[CaptChaos]

Originally Posted by Holeinoneboy

I looked at this package. They come with style 158.

Thanks, I managed to find the Canadian Winter Tire Brochure which lists out the different options for all BMW's.

[scottwww]

Originally Posted by Holeinoneboy

I looked at this package. They come with style 158.

I bought style 188 and Michelin Artic Alpine II (Non-RFT)

I am shopping for 17" wheels and winter tires to put on them. In looking at tirerack.com what I liked best within a reasonable price range was a set of Borbet Type TS with Continental ContiWinterContact TS810 S SSR. I just haven't been able to bring myself to pull the trigger on this yet.

What I found of the 17" oem wheels that I like best are V-Spoke Style 188. The dealership is closed on Sunday so I can't ask them whether they can get these for me in the US. If the dealerships can't get them, how can I?

Thursday morning the drive to work convinced me that I must get a winter setup NOW, not next fall. It was about 15 degrees F (-9C). There was a little snow (maybe 2"). These Bridgestone Potenzas had the worst traction I have ever experienced in snow. I enabled DTC. DSC came on every time I started from a stop or needed to accelerate. I drove very carefully, yet at a four-way stop I slid to a stop. Going slow around one of the last corners (no more than 10 mph) before getting to my workplace, I had no steering control and was somewhat sideways in the oncoming lane. Once I was nearly stopped I was able to go again. Slowly. The only traffic was behind me, so there was no great danger there.

We don't get snow very much here, and when it does snow, the avenues are usually clear and dry by the next day. Even so, I am sure I have to get a winter wheel setup.

This is not just my bimmer. My wife's RX8 also is running on Bridgestone Potenzas. She had to get help to push her car to get going in the school parking lot. She didn't make it to work that day until she tried again about noon.

I think it is a fair conclusion to state that summer performance tires don't belong on the snow in sub-freezing weather.

Can I get the oem Style 188 wheels in the US? How? Price? I'll still have to see if there are any appropriate runflat tires that can go on these.

[Iguy]

Holeinoneboy wrote:

No blocker heater. Synthetic Oil instead. Does not need block heater.

Ok, thanks for that! I thought YOU were pulling my leg, but just called the dealership to confirm, and yes sir, your spot on.


Speaking about winter tires, I've considered the winter tires from BMW and for $3000, its a solid deal. There are other options also gents.

http://www.tiretrends.com/
Nice winters, priced around 2000 all in. The nice thing is that the center hole fits a BMW cap which can be purchased from the parts department. These winters look OEM and will be different from all the other Bimmer wheels out there. With the extra grand you save, you could buy a few of steak dinners or more than half a Xede.

[Holeinoneboy]

Originally Posted by scottwww

I am shopping for 17" wheels and winter tires to put on them. In looking at tirerack.com what I liked best within a reasonable price range was a set of Borbet Type TS with Continental ContiWinterContact TS810 S SSR. I just haven't been able to bring myself to pull the trigger on this yet.

What I found of the 17" oem wheels that I like best are V-Spoke Style 188. The dealership is closed on Sunday so I can't ask them whether they can get these for me in the US. If the dealerships can't get them, how can I?

Thursday morning the drive to work convinced me that I must get a winter setup NOW, not next fall. It was about 15 degrees F (-9C). There was a little snow (maybe 2"). These Bridgestone Potenzas had the worst traction I have ever experienced in snow. I enabled DTC. DSC came on every time I started from a stop or needed to accelerate. I drove very carefully, yet at a four-way stop I slid to a stop. Going slow around one of the last corners (no more than 10 mph) before getting to my workplace, I had no steering control and was somewhat sideways in the oncoming lane. Once I was nearly stopped I was able to go again. Slowly. The only traffic was behind me, so there was no great danger there.

We don't get snow very much here, and when it does snow, the avenues are usually clear and dry by the next day. Even so, I am sure I have to get a winter wheel setup.

This is not just my bimmer. My wife's RX8 also is running on Bridgestone Potenzas. She had to get help to push her car to get going in the school parking lot. She didn't make it to work that day until she tried again about noon.

I think it is a fair conclusion to state that summer performance tires don't belong on the snow in sub-freezing weather.

Can I get the oem Style 188 wheels in the US? How? Price? I'll still have to see if there are any appropriate runflat tires that can go on these.

Can't say for sure about US delivery. I bought my wheels for $500CDN (each) You will always pay more for BMW OEM product but my personal preference is stock car, stock wheels. I know it's more but I don't care.

Rubber has a multitude of options. I have had good luck with Michelin living in a winter city so it was a no brainer.

My suggestion is that IF you want origianl BMW wheels in the style mentioned, talk to your dealer and be persistent about style.

Good luck.

