I just bought 4 of these (from tirerack) to go on my X w/ Coupe wheels. So far so good!

Much nicer handling in turns - big upgrade over the 17" 215/55 Goodyear RS-A. Probably a combi of wider tire, bigger wheel, etc but no complaints. My local installer was very impressed as well - $515 for four tires shipped?

Good luck!

 

Could you post up some pics at a couple different angles?

 

Please define you meaning of refinement. Sure German cars are designed well, but their reliability sucks! Take a look at the April 06 issue of Consumer Reports. Not one German autoamker made it to the top of any category. In fact, Mercedes Benz was rated as having the most problems per 100 vehicles after fives years of ownership than any other carmaker. Volkswagen was thrid from last and BMW was around mid-pact. The top 5 auto makers were Asian. Hell, even Hyundai was rated over BMW. (BTW - Infiniti was rated 5th under both of the Toyota and Honda brands). I guess my point is that if you are talking about refinement, you need to encompass some more aspects than just technology. Sure some of the german cars have the lastest and greatest, but it seems they are having a hard time making it work for any length of time. Plus, I'm sure that anyone owning a G could have bought a "German" car, but chose an "Asian" for a reason. And I'm sure some sort of refinement played a key role. Honda was selling Accords when the Ford Tarus was king. Now look at the Tarus, or lack there of, versus an Accord. No contest. Asian cars have come along way, and Koren made cars have not been left by the wayside. This has nothing to do with being PC

 

Have about 2k on them so far and I think they are great. They grip very well, make little to no noise when cornering hard, and ride smooth.

Had to go back for a re-balance after they were installed due to shimmy, but once that was done, they ride smooth with minimal road noise.

Still pretty cold here in NH, so they do seem to take anywhere from 5-25 miles before they seem to warm up and settle down with no vibrations.

On these last few mornings, for the first 1/2 mile or so, they feel like sqaure rocks under me as they probably flat spot a bit over night and take a few rev's before they get sorted out.

Ill pst more once it warms up and I can toss them into a few corners at breakneck speed and really test them.

But again, who can complain about a $500 set of UHP tires that so far grip fine in the wet and stick in the dry...

 

Continental Contisport Contact2 are utter crap in dry weather. I had a set on my BMW 328Ci and the steering response went soggy. They older Continental Contisport Contacts were better in dry, but crappier in wet. These tires loved heat, the hotter the tires, the grippier they seem to get. The downside to both Contisports was that by 10,000miles they started to make a woot woot woot woot noise at low speeds, but quieted down at more normal speeds. Michelin Pilot Sports are highly recommended by E46 owners, that should say something, since the majority of them who do autocross weekly. I had Kuhmo Ecsta Supra 712 on my S4, those tires were great in wet and are quiet. They had resonable grip (more so than the Contisport 2's) and had a stiffer sidewall contruction, but road stiffer. I had Kuhmo Ecsta MX on my A4, those tires wore out fast, they had a softer sidewall and didn't hang on as well in wet, but pretty comparable to the 712's on dry. I can vouch for the quality of certain Kuhmo products, they are a value-brand tire that performs alot better than they should given their price range.

 

I had Z-rated Kuhmo KH11 225/50R17s on my Maxima and I loved them. For $80 each they were a steal. I had put 12K miles on them and they still looked very new. I've got an H-rated A/S Kumho performance tire on my wife's 98 Legacy GT. They were $55/each and they're great. I really can't complain about Kumhos products. Before they started selling street tires in the US, they were in the competition tire market. Auto-X and road racers swear by Kumhos comp tires.

As for Germans cars, the Germans make premier performance cars. They understand performance and how to make a car feel perfect. That's a real fact. With that said, I wouldn't trust a German electrical engineer to wire even my Christmas tree.