Thanks for this!Quote:
As it happens, I have F1's on the e39 530i, the 330Ci and the Z4 at the moment and they are decent tyres. To be honest, they are most impressive on the Z as they transformed it in to a car that is driveable compared to the nasty ditchfinders that were on it when I bought it. On the 330 they keep it fairly sharp and stiff but a tad noisy imho. On the e39 they do the job, keeping it on the tarmac and keep some decent feel in the handling. I'm possibly damning them with faint praise here but while they are a decent tyre they haven't excited me with their brilliance. These cars do low miles so I can't judge wear on them but previous experience on other cars would suggest 15k-ish from rears and 20k-ish on the front.
The Rainsports are at least very clear about the job they want to do, keep you in comfort generally and on the straight and narrow when its damp/wet - lets face it that covers 2/3 of the year at least. The sidewalls are squishy so where I live that makes for ride comfort that feels like you are driving a brisk pillow despite the cr@p roads. They go around corners and the give in the sidwalls means that you can steer with the throttle enough for it to be interesting. The rears probably covered 18-20k and the fronts nudged 30k.
Unless you really want to drive the 530i like you stole it all the time, or have it feel like you do, then the Uniroyals are a probably more fit for the real world conditions of long runs, 90% motorway commute, wet and rainy roads and mile munching that comprises my workload for it.