[Holeinoneboy]

Originally Posted by Iguy

Holeinoneboy wrote:


Ok, thanks for that! I thought YOU were pulling my leg, but just called the dealership to confirm, and yes sir, your spot on.


Speaking about winter tires, I've considered the winter tires from BMW and for $3000, its a solid deal. There are other options also gents.

http://www.tiretrends.com/
Nice winters, priced around 2000 all in. The nice thing is that the center hole fits a BMW cap which can be purchased from the parts department. These winters look OEM and will be different from all the other Bimmer wheels out there. With the extra grand you save, you could buy a few of steak dinners or more than half a Xede.

Glad you got your answer regarding block heater.

As far a wheels & tires goes, you are right, there are lots of options. combinations and price.

As you may have read in my other post to scotwww I like OEM equipment because I like a stock looking BMW. I don't care about price that much.

[scottwww]

Originally Posted by Holeinoneboy

Can't say for sure about US delivery. I bought my wheels for $500CDN (each) You will always pay more for BMW OEM product but my personal preference is stock car, stock wheels. I know it's more but I don't care.

Rubber has a multitude of options. I have had good luck with Michelin living in a winter city so it was a no brainer.

My suggestion is that IF you want origianl BMW wheels in the style mentioned, talk to your dealer and be persistent about style.

Good luck.

I prefer to keep mine looking stock, too. If it were $500 a wheel (maybe $425US) that sounds pretty steep (especially for 17"). It still might be worth it to me.
Did you get the 17x8 all around? Or did you go with 17x8.5 on the rear? I think I would go with the latter.

The winter tire size 225/45 looks pretty common for the 17" wheel. The 255/40 which would give it the right diameter (and probably look better with the 17x8.5) don't look to be very available for winter sport tires.

If you went with the two different size wheels (17x8 and 17x8.5) but the same size tires, does it look odd at all? If you went with all one size wheel, is the offset still OK without a spacer? I wouldn't add a spacer. I would have to find another solution.

[Holeinoneboy]

Originally Posted by scottwww

I prefer to keep mine looking stock, too. If it were $500 a wheel (maybe $425US) that sounds pretty steep (especially for 17"). It still might be worth it to me.
Did you get the 17x8 all around? Or did you go with 17x8.5 on the rear? I think I would go with the latter.

The winter tire size 225/45 looks pretty common for the 17" wheel. The 255/40 which would give it the right diameter (and probably look better with the 17x8.5) don't look to be very available for winter sport tires.

If you went with the two different size wheels (17x8 and 17x8.5) but the same size tires, does it look odd at all? If you went with all one size wheel, is the offset still OK without a spacer? I wouldn't add a spacer. I would have to find another solution.

17X8 all around.

It's winter. I don't care about the wheel size difference for a few months.

Be careful not to go above 17" in size. The physics of rubber is the less rubber there is the less traction.

[asdfaa]

was it $500CDN per wheel including tire and wheels? were the tires RFT?

[scottwww]

If that included style 188, tires (runflat preferrably) and TPMS sensors, I would jump on it immediately. I think we are talking just the rims.

[scottwww]

So, I stopped by my BMW dealer today to see what we could do about this winter wheels and tires setup. I went in with the idea of getting the V-Spoke Style 188 wheels (8J-17 Front and 8.5J-17 Rear) with TPMS sensors and Bridgestone Blizzak LM-25 (225/45-VR17 and 255/40-VR17).

The price for Style 188 8J-17 Front was $361US each, and 8.5J-17 Rear was $412US each. I didn't ask whether this included the TPMS sensors, but probably did not. This price did not include tires.

They just were not that confident in what they were saying (I corrected them on some factual errors), but they told me that what they were offering in a winter setup was Star Spoke Style 158 (8J-17 all around) with Dunlop tires (probably Winter Sport M3 DSST runflat). They didn't want to offer anything without all identical tires.

They were also talking about Style 103 with Continental tires at $530US x 4. I don't see anything I like in Style 158, but maybe Style 103 would be OK. [edit: found a picture at http://felgenkatalog.auto-treff.com/?felge=680 that shows how ugly style 103 is. I wouldn't put them on the car if they were free with the tires.]

It seems to me that this would be just a matter of convenience to them. Stock one size rim and one size tire, rather than keep stock of harder to find matching items in different sizes. I explained that I would have to do some research to see if this was a safety consideration, or just convenience. If it is convenience, then I will go with my original plan. If it is for safety, it actually opens up the number of options. It is a lot easier to find the same wheel and tire all the way around. Maybe I would just go with what I found at tirerack.com.

My question is whether there is a safety reason to use identical tires on all four corners rather than to use the sizes of wheels and tires that are the standard setup on the non-sport package E92? The only difference in what I want to do is to set it up on winter tires that are not runflat rather than summer tires that are runflat. (Really, I would like to use runflats, but I have not found anything in the sizes needed for this combination.)

