Size Tires Does The BMW 3 Series Use?

The standard tire size on the 2021 BMW 3 Series is P225/45R18. Some models use different size tires on the front and rear. For example, the 2019 BMW 330i xDrive Gran Turismo model uses 225/45R19 on the front and 225/40R19 on the rear.

Unless you’re swapping rims or changing tire sizes for performance reasons, it’s always smart to purchase the same size tire that the vehicle originally came with. You can check by referencing the size label on the tire itself or by checking the tire sticker on the inside of the driver-side door.

BMW 3 Series Tire Replacement Intervals

According to BMW dealerships, you should have your tires rotated every 5,000 to 7,000 miles if your 3 Series is a two-wheel-drive model. If you have an all-wheel-drive BMW, you should rotate your tires every 3,000 to 5,000 miles.

BMW dealerships also recommend replacing your tires every 30,000 to 50,000 miles and having your tread depth checked every time you get them rotated. This way, you’ll know immediately once the tread drops below the minimum of 3 or 4 millimeters.

Top 8 Best Tires for the BMW 3 Series

Without the proper tires, your BMW 3 Series can’t reach its full performance potential. Here, we found eight of the best summer, winter, and all-season performance tires that are known for excellent performance on BMW vehicles.

1. Michelin Pilot Super Sport Summer Tires

A good set of grippy performance summer tires are a perfect companion for your BMW 3 Series, especially if you drive a high-powered BMW M3. The Michelin Pilot Super Sport tires trace their routes to the Le Mans and Daytona races, and they’re built for the road and the track.

According to Michelin, these high-traction tires offer 12% better performance than other similar brands. They feature variable contact tread, which molds to the road differently during varying speeds and conditions, and they handle well in the rain.

From the side, the Michelin Pilot Super Sport closely resembles the slick drag tires used by high-performance race cars. The lines between the tread surfaces are thin, which provides maximum surface area for road contact.

The Michelin Pilot Super Sport is available from Tire Rack for $248.99 each, and comes with a 30,000-mile warranty.

Best Uses:

Summer driving
Racing
High-speed performance

Pros:

Excellent traction
Good wet road performance
Fast response
Variable contact surface

Cons:

Poor performance on snow and ice
It wears out faster than tires with more tread
Tire pressure can vary, which may confuse sensors

2. Goodyear Eagle Sport A/S Tires

All-season tires are designed for use in typical American weather and are great for year-round driving in most parts of the country. The Goodyear Eagle Sport A/S (all-season) tires are some of the best and most affordable on the market, and they’re a preferred choice for BMW 3 Series vehicles.

The Goodyear Eagle Sport A/S is a touring tire, and it’s a great choice for everyday driving on the highway and around town. Goodyear designed its Eagle Sport series specifically for sports cars and included a W speed rating for a maximum sustained speed of 168 mph.

The Goodyear Eagle Sport A/S tires are the perfect choice when you just need to put a new set of shoes on your 3 Series. They’ll provide tens of thousands of miles of trouble-free performance in all conditions and help your BMW maintain its superior cornering and road handling capabilities.

Goodyear Eagle Sport tires are available on Tire Rack for $162.99 each. They come with a six-year, 50,000-mile warranty. The warranty only extends to 25,000 miles if the front tires are a different size than the rear, as they can’t be rotated completely and wear out faster.

Best Uses:

Everyday driving
Cruising and Road Trips
Mild winter driving

Pros:

Affordable
Long lifespan
Excellent tread pattern
Suitable for weekend racing

Cons:

Not designed for severe winter conditions
Less grip than summer tires

3. Pirelli Cinturato Strada Sport A/S Tires

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Pirelli is a popular tire choice for BMW dealerships, and they often come on newer BMW vehicles. Pirelli produces some of the best performance tires on the market—both for standard 3 Series vehicles and the high-performance M-Series.

Pirelli Cinturato Strada tires are all-season tires with excellent wet weather handling, and even better treadwear. These long-lasting tires offer better grip than the leading competitors, and better cornering and road performance than most all-season tires.

The tires feature silica-enhanced tread compound, which is an increasingly popular feature of all-season performance tires. Additionally, owners report that Pirelli Cinturato tires provide superior road comfort and quiet performance, which is key for many luxury car drivers.

Pirelli Cinturato Strada Sport A/S tires are available from Discount Tire for about $160, though prices range from $128.00 to $220.00 depending on the size you need for your BMW 3 Series. These tires come with a 50,000-mile warranty.

Best Uses:

Performance driving
Cruising and touring
Wet weather driving

Pros:

Quiet ride
Absorbs bumps without sacrificing performance
Popular dealership tire choice
Thin tread cuts for enhanced dry road traction

Cons:

Still too rough for some luxury-oriented drivers
Not ideal for winter driving due to shallow tread

4. Bridgestone Blizzak WS90 Winter Tires

The choice of studless winter tires for BMW vehicles is limited, but Bridgestone adapted its best-selling model for use on high-performance cars like the BMW 3 Series. The Bridgestone Blizzak WS90 is a world-class snow tire designed for severe winter weather.

When subjected to sub-freezing temperatures, typical summer and all-season tire rubber becomes rock-hard and loses much of its road-gripping abilities. Bridgestone winter tires rely on a proprietary rubber blend that stays supple and soft in cold conditions.

Bridgestone Blizzak WS90 tires feature an opposing tread pattern that grips well in snow and slush, along with 15% more block edges for mashing packed snow and reducing stopping distances on ice. And since they don’t use studs, you can use these winter tires year-round in all states.

