[1flossedm3]

What are you guys doing for winter tires for those of us that have to deal with snow? Tire rack wants $1400 for winter wheels and tires.

Couple questions:

1. TPMS. If I buy a set that doesn't have them, and I going to get lights on the dash etc? Or just no monitoring. (Which is fine for winter)

2. Low cost options? What wheels will fit? What year BMW wheels?

Just wondering what everyone's doing, especially those with sport packages.

[pits200]

If you're going to spend that money on rims and tires. Don't waste it on winter rims. Spend the money on nice 3 season rims and then use your stock rims with the winter tires you buy.

Pricing will come out to fairly the same amount but at least you get a nice set of upgraded rims.

I have no TPMS with my summer setup and it's no big deal, just check your tires once a week, simple as that.

Good luck

[Patrick303]

^^ I agree. Unless you are really fond of your stock wheels, use them for winter and buy some nice summertime wheels. I put some winter tires on my stock 18s and got a set of 19s for summer.

I decided to get TPM sensors for my summer set too. I don't think you can turn off the monitoring, so you'll get the low tire warning every time you start the car if you don't have sensors.

[1flossedm3]

I just checked online. The winter tires for factory 18s are $231 each thats $1000 on just tires!

[FCBuff]

VMR vb3 wheels + Dunlop wintersport 3D's here

[1flossedm3]

Originally Posted by FCBuff

VMR vb3 wheels + Dunlop wintersport 3D's here

mind sharing what that ran? running tpms?

[nomile]

- I bought a used set of 162s for summer from a forum member. Running Conti DWS on those. They have original TPMS sensors and all is well
- Original wheels are now on winter duty with General Altimax Arctic. These are cheap, great in the snow, but a little soft (OK - really soft). Unless you get "high performance winter tires" you will have a soft feel, since tread blocks are deep and squishy, and the side-walls on the 16's are also rather tall for a car of this weight.
- For track use I have a set of Kosei's w/ RE11s, no TPMS.
- My next winter tire will likely be the Continental ExtremeWinterContact. Gets good reviews and you can get a set for ~450 mounted.
- For my wife I bought a set of used winters of 16" OEM wheels. That was a great deal. Set cost <$500, and tires were essentially new. That was a set of runflat Dunlops M3s, I think. Those were decent tires, but wore quickly.

Few more thoughts:
As you can tell I don't like runflats. I carry the $30 "slime" kit in the trunk, and hope that when I do get my first flat in this car (currently at 84k) it will be like the flats I had in my previous cars (i.e. screw/nail), since those leak so slowly that I just inflate them, drive to Tire Source, and get it patched. (shameless plug for a great store - no affiliation)
My winter tire need: I live in the mountains around Lyons, CO at ~6700", and we're on a road that gets plowed later than the main roads. We just had ~15" or so of heavy snow (for CO standards) and I had no problem at all with getting out/in driveway. Driveway is pretty steep (15-20 degrees). I also switch mindset when the winters go on - I don't look for "sporty" cornering anymore. If I want to go to the track to get a fix, I'll pull out the RE11s, but in the winter the car is just a fantastic bit of engineering that is used to get me around safely and reliably.

If you're tempted to forgo winters due to cost, consider what you would pay for your deductible when you slide into something due to insufficient traction.
Finally, if you want to go brand new and relatively cheap, a friend who bought a 328xi went with the "cheap" TireRack kit which runs about $1100 by the time you have sensors etc, and she's happy with it.