[SD ///M4]

Discount Tire and Michelin were running a $70 rebate on Michelin tires this past Friday and Saturday so I got a set of Pilot Super Sports on Saturday afternoon. I went with 245/40-18 front and 275/35-18 rear since they're closer in circumference to the stock tires than the 235/265 combo and are within the Michelin specs for rim width.

I asked them to test fit the rear tires first since my car has H&R Sport Springs. The previous owner had 19" wheels with tires that were too large and rubbed the inner fender wells on both sides and actually wore through the fender liner just inside the left fender arch. He put the original wheels and tires back on the car when he traded it in to the dealer I bought it from. The original tires were 6.5 years old. I calculated that total mileage on the tires is only about 3300 miles, but I'd rather be safe than sorry.

The installer said clearance would be no problem and I can't really see that the clearance in the rear is any less.

Our local BMW CCA chapter had an autocross yesterday that I ran in. It was my first timed autocross in this car, so hard to draw any comparisons with the original tires. During a hard right hand turn in one portion of the course I thought I heard some rubbing on the left rear, but I don't expect to experience this kind of braking, acceleration and turning on the street.

Other than that, I only drove a few miles home from the tire store and was mostly on the freeway to and from the autocross. I'll check back in with more feedback in a few weeks.