Bridgestone Blizzak WS90 tires are available from Tire Rack for $174.75 and come with a five-year warranty, or until wear exceeds 2/32” of tread depth.

Best Uses:

Areas with seasonal studded tire restrictions
Heavy snowfall and icy conditions
Northern states like Minnesota and North Dakota

Pros:

Excellent snow traction
Reduced stopping distances on ice
Not restricted by seasonal studded tire laws
Long-lasting

Cons:

Reduced high-speed performance
Reduced cornering performance compared to summer tires
Not suited for racing

5. Michelin Premier A/S Tires

The Michelin Premier A/S all-season tire is designed to provide superior grip on wet surfaces and enhanced fuel economy without sacrificing performance. These tires are an excellent choice for areas with occasional snowfall and frequent rain.

Some areas have favorable weather for enjoying high-performance cars. Other areas have weather that’s good enough to drive a 3 Series, but too much rain and snow to do so with summer tires. Typically, this would sacrifice some performance for the sake of safety.

But the Michelin Premier A/S tire uses sunflower oil-based rubber and high-traction tread to meet the needs of wet weather driving while preserving the performance and handling of BMW coupes and sedans.

Michelin Premier A/S tires are available from Tire Rack for $195.59 each, and they come with a six-year or 60,000-mile warranty.

Best Uses:

All-season driving
Wet weather driving
Mild performance or racing

Pros:

High-quality rubber
Great dry traction
Long-lasting

Cons:

Less dry grip than summer tires
Outclassed in winter performance by some competitors

6. Bridgestone Turanza QuietTrack A/S Tires

Not everyone needs a sporty tire, as there are two sides to the performance of BMW sedans and coupes. The 3 Series is a fast and peppy car—but it’s also a luxury car, and the Bridgestone Turanza QuietTrack A/S all-season tire caters to it.

These tires are built for performance in most weather conditions. But they’re also supremely quiet and comfortable and ideal for the driver who enjoys the refinement of high-end luxury cars. These tires are tuned using ComfortCruise technology to reduce noise and bumps.

The secret of the Bridgestone Turanza QuietTrack is the tread shape. These tires feature a rounded contact patch, which minimizes road vibrations and reduces noise. It also features wide tread grooves to reduce hydroplaning in wet conditions.

Bridgestone Turanza QuietTrack tires are available from Tire Rack for $191.99 each and come with a five year or 80,000-mile warranty. These tires come with a 40,000-mile warranty if the front tires are different sizes than the rear tires.

Best Uses:

Designed for comfort and good handling
Wet conditions and mild snowfall
Large 3 Series sedans

Pros:

Affordable
Exceptionally quiet
Great wet weather performance
Refined driving experience

Cons:

Outperformed by summer tires
Marginal performance in deep snow and sub-freezing temperatures

7. Bridgestone DriveGuard A/S Tires

The Bridgestone DriveGuard is an all-season tire designed for performance cars like the BMW 3 Series. They’re also run-flat tires, which means you can drive on them if they deflate. With this additional safety feature built-in, you can have peace of mind without extra tools or a spare.

Bridgestone DriveGuard A/S tires can be run up to 50 miles at 50 mph when flat, which is much faster and further than many other run-flat tires. Additionally, the molded silica rubber provides excellent performance on wet roads and in light snowfall. These tires are W-rated for high speeds.

These tires are also exceptionally puncture-resistant, thanks to its twin internal steel belts and rayon reinforcement. The sidewalls are also puncture-resistant and feature cooling fins to increase ride comfort, which is often sacrificed on run-flat tires.

Bridgestone DriveGuard tires are available from Tire Rack for $217.66 each and come with a five year or 60,000-mile warranty. If the front and rear tires are different sizes, these tires come with a 50,000-mile warranty.

Best Uses:

All-weather driving
New BMW vehicles without a spare tire or inflator kit
High-speed driving

Pros:

W rated for sustained speeds of 168 mph
Run-flat for 50 miles at 50 mph
Better comfort and handling compared to other run-flat tires

Cons:

Outperformed on dry roads by summer tires
Run-flat tires are still less comfortable than standard radials

8. Michelin Primacy MXM4 ZP A/S Tires

Here’s another excellent semi-run-flat tire designed for performance luxury cars like the BMW 3 Series. These tires are a dealership-preferred replacement for factory BMW 3 Series tires, and they’re some of the best on the market.

Although these tires aren’t rated as run-flat tires, they still have some run-flat capabilities. Additionally, they’re H-rated for high-speed durability and handling. The Michelin Primacy MXM4 ZP tires are some of the best all-season tires for performance handling.

These tires are a popular choice for high-performance BMW vehicles like the M3 and the M5. Additionally, they offer an excellent balance between high-speed handling and comfort, which is often missing from summer drag slicks. These are the perfect everyday tires for the road and the race track.

Michelin Primacy MXM4 ZP A/S tires are available from Tire Rack for $241.31 each, and come with a six-year, 30,000 mile warranty or 15,000 miles for vehicles with different front and rear tire sizes.

Best Uses:

Everyday driving OEM-style replacement
Performance models like the BMW M3
Cities where temporary run-flat is suitable

Pros:

Excellent tread for high-speed performance
ZR/H rated for speeds up to 130 mph
Long-lasting
Usable on wet roads and light snow
Some run-flat capabilities

Cons:

Not fully run-flat certified
Less wet weather performance than other A/S tires

Best Tires For BMW 3 Series - Complete Guide

About The Author

Charles Redding

I've spent many years selling cars, working with auto detailers, mechanics, dealership service teams, quoting and researching car insurance, modding my own cars, and much more.