[B33M3R]

Originally Posted by Danny.B.

Your car is stunning Matt!

Cheers Danny! Hey, where you at with the tunes?

[AlanYoro35i]

Originally Posted by CJ92

Nice sunday afternoon drive..

Very pleased with the hankook ice bears..

I was shocked with that photo//thought you had a chav wing in the back loll

[CJ92]

Originally Posted by Yoro35i

I was shocked with that photo//thought you had a chav wing in the back loll

lol..

[Danny.B.]

Originally Posted by B33M3R

Cheers Danny! Hey, where you at with the tunes?

I think ive finished! Just got to do some fine tuning with the gains and on the head unit (as i didnt go for an MS8 or bit1 etc) Doesnt sound too bad i dont think, but may need a bit more work, might get the head unit coded to hifi for one!

Just got a small issue with my RCA's hooking upto my vibe in the boot! Its a weird one! But ill save that for another thread

Hope your well? Should meet for a photoshoot soon. When the weathers better ill try get a lincs/cambs meet together

[RAR]

I'm quite surprised at how good my beemer was in the snow!

I live at the top of a slight hill, drive way has a slight incline towards the garage door and I'm in a culdesack that is also sloped.

Car was facing my garage, first off I tried to reverse out and about 1 meter onto the snow wheels were spinning so I reversed it round back onto my drive way now facing the other way. Where my car had been on the drive there was no snow so I used that grip to propel myself off the drive. Worked first time, once I had momentum I was off and out, roads were slushy and still snow in places but i didnt have any problems at all. Even in the supermarket car park (which hadnt been cleared) it was still no problems at all. I felt a few rear end wobbles at one point but that was it.

Had the kids in the car so no drifting fun for me...

I'm running cheap budget summer tyres and tbh glad I didn't take the time and money to bother with winters.

[JonEdwards]

Another Sheff resident here - 320D with HS439s.

When I bought the car a couple of years back it had Hankook Ventus V12s on and they were not too bad. Not great, but liveable with for the 2 days a year it snows. When they wore out I fitted the derigeur Falken 452s, which were truly terrifying last winter, so this year i gave in and bought the 439s.

So I went out last night to see what difference there was. Thick powder - still relatively poor performance - I suspect that's simply down to the wheels being too wide. On packed/polished snow (and some of it was very polished by the time i'd finished!) things were much more impressive. Braking was surprisingly good - sure the ABS triggers if you stomp on the pedal, but the car still stopped - say the same as on a wet greasy road - none of that sliding into obilvion feeling. Traction pulling away, again - boot it, and the wheels would spin, but be gentle and no problems at all. Understeer and oversteer could be provoked at will, but controllably so unless you did something stupid. Overall a useful lesson in car control*. For "serious" driving, I'd still want a load of weight in the back, snow shovel, blankets etc. and I'd still be looking to avoid steep hills, or at least getting caught in stop/start traffic on them.

* Or alternatively a half hour spent driving like a complete t!t, mostly sideways, round an empty carpark like a spotty 17 year old with a chavved up Corsa, innit. (powerslides though)

[Jay2301]

Ive been driving around in areas where the snow is 6 inches deep. Bit of trouble backing onto my driveway which is on a pretty sharp incline but other than that its been ok. (although my summer tires are only a month old with lots of tread) I really dont see the problem with RWD bmws and snow.

I plan my route carefully and take my time on the side streets where the snow is deep.

Im sure stealers will have you believe these winters + a new set of BMW wheels are an essential purchase though.

[Dele Z.]

Couldn't even get my BMW out of the garage lmao!

It managed to get about 1ft out before it was defeated by the slight incline and started fishtailing towards the side walls, i decided not to risk it

Useless

[wayne71]

Originally Posted by Jay2301

Ive been driving around in areas where the snow is 6 inches deep. Bit of trouble backing onto my driveway which is on a pretty sharp incline but other than that its been ok. (although my summer tires are only a month old with lots of tread) I really dont see the problem with RWD bmws and snow.

I plan my route carefully and take my time on the side streets where the snow is deep.

Im sure stealers will have you believe these winters + a new set of BMW wheels are an essential purchase though.

I don't think most of us have bought winters and wheels from the dealers.

Personally I have 10+ years of driving RWD cars, for the most part I coped even in the snow with summers on but last year could not get off my estate and it cost me more money than the £600 I paid for a set of winters this year. I also have spent many winters in the alps skiing and have seen first hand how much difference winter tires make in bad weather. But yes, with a bit of careful planning and careful driving then 9 times out of ten you can get away with summer tires in most places during a uk winter.

[HighlandPete]

Originally Posted by Jay2301

Ive been driving around in areas where the snow is 6 inches deep. Bit of trouble backing onto my driveway which is on a pretty sharp incline but other than that its been ok. (although my summer tires are only a month old with lots of tread) I really dont see the problem with RWD bmws and snow.