I further explained to them that what I am trying to achieve here is to have a set of wheels I can put on when the weather turns cold. I am not primarily concerned about ice and snow capability since the roads are usually dry and cold in the winter here, sometimes wet. But I want my winter setup to be a lot better than the summer performance tires when we do have ice and snow.

Please offer any insight.

[Holeinoneboy]

Originally Posted by bg_27

was it $500CDN per wheel including tire and wheels? were the tires RFT?

rims only.

[Holeinoneboy]

Originally Posted by scottwww

So, I stopped by my BMW dealer today to see what we could do about this winter wheels and tires setup. I went in with the idea of getting the V-Spoke Style 188 wheels (8J-17 Front and 8.5J-17 Rear) with TPMS sensors and Bridgestone Blizzak LM-25 (225/45-VR17 and 255/40-VR17).

The price for Style 188 8J-17 Front was $361US each, and 8.5J-17 Rear was $412US each. I didn't ask whether this included the TPMS sensors, but probably did not. This price did not include tires.

They just were not that confident in what they were saying (I corrected them on some factual errors), but they told me that what they were offering in a winter setup was Star Spoke Style 158 (8J-17 all around) with Dunlop tires (probably Winter Sport M3 DSST runflat). They didn't want to offer anything without all identical tires.

They were also talking about Style 103 with Continental tires at $530US x 4. I don't see anything I like in Style 158, but maybe Style 103 would be OK.

It seems to me that this would be just a matter of convenience to them. Stock one size rim and one size tire, rather than keep stock of harder to find matching items in different sizes. I explained that I would have to do some research to see if this was a safety consideration, or just convenience. If it is convenience, then I will go with my original plan. If it is for safety, it actually opens up the number of options. It is a lot easier to find the same wheel and tire all the way around. Maybe I would just go with what I found at tirerack.com.

My question is whether there is a safety reason to use identical tires on all four corners rather than to use the sizes of wheels and tires that are the standard setup on the non-sport package E92? The only difference in what I want to do is to set it up on winter tires that are not runflat rather than summer tires that are runflat. (Really, I would like to use runflats, but I have not found anything in the sizes needed for this combination.)

I further explained to them that what I am trying to achieve here is to have a set of wheels I can put on when the weather turns cold. I am not primarily concerned about ice and snow capability since the roads are usually dry and cold in the winter here, sometimes wet. But I want my winter setup to be a lot better than the summer performance tires when we do have ice and snow.

Please offer any insight.

I don't see the point of putting "winter" tires on if you don't need winter tires. You say "the roads are usually dry... sometimes wet". Winter tires are primarily designed for snow and ice.

I am not a tire expert but If you want a separate set of tires to put on for your so called winter then consider a good set of "all season" tires. These should work. Note that most tire manufacturers suggest that below certain low temperatures (-7C Canada) rubber compounds change and summer tires are not recommended.

As far as rims goes, again (my opinion) I don't see the need for different width rims for winter tires. All you are getting is a different look in my opinion. Tire availability for uncommon winter tire widths such as what you suggest is harder.

That said, if you decide you don't need winter tires and want the look of a wider rear set and can find a good set of all season tires, then go ahead.

The dealer does offer packages at what appears to be not bad pricing for certain rim and rubber set up but they like to sell you what they have.

Like I said before, be persistent about seeeking out styles that you like. You don't have to purchase the rubber from them. You could buy the rubber elsewhere and still have them order a set of OEM rims that you like.

TPM is not an issue if you purchase OEM equipment that they say will work on your car.

[scottwww]

Originally Posted by Holeinoneboy

I don't see the point of putting "winter" tires on if you don't need winter tires. You say "the roads are usually dry... sometimes wet". Winter tires are primarily designed for snow and ice.

For maybe 8 weeks out of the year we don't go above freezing temperatures. As I write this my outside thermometer shows 27.1F (-2.7C). This is a lot warmer than it has been all week. Thursday it was about 15F (-9C) with a little snow on the ground. It was downright dangerous to drive to work on these summer tires. I want to have a set of winter performance tires that I can change in my garage. It takes under 1 hour to make the swap. And if I drive up to the mountains I want decent traction.

I lean toward the setup I have described because the wheels I want come in 8" width for the front and 8.5" for the rear. The wider tires fit the rim better and keep the same track as my stock summer setup. All the different size wheels and tires are the same diameter. This should give me better results on dry pavement than the narrower tires all around. Maybe with the slightly wider rear tires it would provide a bit less traction on ice/snow than with the narower setup, but in either case I would expect it to be far superior to running summer performance tires in sub-freezing temperatures.

Any insights are welcome. I would specifically like to know whether there is a safety reason for all four tires to be identical.

