[chesney72]

Originally Posted by MrPogle

I was pathetically pleased with myself.

yeah I felt that after having to overtake a mitsubishi warrior last night!!

Few people mentioning Vreds Wintrac extreme. I had them last year and they def suffered aquaplaning and I found grip on hard packed icy snow wasn't as good as Nokians. They were 265's and maybe the fact the Nokians are 235 helps a bit.

Had Dunlop Wintersport M3's years ago on our golf and they were fantastic. Money no object I would have put Dunlops on the 335i but the Nokians, whilst not cheap, are doing well for their cost. I tried to get a matching set but the tyre places let me down and I ended up with WRA3's on the front and WR on the rear. Def think the A3's are grippier and the WR not as good as the WRG2 I had 2 years ago.

Night and day grip in snow over the goodyear assy2 summers though, they were almost ditch finders at 20mph when I got caught out in October!

[225_AB]

Left the 640 at home and took my ex, wife's current, 330d with winter tyres to work. Worked a dream. I was able to go along the country lanes thus avoiding the jams along the main road. Drove past a few drivers who were struggling, saw a 640 driver going sideways at one point. Yes I did feel smug and as the winters have been on for 6 weeks about time that they came into their own.

[sohlman]

Had a chance last night to have a play in a deserted car park covered in snow and ice. Apart from having to have a short chat with a Policeman who did not like me practicing. However he bought my argument that i was in a safe environment and better to understand a cars handling in a car park then on the road and he has to close the road to sort things out.

Anyway i digress. The winters give impressive grip and require quite a shove on the loud pedal to get the car moving about. With the traction fully on the car was difficult to predict. With the traction off the car moved around better, but you could feel the car tugging on different corners. With the DSC completely dissabled the car felt very much better. Slides where much more progressive. In comparision to last year where i had a play with an Audi A6 Quattro on summers. The BMW had more grip, slides where more controllable and required constant power to maintain them. In the audi once they started Torvil and Dean started to set in and things where not easy. I am glad i have had a play as my confidence in the car in these conditions is so much higher.

[simm31]

Hello, sorry if I've posted this in the wrong place or its been covered, i did search and could not find a definitive reply.

I have an e90 Saloon 2009 320d M Sport Auto

BMW (Elms Stansted) have advised that 16 inch Steel whees will be OK for this car if I wish to run Winter Tyres.

It's getting late to put them on but I wish to invest as only had this car since 3rd Jan.

Question are 16 inch steel wheels OK? I know I should trust the information from BMW, but an independent said 17 inch as a minimum...

Any clarification on this would be greatly received.

Thanks

Simon

[Jedimindtrix]

I'm running 16" steelies on my D3, no problem at all.

Why wrap expensive alloys in winter tyres?

Function over form.

[simm31]

Thats great to hear.

I'm looking at WheelBase as a supplier. Any experiences?

I'm only considering Dunlops, BMW recommend the SP Winter Sport SP M3 Run Flat, but Wheelbase offer the non run flat versions and its saves over £300...

Do Winter Tyres have to be Run Flats?

Am I mad buying them now?

[FRG]

Well, after the weekend of snow we had I can say that the cheapo Kumhos I put on the rear have been quite simply, brilliant

Out street is steep and straight up hill from the main road which it's at 90 degrees to, so getting a run up is impossible. It doesn't get cleared and I've not had one bit of bother getting up it which can't be said for my last FWD car with winters on. I admit that above 5 degrees C they're useless and make the rear feel awful and sometimes not all that safe if you're cracking on. I'll definitely be putting them back on next year and not spending more cash on a better brand like I had planned to before the temperature dropped

[simm31]

...is it too late for this year or do I just sink the cash and get 6-8 weeks use then store them for October?

Has snow on the M1 today driving back from Loughborough to Cambridge, makes me twitchy...

[magic77]

It depends on how you want the car to look. I bought my Msport with 17" standard M sport rims. Then knowing that i wanted to get rid of run flats and get a certain 18" rims for the car simply made my 17" my winters. IMO better look then steel and hub caps.

You could get a set of 17" alloys M sport or other and stick on them plenty on ebay and just order the wintery tyres from eventtyres.co.uk

Knowing dealer prices will probably work out similar as the dealers steel wheels

[a11y]

Why spend all the money on winter rubber then stick them on a ridiculous looking set of steelies? I'm all for function over form, but a set of half-decent (or OEM 2nd hand) alloys aren't that expensive.

My winters live on the car from mid-Nov til mid-March - 4 months. I don't want to be driving around on steels for a third of the car's life. I was originally searching for 17" as the perfect balance between form and cost, but ended up on 18"s simply because the alloys were very cheap.

[simm31]

I'm not bothered about looks.

So if 16 inch steels fit (as per Alpina-d3) I will simply get plastic covers £15.00 ea + VAT from BMW.

Question remains, do Winter Tyres have to be Run Flat?

[a11y]

Originally Posted by simm31

I'm not bothered about looks.

So if 16 inch steels fit (as per Alpina-d3) I will simply get plastic covers £15.00 ea + VAT from BMW.

Question remains, do Winter Tyres have to be Run Flat?

No, you can run normal tyres but obviously it's best to have some sort of contingency if you do have a puncture: carry a space-saver or simply a can of tyre weld and some plugs. Have a search - plenty of folk are using normal summer non runflats on their e9x's.

[simm31]

What about the tyre pressure monitor on the iDrive.

[simm31]

...also aside from the tyre pressure monitor which I guess I can turn off for the non RFT winters...can you run normal tyres (summer) instead of RFT?

I thought the 2009 on E9o's were far better than the earlier RFT stuff. I had a new 2004 118d M Sport on RFT and ditched then for 'normal' tyres and it transformed it.

