Tyred and emotional 1989 BMW 320i Convertible E30

Boy, was it hot at the weekend. Perfect weather for being out in the BMW with the roof down. Thing is, it had been garaged for three weeks since our last trip. It’s kept a couple of miles away in a lock-up, while the Boxster lives on the other side of my office wall. And something had slipped my mind.

As we headed out, I was revelling in its refinement. Sure, it has one of the smoothest engines in existence, but I suddenly noticed the ride and the lack of underlying vibration. Then I remembered: my new tyres!

What an astonishing transformation. During my 11 years or so with the 320i we have travelled only about 14,000 miles, and the tyres were pretty fresh when I bought it. Rubbish, but fresh. I can’t even remember the brand, though it reminded me of a bottle of soy sauce I’d once seen in a Chinese supermarket. It took until this year’s MoT for them to show up as an advisory, not because they lacked tread depth, but simply because they were old and the sidewalls were perishing. Of course, there had long been good reason to replace them, not least the amount of squealing they were responsible for in even modest cornering. They seemed otherwise quiet, and any deficiencies in ride quality I put down to early-1980s German suspension engineering But I was wrong to make such assumptions. After the advisory, I called my old mucker Ben Field, once a motoring journalist on the same mag I used to work for, and for the last few years MD of Vintage Tyres at Beaulieu. We discussed sizes (my 320i is on the optional BBS cross-spokes and matchingly optional 205/55 15s), Ben recommended the Vredestein Sprint + and sorted a fitting date: not all the way down at his Beaulieu HQ but more locally to me at Classic Performance Engineering, Vintage Tyres’ agent at Bicester Heritage.

There I met technicians Ollie and Steve and learned a few things. One, that the tiny key on the keyring is for the locking wheel nuts (a little barrel sits over the top of the nut, one per wheel). Two, that those BBS wheels are superbly made and in brilliant condition. Three, that the new tyres are also unusually well made. Four, that the old tyres were utter crap.

‘People think that balancing weights are used to correct wheels that are out of true, but really it’s the tyres,’ Steve told me.

‘Yes, one of the new tyres has gone on with no balance weights at all,’ said Ollie, ‘while that back one had 90g on it before and now has only 15g. And 90g is a lot.’ The latter might explain the slight coarseness I’d perceived as a drivetrain issue, and also the fact that, years ago, Mark Dixon had followed me and commented that I had a buckled back wheel. The one with all the weights…

All that’s in the past, along with the mild wheel shake I used to get around 65mph. The change is scarcely believable: a better primary ride (less reaction over long undulations) and a better secondary ride (less harshness over bumps). Gone is the old tyres’ combination of sog with slap, gone is any hint of vibration. Also gone is the squealing – now it feels buoyant, and so much smoother. The new tyres even look better, a classic-style tread and rounder shoulders restoring the BMW’s 1980s stance. I just wish I’d fitted them a decade ago.

Above Rock-hard old tyres are removed; Ollie shows Glen what a locking wheel nut looks like; lovely machinery at CPE.