[scottwww]

BTW there was a bimmer on the lot with the Style 188 wheels. The looked really good! In hindsight I should have snapped a couple pictures. My digicam was in the car and ready to go.

[solaraxis]

I picked up my 335i coupe at the begining of Nov. and had winter tires put on right away. I have been driving it all winter long and I must say that it is fine. The only problems that I have encountered is after heavy snowfall and with a bit of warm weather, I got stuck a few times in the residential areas. The car isn't great in heavy snow but what rear drive car is really good in heavy snow.

[bmwmike]

I've been very happy with my winter tire/wheel setup. We've had snow/ice and cold weather since November in Vancouver and our roads have opened up with giant pot holes. The BMW winter wheels have experienced big bangs from the pot holes and held up. The Run Flat tires are fantastic on ice/snow but, as expected, poor on dry or wet.

The car heater inside produces warm air after about 1 minute even if my car is parked in Whistler all day at -14c. Never had a car like that!

To answer the question about deep snow - yikes! Any ice covered snow that is deeper than the car underbody off the ground is not a good feeling. I cringe evertime i stike clumps of ice/snow that has fallen off trucks or where the snow is too deep and my car plows it. At least we have the plastic pan underneath to help.

[asdfaa]

one thing that i realized after a conversation with some people here at work, the BMW winter tire package that i got are H rated winter tires meaning the tires are good up to speeds of 210km/h, alot of the winter tires that you buy elsewhere might not be H rated, but rather Q rated (good up to 160km/h).

To me its worth getting the performance winter tires, because of all the chinooks we get here, you might be driving faster.

[scottwww]

I closed the deal on the OEM V-Spoke Style 188 rims to use in my winter setup. I went with the 8J17 for the front and 8.5J17 for the rear. It turned out that the wheels I thought were the Style 188 on a car on the lot was not them. They were on a Z3 or a Z4 (didn't check) so they probably would have the wrong offset for the E92 anyway. The first picture is them.

In another thread today I found a decent picture of Style 188. The two look very similar in the pictures. If they are as close as that in person, then I will be pretty happy with them. Mine are on order and I should have them next week. The second picture is the Style 188 rims.

With these seeming to be hard to find in the US, they should have a little more appeal than the others that I liked (Style 161) which are very common for non-sport package E90s.

I was able to get a pretty decent deal for them. Maybe could have made it even better, but I expect to be happy with this.

V-Spoke Style 188 8J-17
V-Spoke Style 188 8.5J-17
4 hub caps
4 TPMS sensors
4 valve stems

List Price: $1788.60US
Price Paid: $1520.30US

Thrown in on the deal so I would have something to take home:

BMW baseball cap
BMW smart mug

Now to buy the tires (probably from tirerack.com). I settled on essentially what was the only thing that would fit my staggered setup with the right sizes. I would have liked to get runflats, but from what so many have said, the non-runflats should be even better.

Bridgestone Blizzak LM-25 size 225/45VR17
Bridgestone Blizzak LM-25 size 255/40VR17

Maybe I'll have to get some flat fix stuff to keep in the trunk. And how much does it cost for mounting and balancing?

[DowntownBMW]

congrats on your new wheel and tire choice!

i got my car in november and had winter tires put on before i drove off the dealer lot
i dont think its going to be very practical for you if you plan to keep switching betweeen your summer and winter set up during the winter season as you alluded to in a previous post
i would just keep the winter set up on all season!

[scottwww]

Originally Posted by DowntownBMW

congrats on your new wheel and tire choice!

i got my car in november and had winter tires put on before i drove off the dealer lot
i dont think its going to be very practical for you if you plan to keep switching betweeen your summer and winter set up during the winter season as you alleded to in a previous post
i would just keep the winter set up on all season!

I wouldn't keep putting them on and taking them off. When it starts to get cold in the late fall, I will probably procrastinate until I see the DSC light coming on (like it does now with 1st gear acceleration when it's 15F cold outside). But when I do need to put them on, it shouldn't take more than an hour in my garage.

Once March is here I wouldn't think I wouldn't procrastinate to switch back to summer rubber.

With Winter tires on for just 2 to 3 months out of the year, I hope they can last 10 years at 1,000 miles per month. Say 2,500 miles per year, 10 years, 25,000 miles. Is that realistic? I don't think Bridgestone makes a mileage claim or a tread wear rating for Blizzaks.

[CaptChaos]

Originally Posted by DowntownBMW

congrats on your new wheel and tire choice!

i got my car in november and had winter tires put on before i drove off the dealer lot

Were you able to fit all four summer wheels+tires in the car to take them home? If so, how did they fit?

[scottwww]

Originally Posted by CaptChaos

Were you able to fit all four summer wheels+tires in the car to take them home? If so, how did they fit?

That's something I want to know, too. I guessed that I would probably have to make two trips.