Not really though about normal summer tyres but be good to know your experiences...my car is also still under main dealer warranty...any issues?

[sohlman]

16's are fine for most models, but i believe 330's and 335's require a 17" wheel to get over the brakes. Not an issue with the 325i and below.

[padders]

Just for a bit of balance. I have 205 section 16" Dunlop M3's all round so obviously buy into the whole Winter tyre thing but those of you who claim to have never have seen the traction control on such tyres are fortunate indeed. It is certainly true that winters will get you up and down snow covered hills where wide summers wont even get you off the drive but the laws of physics still apply. On a day like today where it is raining onto ice you will have very little traction and if it is actually working will see a the tc light flashing merrily. This topic is rather like that of opinions on Apple devices, so devisive that sometimes the truth is hard to ascertain in between the emotionally charged dubious claims!

[335d Rocco]

Originally Posted by padders

Just for a bit of balance. I have 205 section 16" Dunlop M3's all round so obviously buy into the whole Winter tyre thing but those of you who claim to have never have seen the traction control on such tyres are fortunate indeed. It is certainly true that winters will get you up and down snow covered hills where wide summers wont even get you off the drive but the laws of physics still apply. On a day like today where it is raining onto ice you will have very little traction and if it is actually working will see a the tc light flashing merrily. This topic is rather like that of opinions on Apple devices, so devisive that sometimes the truth is hard to ascertain in between the emotionally charged dubious claims!

I said I hadn't seen my traction control flash, but I think that was purely down to me taking it very easy, literally feathering the accelerator. I'd never used winter tyres before, so I just wanted to familiar myself with them. As the days went by, the only times I seen the traction control flash was on ice. We had a good 4" of snow last night, I went out in it at 7am this morning to take the mrs to work and I find the traction in snow is really good with the winter tyres.

But overall as the days have gone by and I'm more familiar to how the tyres handle, I've seen traction control flash, I know I'd have been stuck without my winter wheels n tyres, so over all a good investment

[briers]

Wintracs have been great apart from today.

Today I had to give it several attempts to get up my side road into the driveway. Admittedly all of my neighbours had abounded their cars either side of the road which was tricky.

The entrance to the drive is all uphill with a small ramp and 2 neighbours had abandoned both sides, I could only just squeeze through. As the cars were so close I had to take it slow up this slight ramp in case I slid into them. Surprisingly as I passed and hit the ramp I got stuck. Tried rocking it out and just flooring it. No good, backed out tried again giving it some more throttle once passed cars, no good, 3rd time lucky but it needed some nerve to ensure I didn't slide into the neighbours cars and a bit more throttle and momentum and I was up.

Must say I was a little disappointed I couldn't get grip. I think it might have been the surface. I've not had issues like this before. We had a tonne of snow last night. It wasn't fresh when I drove on it. It was part solidified/ice, turning very slushy, very deep in places with compacted snow and ice beneath.

I suppose it achieved what the neighbours didn't but it has knocked my confidence in the winters slightly. I think more so on deep slush. Fresh snow and possibly even a thin layer of compacted snow and ice they seem fine.

[Dizzle]

Goodyear ultragrips have been superb...... Friday we had heavy snow fall, and I found myself driving past FWD drive cars stuck in the snow, seemed to be the only BM on the road.

[wallsmk2]

Put a set of nokian WR A3 on this winter so I could enjoy dartmoor in the snow. I was in rft before then and since the change it's been bliss on the country roads. I can feel everything but I don't lose my fillings and feel like I've been wrestling with the thing. Progress along the moors is more rapid too as I don't feel I have to brace myself when I see a pothole or a bad bit of road surface. Tempted to leave them on and take a hit on them wearing out as they're so good, but the performance will probably be too squishy when it warms up.

[Jules59]

Originally Posted by briers

Wintracs have been great apart from today.

Today I had to give it several attempts to get up my side road into the driveway. Admittedly all of my neighbours had abounded their cars either side of the road which was tricky.

The entrance to the drive is all uphill with a small ramp and 2 neighbours had abandoned both sides, I could only just squeeze through. As the cars were so close I had to take it slow up this slight ramp in case I slid into them. Surprisingly as I passed and hit the ramp I got stuck. Tried rocking it out and just flooring it. No good, backed out tried again giving it some more throttle once passed cars, no good, 3rd time lucky but it needed some nerve to ensure I didn't slide into the neighbours cars and a bit more throttle and momentum and I was up.

Must say I was a little disappointed I couldn't get grip. I think it might have been the surface. I've not had issues like this before. We had a tonne of snow last night. It wasn't fresh when I drove on it. It was part solidified/ice, turning very slushy, very deep in places with compacted snow and ice beneath.

I suppose it achieved what the neighbours didn't but it has knocked my confidence in the winters slightly. I think more so on deep slush. Fresh snow and possibly even a thin layer of compacted snow and ice they seem fine.

Winter Tyres are not magical. Just a tyre designed to give better grip in winter; so you can go, stop and steer where you woudlnt be able to do so with summer tyres. But they have their limits. Only spikes grip work on ice.
I got stuck half way down a hill (that Id driven up 4 hours previously) because the policeman said the road was unpassable now and made me do a U turn on the hill. Did a 3 point turn OK but could not get enough grip to get enough momentum up to push the front wheels over lumpy frozen snow/ice. Needed a little push from the said policeman. Apart from that the winters (HS439) have been great. Bombed down the M1 today, the car felt fine, temp was 4-6 C.

[Statler]

I've been more that impressed by the hankooks. I was able to get places I couldn't on the Bodgestone RFT's, like up my driveway... lol.

I had a set of 17" ACS Type I reps in the garage which got a shot blast and a quick paint can respray. They're OK, as has been said, they are for winter so are likely to suffer.

Inset is big so the wheel arch lips don't get splattered either