I plan my route carefully and take my time on the side streets where the snow is deep.

Im sure stealers will have you believe these winters + a new set of BMW wheels are an essential purchase though.

OK, so you can get around in snow. I won't dispute you can and others do so as well. I've done it in the past, and also never got stuck and abandoned a car.

But running winter tyres, particularly on RWD, there is a massive difference and the safety factor and confidence it gives, is chalk and cheese, in comparison to any summer tyre.

BTW, I've been driving RWD and FWD since 1970, (and when we had much more snow than these days), so do have a few years of experience to draw on.

What is the biggest issue is the ever changing conditions, one minute you can be fine on a summer tyre, but get a bit of sudden heavy snow or really wet slush, particularly on a slope, and you are going no where. At least with a winter tyre you have far more capacity to keep going, and still maintain virtually full control.

For me, winter tyres are just common sense, in that they are the "tools for the job".

I think the problen with trying to justify that summer tyres are good enough, is illustrated by seeing all the traffic come to a halt on a bit of snow or slush. Even makes the news doesn't it.

It may be fine for the day or two the south gets snow, but it is really the result of running inappropriate tyres, isn't it?

HighlandPete

[Mr Singh]

Well said Pete! ^^

[dmt335d]

I don't own any winter tyres so I decided to keep my 335d in the garage. As the snow fell over the weekend the only problem I had was persuading my 2 year old that sledging is great fun.
I do chuckle at those that decided to go out and give there winters a try, seems like the young kid hasn't left everyone. Did you do a few hand brake turns too!
I still believe that until the vast majority of people are forced into winters you are really still gambling on other drivers too much. When the motorway becomes gridlocked there is little you can do whether you have winters on not. I've opted for a pair of snow socks but as yet have not needed to use them.
I'm sure my feelings will change if I do get stuck but we'll see!

[xenon]

I bought a winter wheel package for my wife's 120d but didn't get any for my f10 (too expensive). Both cars were parked in the drive - the f10 on summer tyres refused to go up the slope; the e87 on winter tyres just drove up and away with no drama at all. Very impressed.

[jonl1983]

had snow which lasted a day over the weekend. Car stayed on the drive and I got drunk watching the rugby for two days . Monday morning off to work 5'c and no snow, happy days.

Guess I am quite lucky where I am. I am all for winter tyres and totally understand all that use them, however, I could not have justified the cost of buying winter tyres based on the weather I have experience so far this winter

[davyk31]

Winter tyres are always a bit of a gamble, will it snow badly or not ?

But ......... to all of us who did invest this year and have others laughing at the money we spent, the new set of Winters will last me 3 or 4 years so lets decide at the end of that term whether they were a wise move or not.

[rich1068]

Originally Posted by dmt335d

As the snow fell over the weekend the only problem I had was persuading my 2 year old that sledging is great fun.
I do chuckle at those that decided to go out and give there winters a try, seems like the young kid hasn't left everyone.

I combined the two and took my youngest out in the car with me. Sledging? Far too cold!

[CJ92]

Originally Posted by davyk31

Winter tyres are always a bit of a gamble, will it snow badly or not ?

But ......... to all of us who did invest this year and have others laughing at the money we spent, the new set of Winters will last me 3 or 4 years so lets decide at the end of that term whether they were a wise move or not.

Well said that man.Winters are a no brainer on a rwd car..

[phil200tdi]

I personally think that there is a huge difference between manual and auto.. Manuals being much more easy to control in icy conditions.

Over the weekend had no reason to go out but went for a quick play in the landrover.

Today took the Beemer to work with no drama. Councils and highways agency seem to be on the ball this year...

[jonl1983]

Originally Posted by davyk31

Winter tyres are always a bit of a gamble, will it snow badly or not ?

But ......... to all of us who did invest this year and have others laughing at the money we spent, the new set of Winters will last me 3 or 4 years so lets decide at the end of that term whether they were a wise move or not.

I'm not laughing at people that bought them all I'm saying is that for me personally I wouldn't spend a grand on some alloys and tyres for a winter which so far I would have needed once (although I didn't need the car on the weekend).

If I had put winters on my car back in Nov I'm pretty sure they would be well worn by now and have been pretty pointless.

[davyk31]

And there is a massive market for second hand alloys and winter tyres so you can easily recoup a lot of your investment. YOu will loose a bit for tyre wear of course but if you were on summers they will also wear and given they will be a more expensive tyre the lose is greater.

[jonl1983]

Personally for me they don't work financially to recoup costs. A set of four decent writers would probably cost more than the 4 on my car and they would of really had one decent days use for me this current winter.

Spending that amount for an effective use of one day does not make financial sense to me. If it snows I don't use my cr for the day or two it's stuck, no great loss as far as I'm concerned. And as for tyre performance in the cold/wet I have had no issues