[AlanYoro35i]

I miss the hard ride and handling too..i might get run flats during the summer again now...

[Burton]

It would appear that the uk temp is quite different depending where you are at the moment. I have also seen frost and had 2-3 days where the daytime temp was 6c max and night was 0-1c.

I have posted before to say there appears to be a variation in ride quality of our cars. I have an lci e92 msport and the ride is firm but perfect for me with the rft's. Have driven non lci several times before some of them were very poor harsh ride quality in comparison. I have since found out that BMW may have tweaked the suspension of the lci, but could be wrong.

I have also put my winters on, dunlop 3d, same psi as the rft's and, subjective at best, I would say there may only be something like 10% difference in the feel and even then I am not convinced. I would say very very slightly softer but the turn in and handling is still very planted and i could drive with these all year if this is how they behave!

Perhaps some of the winters are a lot 'softer' than others. Anyway just my experience so far.

[Tunbridge]

Mine went on Sunday morning but they need running it. That said my car was frozen solid when I was doing it at 7am in the morning. Quite a bit warmer now though!

[HighlandPete]

Originally Posted by Burton

I have posted before to say there appears to be a variation in ride quality of our cars. I have an lci e92 msport and the ride is firm but perfect for me with the rft's. Have driven non lci several times before some of them were very poor harsh ride quality in comparison. I have since found out that BMW may have tweaked the suspension of the lci, but could be wrong.

Absolutely, to be honest they are all over the place.

One liittle experience that confirmed what I'd been finding personally.

I was wanting to try a (local) 330d touring with a specific setup and wheel/tyre combination, ahead of going down south to try a used 335i touring with the 'same' setup. One of our Scottish dealers had the 330d on the forecourt, I spoke with the sales guy and explained what I was wanting to do and could he help me out. The converstion got interesting, the guy explained to me that you can't even compare what appears like for like. He commented that this sort of test was not reliable. Same car spec', etc. on paper, but ride quality and road feel can be so different. Age, mileage, tyre brand, tyre wear, plus build date variations meant there wasn't any benchmark. He'd experienced this himself, many times.

He would of helped me out, but recommended I try the specific car, as he had no confidence his example would be any guide for the car I was looking to buy. I didn't go ahead with the 335i, but a couple of months later was in a 325d touring with the same setup and wheel combination/tyre brand, it was the best RFT car I've ever driven, so different to a similar car a couple of years earlier, which was enough to put me off having another BMW with RFTs.

HighlandPete

[doughboy]

Originally Posted by Subzero2003

The minimum night temperatures have barely breached 10c yet, with the daytime temperatures around 14c.

This is 7c above the "7c winter tyre threshold" - which is bloody optimistic as it is. Even at 4c the best winter tyre is worse than an UHP summer tyre in the wet and dry - so why are people bothering with winter tyres at the moment then??

I haven't put mine on yet, but you're having a laugh about that 4 deg thing.

(Also, its a surface / tyre temp of 7 degrees not an air temp, and the road temp is always less than the air temp this time of year)

At 4 deg in the greasy/cold/wet a UHP summer tyre is like oiled granite, whereas your winter tyre will be just picking up the mantle and gripping like a limpet on those slimey roundabouts.

Its 10deg air temp in Manchester this morning and my Conti3's are struggling at every junction, every cats eye and every cross banding / white line.

Hooning round greasy / wet roundabouts awaits with the winter tyres - in the next week or two - time permitting....

[wayne71]

Mine are going on next week and I will be joining you hooning around Manchester's wet roundabouts

I must remember to let them scrub in first.

[SO8]

Originally Posted by wayne71

Mine are going on next week and I will be joining you hooning around Manchester's wet roundabouts

I must remember to let them scrub in first.

My Bridgestone winter tyres seemed fine almost straight away - maybe some makes need more time than others ?

[biscuits]

Originally Posted by wayne71

Mine are going on next week and I will be joining you hooning around Manchester's wet roundabouts

I must remember to let them scrub in first.

I was thinking of doing the same, both the X5 and a collegues M3 have a set of winters in the warehouse gathering dust, but temperatures are all over the place. One day freezing, next day sunny.

I think till end of Nov we'll still have pretty okay weather, but I remember last November rather well too !!!

[kaishang]

Originally Posted by doughboy

At 4 deg in the greasy/cold/wet a UHP summer tyre is like oiled granite, whereas your winter tyre will be just picking up the mantle and gripping like a limpet on those slimey roundabouts.

Brings back all those memories of driving around Beijing when it was -8C outside on summer tyres and not once careening off into a jiaozi stand.

[Subzero2003]

Originally Posted by davyk31

I scrapped ice off the windows 2 mornings last weekend so it seems ice forms at 10 degrees and above only in some people's minds.

Well done, you've established that temperatures vary depending on what part of the country you were from.

I was posting the temperatures for the OP's location in Lincolnshire, as he was the one saying he's put winters on, and the weather forecast for Lincolnshire showed the the daily temperature, for the 5 days preceding my post, was going to be between 13-15c and the night time temperatures were going to be between 10-12c.

OP - don't fear though, if you go driving at 4am on Tuesday next week, your Winter tyres should just be in their optimum for a few hours, until the sun comes up! Careful with the heavy rain today and tomorrow though, at 12c!

[Subzero2003]

Originally Posted by doughboy

I haven't put mine on yet, but you're having a laugh about that 4 deg thing.

Erm.... nope, sorry, not having a laugh:

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showpo...5&postcount=21

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showpo...0&postcount=22

Originally Posted by doughboy

(Also, its a surface / tyre temp of 7 degrees not an air temp, and the road temp is always less than the air temp this time of year)

Quite, but if we're going to get really technical about it, there's always the argument that tyres heat up when they're being used, far beyond 7c.

Originally Posted by doughboy

Hooning round greasy / wet roundabouts awaits with the winter tyres - in the next week or two - time permitting....

I wouldn't be hooning around greasy roundabouts with any tyres on tbh.

How long is it going to be before someone with their super grippy magical winter tyres flies off the road because they think that their tyres are the bestest thing evar!

[doughboy]

fair play buddy, you've put in a lot of effort on that.

Thinking logically about it, the softer tread may well give up the ghost under maximum stress high speed emergency stop braking, but we have corners too you know!

BUT in all other circumstances they are a massive improvement.

I'm only speaking from experience rather than laboratory type tests and I can tell you that right now my UHP summer conti 3s are shite. Edgy, unnerving, totally lacking any progression from grip to no grip. They cause traction flashes and step-outs over white lines etc.I can't even use more than half throttle in second without breaking traction.

The winters will not be like this, they will be soft, smooth and give consistent grip levels across surface changes. In my opinion what makes them is the way they maintain a high grip level even when sliding or beginning to slide, whereas UHP summers in this weather are just ooooh shit, all or nothing - in the ditch.

ABS can't save you when you're sideways, but a progressive tyre just might.